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Greatful to have a thumb! (Not for the faint hearted)

nickspohn

nickspohn

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Jun 9, 2007
3,592
0
I was at work yesterday using a lathe machine, and a really long, very thin piece of metal got tangled up. The machine was spinning pretty fast, and my thumb was in the right place, and the thin piece of metal got caught on the right spot and sliced my thumb. My bone is the only thing that stopped it from doing worse.

I know some people like looking at this stuff, so that's why i wanted to post it. The pain is minimum thank god but i think its due to the ibuprofen.

If anyone has some other gruesome injuries post em up. Just don't use IMG tags. :D I've gotten a lot of talk because i was taking pictures while i was losing all this blood, but hey it was worth it i think..

11 stiches.. Pictures in order.
http://i28.tinypic.com/2cctj47.jpg
Just part of the mess, the light doesn't show it, but there was blood all the way beyond the picture.
http://i30.tinypic.com/30aw0n7.jpg
On the way to the work occupation ER. You can see the guts :), and that wasn't the bad part even..
http://i26.tinypic.com/250jhbp.jpg
Stitching..
http://i25.tinypic.com/674j0m.jpg
The finished product!
http://i29.tinypic.com/33yntbc.jpg

Thank you iPhone 3GS
 
Good to hear that the pain is mimimum and hope your thumb makes a full recovery.


Mod Note: I think for this type of thread (should it last) URL tags should be used rather than IMG tags that way people can decide if they want to see the gruesome pictures attached to the story.
 
Ouch. I hope that it heals okay. Cool pics. :)

I had a thumb slice along the thumb instead of cross thumb. Don't have feeling in part of it. Weird feeling or lack there of sometimes. I hope you get all the feeling back in yours.
 
Good idea ukhc, and sushi was it as bad as mine? I was able to move it for the doctors, but i remember i lost all feeling for it on the way to the ER. I have it covered right now in this thus huge guaze like cast so i can't really tell yet.
 
Ouch.

http://upc.*************/uploads/smilies/3-thumbup2.gif <- (wha? too soon?)

I do like some gory photos though so thanks for posting 'em.



I don't have many photos of my injuries because most were pre-digicam days. I do have the one [taken 3 days after during a bandage change] where I fell off my dirtbike (Honda XR200, if you're curious) slid/tumbled/whatever down a hill on my back/etc.

I was going downhill and didn't downshift (I was in 3rd gear) and hit a dip and flew over the handlebars and the bike cartwheeled over me. The tire actually went right over my back and it and I both continued sliding. Frickin hurt! I fractured a metacarpal and I suspect a rib in my back too, though my back wasn't x-rayed to confirm it. It didn't hurt that much at the time and I've broken ribs, you can't do jack about them but wait it out. - You can see the tire treads on the shirt I was wearing.

I think the funniest part was driving up to the hospital with my bike in the back of the truck and me limping in covered in dirt saying "You'll never guess what happened." :D I have a small scar from it. That's life, innit.
 
i hope it will be fine and that it heals well. it looks like a very clean cut and the stiches look pretty good. so you should be fine. just make sure you give it enough rest to let the nerves heal.

aside of that your crime career is over because that fingerprint will be unique!:D

however i saw much worse pics. especially when my dad got his thump pulled into our large saw.......
 
I couldn't even imagine sleeping at night iBlue with that injury.. Must of been very painful.

Will my thumb go back to its normal shape? When the blood was washed off it had a pretty huge dent in it. Like i said i was able to move it, but i remember right after it happened and up until they numbed it for the stitches that i lost all feeling for it.

Updated the first post..
 
nickspohn said:
and sushi was it as bad as mine? I was able to move it for the doctors, but i remember i lost all feeling for it on the way to the ER. I have it covered right now in this thus huge guaze like cast so i can't really tell yet.
Click to expand...
Yours looks like a slice off the tip type cut. Mine was more of a fillet type cut that followed the bone from close to the joint to almost the tip.

I was using a folding knife that unexpectedly folded on me. I ended up fixing my thumb myself for reasons that I don't want to go into here so I don't know how many stitches it would have taken. Probably a number similar to yours.

Other than not having feeling in some small areas, it works fine and my scar is very faint. :)
 
nickspohn said:
I couldn't even imagine sleeping at night iBlue with that injury.. Must of been very painful.

Will my thumb go back to its normal shape? When the blood was washed off it had a pretty huge dent in it. Like i said i was able to move it, but i remember right after it happened and up until they numbed it for the stitches that i lost all feeling for it.

Updated the first post..
Click to expand...

It sucked but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. They gave me some Silver sulfadiazine and treated it like a burn. I think it healed up remarkably well. I was more pissed off about my throttle hand being messed up, that took a while longer to get over. :eek:

There will be a scar but your thumb will go back to its normal shape eventually. Things always look/feel all lumpy and awkward with sutures. Fingers heal up pretty well.
 
Good grief! You chop your thumb off (OK, I'm exaggerating!) and you think to take photos of it. I'd be too busy running around screaming the roof down! :eek:
 
iBlue said:
There will be a scar but your thumb will go back to its normal shape eventually. Things always look/feel all lumpy and awkward with sutures. Fingers heal up pretty well.
Click to expand...

+1 - and the scars usually aren't all that bad, either.

I had an episode once with a chef's knife, an avocado, and a seed that (damn it straight to hell) let the knife go right through it, and right through my thumb - down to the bone. I never went to the doctor for it, and it took nearly a week to completely stop bleeding (I changed bandages a few times daily). The nerves took about 2 months to completely regrow, but the scar is barely visible now.

I also had the tip of my right pinky finger smashed nearly off in a door when I was five years old. They sewed it back on, but the tip is still noticeably smaller than the rest of the finger.
 
I got the tip of my thumb chewed up in a table saw, luckily I was able to pull it out before it got to the bone. I have no feeling in the tip of the thumb anymore and some scarring but it is otherwise ok.

I've had a ton of other injuries, sadly, I have to pictures of any of them.
 
I used to have dozens of pictures of bloody things that have happened to me. I can't post them though. The police stole them all for some reason and won't give them back. :eek: In case you are wondering, the police took them because it is SI.
 
ouchies. i once had a knife slice through that bag of skin in between the thumb and the index finger. didn't hurt but it barely missed a vein, that could have been very very bad. to make things worse(or better) i was cutting bell peppers so i guess the capsaicin numbed the pain a bit?
 
rhett7660 said:
Was your thumb opened up all the way to the bone? Meaning if you pealed the skin back you could of seen the bone??? Ouch and ouch... Glad you didn't loose the little guy....
Click to expand...

Yes, I did see the bone, but that's not the grossest part - it was the sickening *thunk* sound when the knife hit the bone. And the throbbing pain that lasted for the next couple of days.
 
iBlue said:
Ouch.

http://upc.*************/uploads/smilies/3-thumbup2.gif <- (wha? too soon?)

I do like some gory photos though so thanks for posting 'em.



I don't have many photos of my injuries because most were pre-digicam days. I do have the one [taken 3 days after during a bandage change] where I fell off my dirtbike (Honda XR200, if you're curious) slid/tumbled/whatever down a hill on my back/etc.

I was going downhill and didn't downshift (I was in 3rd gear) and hit a dip and flew over the handlebars and the bike cartwheeled over me. The tire actually went right over my back and it and I both continued sliding. Frickin hurt! I fractured a metacarpal and I suspect a rib in my back too, though my back wasn't x-rayed to confirm it. It didn't hurt that much at the time and I've broken ribs, you can't do jack about them but wait it out. - You can see the tire treads on the shirt I was wearing.

I think the funniest part was driving up to the hospital with my bike in the back of the truck and me limping in covered in dirt saying "You'll never guess what happened." :D I have a small scar from it. That's life, innit.
Click to expand...

If you are like me, was your first thought "crap hows my bike!?" lol
 
Looks like you did a good job on your thumb there, should be quite the conversation piece for a while.

I've been studying for my boards exam and I came across a practice question similar to this about the first aid of a digit that you've completely cut off. After taking care of your bleeding (on your end) apparently the proper thing to do is wrap the amputated digit in sterile gauze and moisten it with sterile saline and put it in a baggie. Possibly with ice surrounding the baggie, but not on the appendage so as to avoid frostbite. Then go to the ER. This should allow the appendage to be "fresh" for at least 24 hrs in the event that it can be reattached.

Yay!
the_more_you_know2-300x197.jpg
 
Fiveos22 said:
I've been studying for my boards exam and I came across a practice question similar to this about the first aid of a digit that you've completely cut off. After taking care of your bleeding (on your end) apparently the proper thing to do is wrap the amputated digit in sterile gauze and moisten it with sterile saline and put it in a baggie. Possibly with ice surrounding the baggie, but not on the appendage so as to avoid frostbite. Then go to the ER. This should allow the appendage to be "fresh" for at least 24 hrs in the event that it can be reattached.
Click to expand...

No big deal about the ice thing, but now I gotta carry around sterile gauze and sterile saline with me, too? :(
 
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