You know breaking an appendage no matter how big or small is painful. But it really hurts when you know damn well its your fault. Finishing up a kitchen remodel and got a bright idea to make a couple of small kick plate caps out of some scrap. Roughed it out and made the test fit, perfect. Thinking what a talented guy I am I go back to the chop say to make 2 more cuts. Make a quick short rip, swing the piece around to make my cross cut. WHAM! It hurt so much at first I thought I caught it in the saw. After realizing no blood was around I start trying to remember what I did wrong. Didn’t put the piece back against the fence is my best guess. Big finger. Really dark. Probably going to have to get my ring resized. Oh well, back to work tommorow. DanT
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You know, I was telling wife the other day, that whenever I had broken or cut fingers off, at least I could alleviate the pain by holding it up in the air and taking meds.
But with these broken ribs, You can't stop breathing.
I believe you will be awake late tonight though. That's the way it always is the first night.
Ain't those saws something?
;)
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Piffin,
I thought of you as I wrote this tonight. Frankly I was grateful to be me rather than you. You are right. I can hold it in the air. I pulled the cartlidge between the two halves of my rib cage once. Slow to heal and painful the whole time. I don't envy you. Hope you heal quickly! And yes, those saws. DanT
Hang in there .
Five months for me has passed and Im still dealing with it . Im still not used to it and what it feels like , I just keep going to work and dealing every day . Same with that finger. Itll take a good while before you can trust it , then it will be risky . I crushed one of my fingers and it took forever it seemed .
Tim Mooney
Since it'll be sore, yopu'll have to treat it dainty, DanT
;).
Welcome to the
Taunton University of Knowledge
FHB Campus at Breaktime.
where
Excellence is its own reward!
Not wanting to hijack the thread, Piff, but - how's your wife?Quality repairs for your home.
Aaron the HandymanVancouver, Canada
Thanks for asking. She's healthier than I am in mnany ways. Got the cancer on standby or remnissioin or whatever. Basically when shen went for her two year followup, the surgeon fired her. She was supposed to be going back for reviews with her every year for five years. But the doc said that all she needed to do was keep in touch with the local oncologist every six months and that is mostly to be sure that the drugs haven't hurt her liver.
Let me tell you, She walked out of the hospital that day on a cloud! Her whole attitude changed from, "I wonder when I will die of this disease" tto an attitude of "Oh Boy! Now I can get on with my life!"
And she does..
Welcome to the
Taunton University of Knowledge
FHB Campus at Breaktime.
where
Excellence is its own reward!
Broken ribs are really bad ?? Damn ..... I accidentally broke 3 of my friend's ribs during a hockey game last week..... ooops
Make sure it's splinted right. Really, even if the doc did it. I thought the split I got on my ring finger when I broke it was a little odd, but I figured, "hey, the doc knows what he's doing." The finger still points too far to the right...
Bill,
Thanks. I um, I am a um, well the truth is I am too impatient for doctors unless I am near death. Hate sitting in an office waiting only to hear "not much you can do except.................... so I didn't go. I just taped it to the middle finger. Amazing how much better it feels. Must be like buying it a twin brother or something LOL. DanT
I just taped it to the middle finger. Amazing how much better it feels. Must be like buying it a twin brother or something LOL.
That would have worked better in my case! I got taped up with a metal and foam job, that's how my finger got askew. So forgive any strange typos. ;)
I just taped it to the middle finger. Amazing how much better it feels.
you might want to do one extra thing....find a popsicle stick or something like it and put it under your broken finger so you cant bend it or turn it...i would leave it taped with the splint for at least 2 weeks.......but at the same time i've let things like that go untouched so......but i a m on the ambulance crew and would recommend it.....good luck" Looks good from my house!!"
My two cents worth with personal and professional experience.
1. Be careful about splinting fingers in the improper position. The ligaments can shorten when in the extended position and you lose range of motion.
2. Broken ribs although extremely painful are not as important as the possible associated injuries i.e. puncturing your lung and getting a pneumothorax or hemothorax, or rupturing your spleen with low left sided rib fractures, or a liver injury with right sided rib injuries. Kidney injuries associated with rib fractures are usually of little consequence unless the urine looks like ketchup ( slight exaggeration ).
3. Splinting rib fractures does feel better but beware that it limits the excursion of the thorax and may lead to atelectasis (consolidation) and pneumonia.
4. Finger tip injuries can leave the tip of the finger quite sensitive to touch. You must however stimulate the area gently to avoid what used to be called reflex sympathetic dystrophy. I busted my left index finger tip with a 22 ounce waffle head hammer. The tuft of bone was comminuted (more than two pieces) and the nail bed bled for 6 days. 18 months later and only now can I pick up dimes.
5. First rule of emergency medicine: All bleeding stops. Rule number two: If it's not my blood, it's not an emergency.
" I just taped it to the middle finger."
So I guess if someone cuts you off in traffic you'll have to use the OTHER finger?Bumpersticker: Next time you wave at me, use more than one finger please.
Glad ya still got all 10 fingers attached.
It sure coulda been worse.
When I was little, my Mom used to make me stand in a closet for five minutes without moving. She said it was elevator practice.
You are 100% correct! I am counting my blessings. DanT
Sounds like the time I broke the tip of my thumb ...
watched myself .. in slow moting ... not able to stop ...
as I crushed my thumb with a waffle face framing hammer.
Hit right below the cuticle(?) ... about half way between the bottom of the nail and the knuckle .... happened about 6 yrs ago ... can spot the exact point of contact just by looking at the scar.
Broke off the tip ... Dr said it's just "float" for a while ...
ripped open the skin ...
and broke the thinb nail off good ... way low and deep inside.
Took a long time to grown out.
All because ... on top of the ladder .... "I'll get just one more nail" ... on a Fri afternoon...
stupid hammer!
Best part was wacthing it happen .... and not being able to stop it.
Jeff
Buck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Artistry in Carpentry
Man that sounds like pain on steroids! I wrecked a motorcycle once, ran the footpeg down on the top of my foot. Didn't make it through. But in the many breaks of my foot I managed to break the little toe bone in 2 places. If you have never seen it the little toe bone is about 1/4" long. Doctor said he had never seen one broken, let alone twice in one shot. Did your nail go back to normal? DanT
I feel your pain:
Dislocated 4 ribs, 2 vertabrae, and had 38 stitches in the back of my head one time. I think the the ribs hurt the worst. It was in a motorcycle accedint. 25 year old taking his first motorcycle ride, took the ladder out I was standing on.
The worst part was watching the idjut for 4-5 min swerving all over the place ( I was working on my place at the end of a court with a small fence between me and the road) thinking.... I am so glad I am not driving with that dingaling out there....oh...wait.... he's coming this way.... oh......crash....
but that was ten years ago...
Adam
took about a whole 2 years after ..
first the whole turn black and fall off deal ..
then I had a huge "lump" ... for lack of a better word ... thought that would be permanent ...
Now ... aside from the smily face on the skin between the nail and the knuckle ...
Everything looks normal.
Nails back to flat ... no more "lump".
I once broke my pinky knuckle ... punched a closed car window ... and when I got that xrayed .... they Dr asked "How and when did you break the tip of your finger?"
I had no idea it was ever broken .. said he asked because it was so unusual.
Years later ... same hand as the thumb!
Jeff
JeffBuck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Artistry in Carpentry
I'll take your finger if you trade me for the nerve that found it's way into my vertebrae. ( I won't trade my pinched nerve for the broken rib)
I haven'tplayed Guiotar for twenty some years because of finger-getters.
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Taunton University of Knowledge
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Cut off two tips.
Left index near knuckle and they sewed it back on. Left middle finger is jjust plain shorter by a quarter inch.
Welcome to the
Taunton University of Knowledge
FHB Campus at Breaktime.
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Excellence is its own reward!
Wife still talks about the day she got a phone call from me asking, "Do you suppose you could drive me and my finger to the hospital?"
Welcome to the
Taunton University of Knowledge
FHB Campus at Breaktime.
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Oooowwww!
So far, with few minor exceptions, I have been lucky. Wasn't clear from your post if you were wearing a ring. No matter. I hope you feel better and heal quickly.
For the rest of you a quick reminder to avoid jewlery on the job. A guy I worked with got a bad shock. Thing was it was a 'safe' 12v circuit. A hook of live wire caught under his wedding ring. The moist, tender and thin skin under the ring allowed the normally fairly benign voltage to grab him. He flopped around a bit. Doctors said it caused an irregularity in his heart rhythm. He spent 48 hrs in the hospital under observation.
In another case a friend working on a tree trimming crew jumped off a still moving truck to grab some limbs and caught a hook welded onto the outside of the truck with his ring. His body weight hung from the ring it dug in and peeled the flesh off his finger. Left nothing but the bones. Had to be amputated. Now he wears his ring on a piece of yarn, safer than a stronger cord, around his neck.
Let's be careful out there.
OOOOOOOOWWWWWWAAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!
Eeesh! That story about the guy hanging by his wedding ring hurts so much my fingers don't even want to uncurl so I can type this!! Made me forget my busted ribs for a moment, though. Thanx fer dat....
Got to admit I always wore my ring on the job--stupid, but no longer a problem. A2BX-DW bugged out in May to go shack up with her girlfriend and I tossed the ring in the tobacco can with the assortment of old gyprock screws, bent 20d nails, and other miscellaneous metallic crap that I occasionally dig out of my pouch....
Dinosaur
'Y-a-tu de la justice dans ce maudit monde?
Lorn,
I haven't worn jewelry on the job for over 20 years. Saw a guy in the army lean over a battery box of a duece and a half and ground his dog tag chain across the terminals. Cooked right into his neck. Stunk. I guess they just take a scalpel and make a quick slice to remove it but he probably still has the scar. DanT
I learned about those 24v battery boxes in a similar fashion.As a young pvt. doing batery box maint. on a duece. Arc welded the wrench right onto the battery box! I'm still amazed at how they let us do some of the things we did without any information or warnings of any kind (removing split rings with a pick/ax, reinflating those tires while standing inside the rim, with the split ring down of course so you wouldn't be killed if it came off, just launched across the MP.) But as soon as enough people were killed thru some of these stunts, they at least had the courtesy of featuring it in P.S. magazine.
Dan019
Dan,
What always amazes me thinking back is all those young men doing whatever with all that equipment. I was an engineer equipment mechanic. Bulldozers, earthmovers etc. Once we chained a D8K Cat dozer to a tank retriever to see who could out pull who. Another time we found the Allison transmission in an earthmover had 3 more gears if you removed the block off plate. Wheee Haaaaa!!!!!!!!! Fast earthmover. Amazing someone wasn't killed. DanT