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Sorry to hear man-Hope you heal up 100%. Thanks 4 sharing. |
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| Posted by |
racer2fst on June 18, 2010 at 11:47 AM |
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This message has been viewed 69 times. |
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| In Reply To |
Something I've been wanting to say but hadn't felt very posted by DVDBURN (MD) on June 17, 2010 at 02:42 PM |
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:good about talking about it on the forum. It's also not very Z related. I thought if anything it would be a caution to others. Well, here it goes. Admins please feel free to delete if needed.
:On May 3rd I had a very significant injury to my right index finger. I'm right handed :( I'm currently going to therapy for it two or three times a week.I was washing my deck with a new 3100 psi pressure washer I had just bought the day before. I was working on the stairs, had stopped spraying and took a step up to the next stair. I let go of the hand rail with my right hand and while holding the washer wand in my left hand I attempted to raise it up to pull on the slack of the hose.
:The lock for the trigger had not engaged so the weight of the hose caused it to trigger and when it did it was pointed down at my right index finger. The water cut my finger down from where it connects to my hand to right below the last joint at the finger tip. In an instant my finger had literally swollen up to the size of a hot dog. Water had even exited through two small exit holes in the middle of the tip of my finger. I grabbed my finger and squeezed it back down. I was bleeding pretty bad and ran to my kitchen where I used bounty paper towels and masking tape to make a makeshift bandage while I drove myself to the emergency room. No-one was home to help me at the time.
:I was wearing leather gloves but it cut right through those too. I severed the nerve and one of the main arteries in my finger. The artery was unrepairable without further surgery which would require taking one from place in my body to fix this one. Luckily the finger has two main arteries which keeps blood flow to my finger. I now consider myself lucky though. The water could have hit my hand or went down my leg. I was also using only water. I learned that most people who suffer these type of injuries while using chemical additives end up with severe infection and amputations. I had to stay in the hospital for two days with intravenous bags on both sides of me. One on my left arm and one connected to my finger to provide a constant irrigation of fluid because the wound could not be closed.
:Soon I will be having another surgery to have a bio-synthetic tube implant to reconnect the nerves. I'm currently on disability and have a long way to go. It has taken a lot of work to get my finger to bend enough to have the next surgery. Saw the doctor last week and he said I still need more flexibility in order for him to do the surgery. He said if I get the surgery too soon I may lose the use of it all together. After the surgery I will again have another long healing process. Three to four weeks of complete immobilization after that and then the therapy again. I've been taking pictures of it every week in order to record the healing process of what I've been going through. Not something you probably want to see :)
:It's been real hard trying to adjust to using a mouse and type. I haven't been able to enjoy my favorite video games while home either :( Even after all this time my finger is still swollen very large and I'm still not able to touch my palm with the tip of my finger when trying to make a fist unless I do some forceful stretches with it first. It's taking a lot of therapy at the doctors and at home to get this far. Sorry for venting about what to some may seem to be an insignificant injury. It may be just a finger but each day into the evening the pain and swelling slowly creeps up to my hand, then my arm, and in the process causes a pretty bad headache and ringing in my eras. I can only sort of use my hand for only a little bit at a time. I'm usually pretty good at taking pain and usually never talk about it when I do have pain. But I have never felt anything as painful as this before. The best way to describe it is it feels like it is either in fire or ice all the time depending on how it wants to act. With the nerve disconnect it is very hypersensitive and basically always in pain 24/7 (when I'm not over medicated that is :) Even after all this time my finger is very swollen. This is partially because the doctor had to go in and clean everything out from around the bone and tendons in an effort to help prevent the possibility of infection. Better than losing the finger I suppose. The doctor says the swelling is normal.
:I tried searching the web for more info regarding pressure washer injuries and even doing a Google image search there doesn't seem to be a whole lot out there about it. At least I couldn't find much when I searched. I've thought about creating a webpage to share my experience with others about the dangers of using pressure washers. I've seen people use them while wearing shorts and a pair of flip flops. It's amazing though of how many stories I have heard about pressure water injuries after this has happened. Even the lady who gave me my initial X-ray told me how her husband was using an electric washer (mine was gas powered) and had left it connected and plugged in while he was washing some items in their backyard. She had two small children playing in the back yard and one of them grabbed the wand, started spraying it and running across the yard. When they did, they ran past the other child while spraying it and had cut the child across the leg. It didn't go deep and the injury wasn't as extensive as mine but it did require over forty stitches.
:So anyway, I just want to say that if you have these things be very careful with it. Sever injuries can occur with washers as low as 1500 psi which are easy to find in stores and are not that expensive. I have just recently been able to go without wearing my two special cast that were made for me to where. I reached for my cell phone on the table yesterday and dropped it because I couldn't tell what I was feeling. I guess I won't be very good at turning wrenches for a while. It feels good to finally be able to have a free hand though. Oh yeah, got the other surgery coming :( More than anything I wish I wasn't able to tell this story. My use of this finger, which is very important to me with the work I like to do, will probably never be the same for the rest of my life. It really makes me realize what other people must be going through who have missing fingers or missing hands all-together. Guess I shouldn't feel so bad about it after all. I Stay safe people!
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