I no longer have use of my left hand - UPDATE! Including pictures

[Matt R]

excuse in advance the lack of punctuation. with one hand it's annoying to type long stories with proper punctuation. i know it's an eyesore. future posts will be written properly. thanks.

so a week ago tomorrow the worst thing that has ever happened to me happened. i was using a table saw to rip a piece of wood to make a wall run while installing hardwood floors in some office in white. my glove caugt in the blade and took my hand through with the wood. i had cut through my left hand almost entirely. 2 arteries, 7 tendons, 5 ligaments, and countless nerves later, im 12 minutes from bleeding to death.

im rushed to piedmont hospital in bukchead and rushed to micro-surgery where surgeons spent 7 hours reconstructing my hand. i've got microscopic tubes in my hand connecting nerves and whatever else is inside your hand. i've got 6 titanium pins in my wedding finger. yeah. anyhow, here is what ive been told.

i'll never be able to ball that hand into a fist.
i'll never be able to bend my wedding finger at all.
my middle finger wont bend. just the top of the finger around the nail.
i'll have numbness and tingeling in my fingers for the rest of my life.
i've got 6 months to a year and a half worth of physical therepy.
it will be over a year before im able to use my left hand to pick up so much as a 12 pack of coke.

it's been only a week since the accident and already can tell how lucky i was to have two good hands. we all take for granted being perfect. i cant put on a pair of pants without help. i cant get on a shirt wihout help. i cant do anything it feels like. what do we do that does not involve two hands? think about it. ive got a new life ahead of me and a lot of learning to do. wish me luck.

sorry for not being around gtplanet for the debate. it's been a hard week. i resign as judge due to lack of time now. i've got physical therepy 4 days a week and numerous doctors appointments for the forseeable future.

 

[Fairlady240zg]

Wow, that sucks. My uncle had the same thing happen to him. It was pretty severe and he lost a finger. At first he said it was a pain in the arse, but now it really doesnt hinder him. He makes chairs tables all kinds of stuff(basically all the same stuff he did before the accident). Keep your head up and good luck!

 

[ExigeEvan]

Wow. That's a pretty messed up accident.

Are you right handed? If so, at least look on the bright side, you can still write Hope you recover to best possible level and more.

sorry for not being around gtplanet for the debate. it's been a hard week. i resign as judge due to lack of time now. i've got physical therepy 4 days a week and numerous doctors appointments for the forseeable future.

I don't think an apology is neccesary.

 

[Evolution.]

Wow.

I jammed my pinky finger today and thought that was bad...I feel like an ass now.

 

[UnoMOTO]

whoa...I am in the middle of remodling my basement. It will make me think twice before I cut my next piece of wood.

I am glad to see that you are still with us and getting on with things. I have a friend that got stabbed in the arm which cut all the nerves and he now lost the use of the arm and the hand. Through him I understand how you must feel.

 

[Richardrfo]

wow man, that's pretty damn bad, i guess it's the sort of thing you don't take much notice of when you hear about it, until it finally happens to you and you realise just what they're going through.

 

[Robin]

Gosh man I really feel for you, I hope you can just manage the best you can and that it gets better over time... I use alot of dangerous powertools like saws and cutting equpitment and I havent had anything yet not even like a major cut, but hearing what just happened to you im going to be way more careful. Gosh reading what you said I was like holding my hands!

Take Care,

Robin

 

[Matt R]

I'm 19. I've got over over $50,000 in medical bills and my whole life to live with a jacked up hand. :/

 

[Keichi Tsuchiya]

I feel terrible for you. You'll be in my prayers.
Like a friend of mine always says, "Sugar-Honey-Ice-Tea happens"

 

[G.T]

I'm am very sorry to hear that - serious bad luck, especially at your age with your life ahead of you only just starting. No need to apologise not being on GTP, either. That is 200% more important than getting into contact with any of us.

Fingers crossed, within the next few years things will get easier for you. Medical science is moving on pretty quickly, so hopefully, you might turn out better than you expect in the future.

 

[Famine]

Bummer. Though I like to be a positive soul, so... here we go...

my middle finger wont bend. just the top of the finger around the nail.

That'll make it easier to flip off jackasses.

i'll have numbness and tingeling in my fingers for the rest of my life.

Yeah, but with that hand it'll, you know... feel like someone else doing it. Some guys have to sit on their hand for an hour to get like that.

I hear.

i've got 6 months to a year and a half worth of physical therepy.

Most physiotherapists are female and in their mid-twenties.

it will be over a year before im able to use my left hand to pick up so much as a 12 pack of coke.

But a 4 pack of Coors in half that time.

i cant put on a pair of pants without help. i cant get on a shirt wihout help.

All the more excuse to bum around the house half-dressed. I had to use the excuse that I was a student.


Good luck with your recuperation and remember that laughter is the best medicine (beside morphine).

So I wouldn't bother reading any of this post, really.

Damn.

 

[RICHARDO]

I feel your pain, I almost lost my left hand when I was a baby, I fell through a glass table and my left hand (not to mention the rest of my body) was cut to ribbons. I had to have a lot of surgery done to get it in working order, almost losing three fingers in the process. I was very fortunate that it recovered pretty much all of it's function.

Get well bud, I sincerely feel for you. Because I've been down that road.

 

[DuckRacer]

...Wow. That just plain sucks.

 

[Sage]

I’m really sorry to hear that. And please don’t make any apologies – you need to take care of yourself right now more than anything.

How will this impact school?

 

[Matt R]

Bummer. Though I like to be a positive soul, so... here we go...



That'll make it easier to flip off jackasses.



Yeah, but with that hand it'll, you know... feel like someone else doing it. Some guys have to sit on their hand for an hour to get like that.

I hear.


Most physiotherapists are female and in their mid-twenties.



But a 4 pack of Coors in half that time.



All the more excuse to bum around the house half-dressed. I had to use the excuse that I was a student.


Good luck with your recuperation and remember that laughter is the best medicine (beside morphine).

So I wouldn't bother reading any of this post, really.

Damn.

I was hospitalized Thursday-Sunday and have since fallen in love with pain killers. Morphine wasn't strong enough to ease my pain. At certain doasages anyway. I was given a drug that started with a D. I wa told by my doctors that it was 10x stronger than Morphine. Can you help me with the name of that drug Famine? Sounds like Dalottapin.

If laughter is best, I suppose then that I was dealt a bad hand.

 

[Lee]

I was given a drug that started with a D. I wa told by my doctors that it was 10x stronger than Morphine. Can you help me with the name of that drug Famine? Sounds like Dalottapin.

Sounds like Dizapalm (SP) or something like that.. It's in Metal Gear Solid.

 

[Matt R]

I’m really sorry to hear that. And please don’t make any apologies – you need to take care of yourself right now more than anything.

How will this impact school?

I have had to put my whole life on hold and make adjustments. My gym membership had to be cancelled, and I had to be an early termination fee. Total crap. I have had to drop out of my university for the semester because of therepy and doctors appointments. I can't fit in 15 hours of school and all my appointments. My life is on hold for at least a year. I can't drive my own car or any car for at least 6 months. My life has been turned upside-down. Luckily I'm right handed. Thats the only good I can see in all of this besides them being able to save my hand.

 

[Matt R]

Sounds like Dizapalm (SP) or something like that.. It's in Metal Gear Solid.

That's Diazepam I believe. That just calms your nerves and keeps your hands steady. It would'nt help the pain I was feeling.

 

[Danoff]

Obviously this is very unfortunate. But there is a huge bright side to look at. I'm sure it's difficult when you face new challenges every day that used to be easy, but when you consider that you might have died...

My wife came very close to having her arm amputated. Luckily she didn't, but she still has tingling and numbness in her left arm from the accident.

The use of the fingers on your left hand is going to be a hinderance for sure (though getting your index finger and thumb back into useable form is a really good goal). But consider that you still look normal. You're not missing an arm. You're not missing a hand, or apparently even a finger (which I'm suddenly finding amazing given what happened). You're not dead from blood loss. You're not paralyzed. Lots of worse things happen to lots of people every day.

I think in time, with the partial use of your index finger and thumb, you'll probably find that it doesn't even bother you all that much. I know that's easy for me to say, but it sounds like you actually got lucky that it wasn't worse.

Good luck with your therapy. Hang in there, and count your lucky stars you still have a hand at all.

- Dan

 

[OZZYGT]

I'm really sorry to hear that Jjacks . Don't worry mate, you'll be alright, I know it's hard to believe that, but positive thinking is your best friend in these moments





Ciao!

 

[UnoMOTO]

I hope you have a dfp and use auto trans, to keep your spirits up on down days.

 

[Matt R]

Bleeding to death was something hard to swallow. I couldnt believe I was minutes from death. Doctors say that at the angle in which my arteries were cut slowed the flow of blood and kept me from passing out. They shriveled up doctors said.

I'm lucky to be alive and lucky to at least still have my hand. I won't have a nub so that's good. Danoff is right, as long as I can regain control of my index finger and thumb things won't be as bad as they could be. They only finger I still have feeling in is my pinky. I don't know how.

 

[Sureboss]

It's something that I wouldn't be surprised if you get used to it fairly well within a few years, I know someone who was unlucky enough to lose the bottom half of one of his legs in the Omagh bombing. He now studies (finishing uni) in a course involving prosthetics, etc, forgotten it's name.

Jack, good luck, we'll be willing you on.

 

[Omnis]

Word up, JJ. I'm sorry for your misfortune, but your perseverance will define character than many could envy. Good luck with your recovery.

 

[ledhed]

I'm 19. I've got over over $50,000 in medical bills and my whole life to live with a jacked up hand. :/

My Brother Robert has gone through something really bad within the last year...I have seen what sheer dermination can overcome... I have asked him to respond to your post ...it will be using my account but I hope he can inspire you and help you to undrstand its never as bad as it first seems .

Good luck ...its just another thing in life to be overcome . Just never doubt that you will .

Mike aka Ledhed. ( Btw I had a microwave oven dropped on my head and was injured so badly I was told I would never work again...bwahahahahahaha... I fooled them ).

It ain't over till YOU say its over .

 

[Sage]

I have had to put my whole life on hold and make adjustments. My gym membership had to be cancelled, and I had to be an early termination fee. Total crap. I have had to drop out of my university for the semester because of therepy and doctors appointments. I can't fit in 15 hours of school and all my appointments. My life is on hold for at least a year. I can't drive my own car or any car for at least 6 months. My life has been turned upside-down. Luckily I'm right handed. Thats the only good I can see in all of this besides them being able to save my hand.

That has to be really tough. Remember, you can always turn to us for support. 👍

 

[Dave A]

That's nasty, I've seen a good few saw injuries in my time, very few to myself but nothing on that scale. My dad cut down half the lenth of one his fingers once with a band saw, which was nasty but anyway you need to find something positive to work towards and to focus on. I'm sure there will be a lot of people telling you a lot of things at this point in time and the whole ordeal realy must be a total shock to your system right now.

 

[Danoff]

Btw I had a microwave oven dropped on my head...

That explains a lot ...and here I thought you were on drugs.

Seriously though, I'm interested in the microwave story now. It must have been pretty awful if they told you you'd never work again. You must realize that starting to tell a story about a microwave injury and not finishing it is really quite cruel.

 

[Law93]

ouch man...that sucks sooo bad. i broke my left pinky awhile back, now i know its nothing compared to this....hopefully you could cope with for the time being

 

[3-Wheel Drive]

Yipes. I winced when I read that. It's terrible what happened, but it sounds like you were lucky, and that it could be worse. All I can say is to buck up, and keep looking ahead. You'll probably be on your feet and coped with it before you know it.