Cut Tendon... :(

Normark

Normark

Joined
Nov 7, 1999
Messages
6,651
Hey Guys...

I bet a bunch of you have been wondering where I've been....

Well....

On June 20th I cut my finger, while on a Scout year end camp,, cutting open a bag of ice of all things...

Off to the Hospital I go after a quick patch up.. The Doctor at the ER looked at the finger,, said not to worry,,slapped a couple of Steri strips on it,, an aluminum brace and told me to keep it on for 5 days...

Later that week,, I show the finger to my Physio therapist, who advised me to see a Doctor.Doctor then sends me to a hand specialist, and I've been in a full hand brace ever since...Nearly two weeks went by before I seen the specialist...

Here is the result of missed tendon damage....Notice the swelling still after almost 2 months
If you cut your finger,, seek medical attention quickly...

The picture shown is of my right hand, in a relaxed position. The cut was to the top of my middle finger..The tendon the keeps the finger straight...

Thats as straight as she'll go, without help...

ttyle

Eric...
 
Best wishes for your recovery. I have had some experience with bad knife cuts on my fingers. I agree that if it's a deep cut, a doctor needs to check it out for serious damage.
 
I'd say sue the original guy for not being more careful about the possible tendon damage.
Hope you get better!
 
Anyone that doesn't seek medical help for any kind of serious cut is, to be blunt, a total idiot. Yeah it's expensive if you're uninsured but is it worth never being able to pick something up again?
 
Excuse my morbidity, but how did it happen? and what knife were you using? And how sharp was it?
 
Yep, I severed the flexor tendon on my finger and with just 6 hours delay there was obvious shrinkage. The microsurgeon was POed. Two weeks is going to make for a challenging recovery. The sad thing about this that I learned from my surgeon, tendons severed under the finger, flexors, need to be woreked on by a specialist, the tendons on the top of the finger don't require a specialist. It could have been taken care of in the ER by the doctors there. I feel for you man.
 
Good luck on your recovery, how long are the Doc's projecting your recvery period.


Steve
 
*CRINGE*
You guys are making me paranoid. One slip of a knife means I'm basically screwed out of work for a while (guitar tech. Ever try soldering when your index finger doesn't move? :eek: ). Maybe I'll just go dull all my knives...
 
Sorry, to hear about your injury, Eric. Hope a surgeon will be able to put it right.

With regards to knife/blade safety. I'm no knife expert, but my policy is to treat all knives as I treat my guns, following the four rules of gun/knife safety.

1. Treat all guns as loaded -> Treat all knives as cutting
2. Never point a gun at anything you don't want to destroy -> Never direct the edge or point of a knife towards anything you don't want to cut.
3. Keep your finger off the trigger until you ready to fire -> Don't press down until you are ready to cut.
4. Be aware of your target and what lies before and beyond -> Be aware of what you are cutting, what lies above and behind.

Some people look at me like I'm crazy, but I've managed to keep safe (knock on wood).
 
OOOooouuucccchh!!!
Man, that bring back some memories.
I was carving a bow, I was tired and bored, knife slipped and zipped across my right inex finger. Funny thing, didn't hurt, SHARP KNIFE! I just bled like a stuck pig.
Off to the emergecy room. Four hours later, and four stitches later. I discovered I just NICKED the tendon.
It was really unnerving to see the doctor look at it, as he bent the finger and I got to see a small piece of tendon move back and forth.
Saw a specialist, but he siad it was okay and healing nicely.

I'll NEVER carve when I'm tired and bored EVER again!!



Joe
 
:eek:

WOW. . .that looks like a real pain in the butt !

Are they going to perform corrective surgery ?

Hope that it all works out for you ! :)
 
Hope everything works out, Eric. Sorry to hear of your injury.

Best regards,
Clay
 
Chopped the index finger with an axe years ago. Cut the tendon on the inside of the finger facing the thumb. Hospital corrected it, saw the tendon "ends" when they peeled it open as you saw.

The tendon was reconnected and grew back just fine, the nerve damage suffered along with it has finally subsided for the most part after 20+ years. It tingled when touched and had little feeling in the cut area for years [ people with nerve damage know what I'm talking about ].

Hope you injury is correctable at this point. I suspect they'll get it to work okay but plan on some long recoup time before it feels "normal" again. You should have no problem with mobility after the surgery and a healing period.

I'd baby it as long as possible while healing so that tendon has a chance to repair itself after the surgery.

Best of luck, been there a few times, and probably will again until I stop mucking with the blades.

Brownie
 
Eric,

Hope you have a speedy recovery!! Having rehabbed both hands at different times, I can recommend working with a rubber ball and/or some "hand putty" to get maximum recovery. Work it as early as possible - your body will let you know how much is too much. Call me if you want source for putty - good stuff! Take Care, Bro'.
 
I had a cheapie hunting knife. So did my best buddy. One evening (this was during the Korean War) we set up a Starkist Tuna carton and that was a NK sentry. Then we attacked him. With our knives. We agreed that the star on the box was his heart. So we went for that. We were stabbing the heck out of him when we noticed ....the box.... was....bleeding.
Blood was splattering all over the box.

We stopped.

I looked at my finger and it was a mess. In the process of 2 dumb kids winning a war by stabbing at a small target simutaneously, MY hand was down as his was COMING down.

I got lucky. I went home, scared my mother to death and got a quick ride to the emergency room. You could SEE the white lil tendon right at the bottom of the cut. eeeeeecchhh..

3 stitches. Still have the scar.

Got smarter that day.

:D
 
Eric,

I had a similar thing many years ago. The good news is my hand works fine now.

I sliced the back of my thumb (a piece that I was drilling on a drill press broke loose spun on the bit and whacked me). Went to the hospital and they stitched me up. A few days later I was cleaning the cut and realized I couldn't extend my thumb. I could push it straight with my hand but couldn't straighten it on its own. Called the hospital and they said don't worry about it 'till the stitches come out. Went and got the stitches out and they were going to send me home. Told the what was happening and they said it was just swollen and was probably too painful to extend. I kept showing them I could straighten it by pushing on it with my fingers but not on it's own. Reluctantly they sent me to a hand surgeon "just to make me feel better." The hand surgeon immediately scheduled me for the operating room that day.

He told me that if the tendon was completely severed he would just start cutting at my thumb and keep going towards my elbow until he found the severed end - not a pleasant thought. Then, depending on how much it was shrund he'd have to cut out some donor tendon from somewhere else to splice it together. Luckily there was a little strand left holding the two ends together. I was braced for about six weeks and had to have hand therapy for about two months.


Hope your recovery goes well,

WWill
 
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