Shop Accident
WARNING: Please reference this story for details on what led up to the beginning of this story. While there are no pictures of my actual injury, there are a couple of pictures which show blood (albeit dried on the floor). There is some coarse language used in this article.
As I was running a board through the jointer, I was not keeping track of where my fingers were and my left middle finger slid right into the jointer knives (as I am recounting this episode in my head, I am continually cringing at the thought of it all). It took a second for it to register what had actually just happened. I quickly jerked my hand away and shut the machine off with my knee. I grabbed my left hand, now missing a piece of my left middle fingertip, with my right and started to hold it with a death grip. Luckily for me, all of the door knobs in the house are levers and not round knobs, so I was able to open the doors from the workshop to the house. I ran into the house and was yelling at the top of my lungs, “I cut my fucking finger off”, repeatedly to Lisa. She could barely understand what I was saying because I still had my dust musk over my face. In all of the hysterics, I completely forgot about the mask and still had my ISOtunes in my ears with music playing, as well.
I’m extremely fortunate that Lisa works from home. I went back into the garage as I didn’t want to drip any more blood in the house. There were a few drops in a couple of places on the garage floor, but that was about it (it is just a finger after all). I was able to kick the emergency shut-off button on the dust collector to cut the noise so Lisa could call 911. She explained what had happened and they told her to make sure I kept pressure on my hand until the paramedics got there (no problem there as I still had the kung-fu grip going). I was starting to feel a little light-headed so I sat my ass on the floor with my back against my assembly table and waited for the ambulance to arrive.
Luckily for us there’s a fire station not far from our house so the paramedics didn’t take long to get there. When they came in, I explained what happened at the jointer. One of the guys was going to try to find the missing fingertip, but I told him it was in a million pieces in the drum of the dust collector and it was gone. They took a look at my finger, which had a flap of skin hanging, and you could clearly see the cleanly cut bone. I had taken a short peek at my hand before the EMTs got there, so I knew the general extent of the damage that I had caused.
The guys helped me up off the floor, walked me out to the ambulance, got me up on a gurney and put me in the ambulance. Lisa opted to follow them in her car up to the hospital that had the best trauma center in the area. While I was in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, the EMTs got an IV going on me (impressive work, I must say, given we were getting jostled around in the back of an ambulance). I wasn’t really feeling any pain, but they gave me a dose of fentanyl for pain nonetheless.
I had never been in an ambulance before, and it was definitely a different sort of ride. It was odd looking out the back door and traveling backwards the whole way to the hospital. Making some of the turns made me a little bit uneasy, so I just shut my eyes and I was fine.
Hurry Up...and Wait
When we arrived at the ER, I was wheeled in and one of the resident doctors saw me right away. Given the nature of my injury, and that it was not as serious as it really could have been, I was placed off to the side to wait for the specialists to take a look and decide what to do from there. I was repeatedly asked how I was doing and if I was in any pain, but I was more or less fine, other than missing part of my middle finger on my left hand.
I must have been waiting in the ER for a good four hours or so before I was taken back for some X-rays on my left hand. At some point during the long wait, Lisa headed back home to get a few things for me and to shut off my music in the garage. She grabbed me a couple of granola bars and that was fine with me (I hadn’t eaten since just before the accident). After that, it was back to waiting in the ER for the specialists to come pay me a visit. It was agreed that I needed to be admitted and have surgery scheduled as soon as possible. Finally, at around 2300 or so, I was finally admitted to the hospital and taken to a room. It had been such a long day up to that point. I finally fell asleep a bit, but was constantly awoken throughout the night by either the nurses doing blood sugar tests, blood draws or by my roommate’s horribly loud snoring.
The next morning came (Saturday) and Lisa came by to spend some time with me. Later that morning, the doctor who would be performing my surgery paid a visit to assess the damage and see about scheduling the surgery. He tried to get me into surgery that same day, but it was too late in the day for that, so my surgery was set up for the following morning. Another long boring day was in the cards for me. I watched A LOT of Dirty Jobs on the Discovery Channel that day.
I managed to eat a little bit for lunch and dinner (the food at the hospital wasn’t all that bad). The most eventful things for me during this time were going to the bathroom. You see, when I would point my left hand down, I would get this huge jolt in my hand and up through my arm. The nerve in my finger was obviously still exposed and causing this horrible feeling every time I wasn’t careful. Trying to change clothes was an adventure as well. Eventually, the day passed and it was time to try and get some sleep prior to my early morning surgery. I still had to deal with the buzz saw in the next bed, along with the periodic prodding and poking, but I made it through the night with a few hours of sleep mixed in between the distractions.
Giving Them the Finger (not in a bad way)
The nurses came by bright and early to get me prepped to be wheeled off to surgery. I had to, of course, strip down and put on nothing but the hospital gown. First came all of the usual stuff explaining what was going to happen, if I had any allergies to anything, etc. Because of my MS and the medication I’m taking for that, the anesthesiologist had to be careful with what and how much anethesia was used. Most importantly, the doctor came in and made sure they had it marked that the left middle finger was the one to be operated on (no need for any mistakes now). They gave me a shot of something that started making me sleepy. I was rolled into the operating room and helped onto the table. I was getting more and more sleepy and the next thing I knew the whole procedure was done. I woke up in the recovery room to find my left middle finger bandaged up and my left middle and index fingers completely numb. They had injected a nerve block in my hand so I wouldn’t feel anything. They called Lisa to let her know I was awake and I briefly talked to her, still a bit loopy from the anesthesia.
Finally, I was rolled out of recovery and back to my hospital room. I got changed and was discharged a short time later. I wasn’t in any continuous pain for most of my time in the hospital, and certainly not at the moments prior to discharge with the nerve block in effect, so I wasn’t given a prescription for any painkillers. Lisa drove us home and I was SOOOOOOOO glad to be back. The first thing I did was eat. Shortly after, I REALLY needed to get a shower as it had been a couple of days. With my hand in its current condition, I wasn’t supposed to get it wet for 24 hours, so that made showering interesting. We devised the Ziploc-bag-surgical-taped-around-my-wrist method to solve this problem. That left me with only my right hand with which to try and clean up in the shower. Yeah, that’s not going to work either. Lisa had to get in the shower with me and help clean me up. It was a little cumbersome and awkward with my hand bagged up, but we made it work. It was so nice to be clean again.
It was getting close to dinnertime, and I was noticing that my fingers were starting to get some feeling in them finally. That feeling was not so pleasant. It was a constant aching in my middle finger that would just throb and throb. Since I wasn’t prescribed any painkillers, I was in a bit of a bind. Lisa went to the store and got some extra-strength Tylenol. I had to take a double dose for it to finally ease the pain enough for it to be bearable.
I decided to sleep on the couch for the night since I figured I wouldn’t sleep through the night (I would be correct). After a few hours the Tylenol started wearing off and the throbbing began again. I took another double dose and got a little more sleep. Because of the chance for liver damage, I didn’t want to keep having to take a double dose of Tylenol for this pain, so Lisa called the doctor who did the surgery and he was able to write me a prescription for some painkillers (oxycodone). After that process taking most of the day, we finally picked up the pills and I took one dose. I don’t know if the oxycodone really worked or not. By the time I had taken the oxycodone, the constant throbbing was already starting to wane. I only wound up taking the one dose of oxycodone. We kept it for a little while, just in case I needed it, but ultimately took it to the local sheriff’s station to dispose of it not long after. Neither of us wanted to have it in the house if it wasn’t needed.
Giving Myself the Finger (wait, what?)
I had to be sure to clean my newly sewn together middle finger every day to make sure there were no complications. The first time I went to take all of the wrapping and gauze off of my finger, I was afraid to look at what would be there. I don’t know exactly what I expected to see, but I just had the worst image possible going through my mind. I finally removed the gauze and took a peek. There was, obviously, A LOT of clotted blood around where the six or seven stitches were on my new “fingertip”. It was still a bit sore and VERY sensitive, so I didn’t want to touch it at this point.
Before we could bandage it back up, I needed to clean the finger first. This wasn’t going to be easy given the sensitivity I just mentioned. We figured the best course of action was to fill a small plastic cup with some warm soapy water and I would just swirl my finger around in the cup to clean it as best as I could. This appeared to work pretty well, so this was the course of action going forward, until such time as I could bear having water run over the finger.
Wrapping the finger back up presented its own set of challenges. We didn’t want to wrap it too tightly, and we needed to be sure the fresh gauze would offer enough protection. We got that all straightened out and got the finger wrapped up. I was ready for another day. Keep in mind, every time I needed to use the bathroom, I needed to try my best to not get the fresh gauze wet while washing my hands. This was just a tad bit awkward to say the least.
Every day the gauze was being replaced, I was trying to flex that middle knuckle on my finger to make sure it had movement in it without popping any of the stitches. I knew from experience that if I didn’t move that joint frequently it was going to get locked in one position and be difficult to get moving again. When I was a kid, at the end of fifth grade, I broke my left collarbone. My left arm was in a sling for a good month, and during that whole time I basically never moved my arm. When it was time to take the sling off, my elbow got locked at a right angle. It took a little bit of work to get that joint moving again.
With that knowledge, I knew that I couldn’t have my finger staying in one position for too long. I was able to carefully flex the middle knuckle enough to get it moving, but it wasn’t easy. Doing this while trying not to put too much pressure on the stitches in my fingertip was its own challenge. I got through it, though, and kept that finger moving.
Fast forward to a little over a week after I had the surgery and it was time for my first follow-up with the doctor. The doctor was happy with the way things were looking, so that was a relief. This was the first time in my life that I had to have any kind of surgery (technically my spinal tap was considered surgery, but I digress), let alone having stitches of any kind. The course of action over the next couple of weeks was to keep cleaning the finger and changing the dressing every day. Eventually, the stitches would start to dissolve, break off and fall out.
Prior to leaving the doctor’s office, he provided me with a compression sleeve for my finger. Before going to bed each night, he wanted me to remove the gauze and use the compression sleeve throughout the night. This would help reduce swelling, help shape the fingertip and reduce any scarring that may occur. Getting the compression sleeve on was a major pain in the ass (well, finger technically).
Sex Education...It’s Not Just for Teenagers Anymore
I wasn’t provided with any instructions on how to put the sleeve on my finger. After futzing with it for a bit, I figured out that the best way to put it on was to turn it inside out and roll it onto the finger. Basically, it was like putting on a condom, but on my finger and not…you know. This was a bit problematic at first. Because of the sensitivity of the “fingertip”, I couldn’t roll on the sleeve all the way to the end. I needed to leave a small “reservoir” at the tip (my apologies for the constant phallic references). This seemed to work the best, but I couldn’t stand the full pressure of the sleeve for very long at first. Over the next few days I got more and more comfortable with the whole procedure.
Things were about as “normal” as they could be over the next couple of weeks. I certainly wasn’t doing anything in the shop. Well, I did manage to clean up the dried blood spots on the garage floor.
Luckily the area in the garage where the shop is has floating vinyl tiles which made cleanup a breeze. I just used a green Scotch-Brite pad with my shoe and got everything off. I vacuumed up the dried mess and that was it for the shop for the time being. I’m a computer guy so trying to type was a mighty struggle. It wasn’t anything like when I had my first MS attack, but I was definitely slowed down a bit.
You can see here where I used the Scotch-Brite pad on a few of the spots on the tiles.
I’m Definitely NOT Going to Be Working for Vandelay Industries
After a week of continued cleanings, dressing changes and compression sleeve usage, I noticed that I was starting to get a rash around my middle finger. I am, apparently, sensitive to latex and it was causing a reaction. With this new problem, we had to find a new type of wrapping to secure the gauze on my finger. Finding non-latex anything is a bit of a pain, but Lisa was able to get something that turned out to be pretty good. File the latex sensitivity away for the future, I guess.
During the times of cleaning the finger, I was experimenting with touching the finger and carefully trying to bend it more and more each day. I could only go so far because the stitches were making the skin around them very tender and inflamed. Eventually, one of the stitches finally gave and it was slowly working its way out. I decided not to wait for however long that was going to take to happen and I gingerly pulled it out while running water over it. It came out without issue and that part of my finger felt SOOOOO much better for it.
As the days kept going by, all but one of the other stitches had given way and I removed them in the same fashion as the first. With each removal the redness and inflammation was reduced. There was only ONE stitch left. This one was causing the most inflammation. Thankfully, it finally came loose and I worked to get it out as well. This one was longer than the others and going through the most skin, so it was a little tougher to remove. I first tried in one direction, but it seemed to get snagged on something under the skin. I then slowly worked it in the other direction and it finally came out. The tiniest drop of blood was on the surface, but that was it. The removal of that last stitch offered the greatest relief of them all. After only a few hours the redness and inflammation were going away and it wasn’t anywhere near as sensitive to the touch as it was previously. I could, finally, start trying to get back to normal. This enabled me to fully put on the compression sleeve as well.
Something else that I noticed during the cleanings was that I, apparently, still had a piece of fingernail on the tip of my finger. I thought that the fingernail was going to be removed completely during surgery, but I was incorrect. The nail wasn’t hurting or anything, but it was just not something I was expecting to see.
Easing into “Normalcy” Again
Fast forward to about three weeks after my first follow-up with the doctor. My finger feels so much better and I’m getting a bit more feeling back in it with each day. I wasn’t seeing the doctor this time, but his ARNP instead. She took a look at my finger and everything was good so I wasn’t going to need another follow-up. I just needed to keep using the finger as much as possible to build up the feeling back in it so that it would be back to the normal feeling of a regular fingertip. I could also stop using the compression sleeve. I continued to use the sleeve for a short while, like whenever we went out somewhere, since I still was leery of hitting it on something.
Now that I finally had my finger relieved of its bindings, I could focus on trying to get back to some kind of normal schedule around the house. There were a lot of things that I couldn’t do by myself while recovering. Taking the household trash to the recycling center had become a two-person affair. I had to be careful I didn’t bump my finger too hard on things. I did that a couple of times and it hurt a bit. Not to mention, I was afraid that I would bust it open if it got smashed by something. On top of all of this, I simply didn’t have the same grip strength in my left hand as I did prior to the accident. My left hand is my weaker hand to begin with, but it was rendered a little weaker because of what happened, at least temporarily.
The thing I really wanted to focus on was my typing. When I tried typing again for the first time with my “new” finger, it was an extremely odd sensation. For one, I couldn’t use the exact same motion when trying to hit certain keys. Because the fingertip was shorter by about a half inch, I had to relearn how to type again. Talk about a bit of a bummer for a computer guy who could type at 70 WPM.
I eventually got a bit more feeling back in the finger to make typing go a bit smoother. It took me a little while, though, to not have to look at the keyboard to type. The hardest keys to type were definitely the “e” and the “3”. I’m pretty much back up to full speed again now, although I haven’t actually taken a speed test to verify things. I likely won’t bother since I can type normally and with enough speed to make my everyday computer work business-as-usual.
Overall, my recovery has been pretty uneventful. Each day brings just a little bit more normalcy to everyday life. I still have a hard time trying to pick up, say, a pile of screws with my left hand using only my fingertips. It’s still an odd sensation with that middle finger trying to grab things, partly because it’s shorter. Actually, the ring, middle and index fingers on my left hand are all the same length now. Oh yeah, and throughout all of this, I had to continually sign my name on things with my left hand because I write left-handed. Unlike many other things in life that I’ve taught myself to do with my non-dominant side, writing was not one of them. I can shoot a basketball and play pool with either hand. I taught myself to throw a ball with my weaker left arm, I swing a bat as a righty, but I’m more comfortable with a golf putter as a lefty. What can I say, I’m one of those people.
I’m Back, Baby
As of the writing of this article (August 2020), I’m back to doing everything as I was before. I’ve done a couple of projects in the workshop since the accident, even using the jointer a couple of times. I am MUCH more cognizant of my hands’ positioning when using the jointer now. The funny thing about the accident is that I got a SawStop table saw to help prevent a devastating injury on a highly used power tool in the shop. I never thought in a million years that the jointer would be the tool to cause me harm. When I told Carla at Hardwood Lumber & Millwork about what caused my injury, she said one of the guys in their shop was injured by the jointer not long before my accident. Apparently, jointer injuries are a lot more common than I thought.
Throughout my entire ordeal, despite what happened, it was a great experience. Everyone I dealt with, from the EMTs to the nurses to the doctors, was absolutely wonderful. I couldn’t say one bad thing about any of the people who were taking care of me in the hospital, even those who had to wake me up in the middle of the night for blood draws. Everyone was super nice and polite. I couldn’t get mad at them for doing their job. The only person to be mad at was myself for getting myself in that predicament in the first place.
Lisa was great, as always. She helped me so much when I had my MS flareups and she was no different with this. I don’t know what I’d do without her. In all honesty, I’m really surprised that I didn’t suffer another MS relapse. Looking back, all we can do is laugh. A while after my surgery, Lisa told me that when I came into the house screaming and yelling that I had cut my finger off, the first thing that went through her mind was, “The whole thing?” She didn’t actually say that at the time, but it was the first thing that popped into her head. We both laughed when she told me that. If you can’t make light of the situation, given how much worse it could have been, you might as well just give up. This accident only briefly delayed my woodworking journey; it has not stopped it.
This is a picture of my healed finger taken only a couple of months after my accident.
***UPDATE: March 2023***
It’s been well over three years since I suffered my workshop accident and lost a bit of my left middle finger. I’m very happy to report that I’m (obviously) still very much working in the shop.
It took me a few weeks to get back into any kind of groove again. I took my time and didn’t push myself too much, especially when it came to using the jointer again, which I did in fact utilize on a few occasions.
However, the more I was using the jointer, the more I felt myself being extra cautious around it…to the point that I was worrying almost too much about my hand placement. I had grown a bit too scared of the jointer to continue using it in the workshop. I wound up selling it to another woodworker in the area and I’ve not looked back since.
I’ve found other ways of squaring up lumber without it with a combination of my track saw, table saw and the planer (the latter two with a sled). I get results that are just as good as having used a jointer. While I’m still mindful of where I have my hands, I’m not scared to use the table saw as I have a SawStop to help protect me should something go awry. The track saw is mostly a one-handed operation, so the odds of something going wrong are very minimal.
While having a SawStop is not an excuse to be reckless at the table saw, it is nice knowing it’s highly unlikely I’m going to lose a finger (or worse) should an accident occur. Having a neurological disease like MS means that I very well could have some kind of spasm and my hand could jump into the blade, even if I’m being careful. This is the main reason I went with this saw in the first place.
Am I completely done with ever using a jointer again…I simply can’t answer that right now. In the future, perhaps I could get back to using one. However, given the space constraints in my workshop at the current moment, that is likely not going to happen ANYTIME soon.
