Been a little wild lately and I haven't been on the web much, probably be a while longer, one finger typing. Thursday, 3-28-2013, I was cleaning the yard and then changed lawn mowers to mow, first time this year. I was going to take a swipe out on the way up the driveway and noticed it didn't cut. I stopped the mower, disengaged the blades but left it engine running wide open and got off it. I thought maybe something was stuck so I grabbed the belt and was going to manually turn the spindle on the driver's side. I'm not sure exactly what happened at that point. Either the pressure on the belt built or whatever was sticking the spindle came loose, either way it engaged. It was like lightening, sucked my right hand through the sprocket and out the other side, tossing me to the ground. I felt the pain like a burning pain and saw blood everywhere, so I grabbed my hand. Funny what goes through one's mind at that point. I was afraid to look down, thought my fingers were gone and finally decided I needed to look. I couldn't tell from my hands, too much blood, so I looked on the ground for fingers. Finally I saw the tips still attached, but couldn't tell how well.
I walked back down the driveway, into the house, ran water over my hand and saw my fingers were still there, then I got a paper towel and wet it and applied pressure. I walked out back and asked Megan to drive it home. She saw and almost threw up. Got in the truck and drove to Dr Schindler's office. He told me he had no suture material yet and asked what I had done and was very excited. I think it freaked him out a bit. I started to leave and he said get back here and took me to the back. He began cleaning it and put a pressure bandage on it, then told me to get to the hospital. He said it didn't look like I had gotten tendons but he couldn't be sure. He had slowed the bleeding down quit a lot with his bandage. Many thanks for that, plus he calmed me down.
The bleeding was down a lot so I called Denise to tell her, tried to down play it a bit... didn't work. She said she'd come get me and I told her no, then she said she would meet me at the hospital. I had to check on Megan first, so I drove back home to make sure she was ok and tried to calm her down. She almost puked again, lol. I knew she was safe though. I think I fell behind every idiot from here to the hospital that was turtle racing, lol. I started to loose focus so I called Misty and asked if we could talk and keep me alert. I told her what I'd done and was doing, she freaked but remained calm, which kept me calm. I met Denise at Lakeway Hospital and we walked in together. Somehow lawn mower and hand just never are good in the same sentence. :)
Their ER was fast and we got a Puerton Rican doctor, his name started with an F, he was good. The whole staff was good. They started working on me about 2:30 and we finally got out about 7:30. No bones showed fractures or breaking in the X-Rays. They started an IV of antibiotics and later on gave me something for pain. That stuff did most of the trick, almost knocked me out, which was welcomed, lol. It was/is between mashed and sliced my fingers, oddly enough missing the middle finger and thumb. We went back yesterday for a check-up and they took the splints off and cleaned and put new bandages on. The little finger seems to be getting infected, so they are doing a culture on that one. The antibiotics they are giving me has caused a bad yeast infection so they gave me something to combat the yeast.
Today is the first day we dressed it ourselves and cleaned it and got a really good look at it. The index finger is the best and has 3 stitches, but cut almost all the way around at the end joint. The ring finger was the worst one that night, getting 4 stitches, split down the middle from the second joint. The Pinky is the worse one now, almost cut off at the end joint. The way the meat they left on is it could have been mashed out, or a combination of the two,not sure which, it got 3 stitches. It's back bleeding again tonight. So far I've kept the fingers, so far so good. I probably won't be on long and seldom until they get better some. I'm definitely considering a tattoo that says Stupid, lol.
I go back and get checked in 2 weeks, unless something comes up. They will then consider taking the stitches out. I am thankful for God allowing me to keep my fingers and directing me to excellent doctors and hospital. My fingers are still too swollen to bend, plus I'm almost afraid to bend them as much as they are held on by. Mark fed the cows for us, so I'm good for a few days. Megan is feeding the chickens and plans to do the garden are delayed. Happy Easter. There are miracles that still happen.
I walked back down the driveway, into the house, ran water over my hand and saw my fingers were still there, then I got a paper towel and wet it and applied pressure. I walked out back and asked Megan to drive it home. She saw and almost threw up. Got in the truck and drove to Dr Schindler's office. He told me he had no suture material yet and asked what I had done and was very excited. I think it freaked him out a bit. I started to leave and he said get back here and took me to the back. He began cleaning it and put a pressure bandage on it, then told me to get to the hospital. He said it didn't look like I had gotten tendons but he couldn't be sure. He had slowed the bleeding down quit a lot with his bandage. Many thanks for that, plus he calmed me down.
The bleeding was down a lot so I called Denise to tell her, tried to down play it a bit... didn't work. She said she'd come get me and I told her no, then she said she would meet me at the hospital. I had to check on Megan first, so I drove back home to make sure she was ok and tried to calm her down. She almost puked again, lol. I knew she was safe though. I think I fell behind every idiot from here to the hospital that was turtle racing, lol. I started to loose focus so I called Misty and asked if we could talk and keep me alert. I told her what I'd done and was doing, she freaked but remained calm, which kept me calm. I met Denise at Lakeway Hospital and we walked in together. Somehow lawn mower and hand just never are good in the same sentence. :)
Their ER was fast and we got a Puerton Rican doctor, his name started with an F, he was good. The whole staff was good. They started working on me about 2:30 and we finally got out about 7:30. No bones showed fractures or breaking in the X-Rays. They started an IV of antibiotics and later on gave me something for pain. That stuff did most of the trick, almost knocked me out, which was welcomed, lol. It was/is between mashed and sliced my fingers, oddly enough missing the middle finger and thumb. We went back yesterday for a check-up and they took the splints off and cleaned and put new bandages on. The little finger seems to be getting infected, so they are doing a culture on that one. The antibiotics they are giving me has caused a bad yeast infection so they gave me something to combat the yeast.
Today is the first day we dressed it ourselves and cleaned it and got a really good look at it. The index finger is the best and has 3 stitches, but cut almost all the way around at the end joint. The ring finger was the worst one that night, getting 4 stitches, split down the middle from the second joint. The Pinky is the worse one now, almost cut off at the end joint. The way the meat they left on is it could have been mashed out, or a combination of the two,not sure which, it got 3 stitches. It's back bleeding again tonight. So far I've kept the fingers, so far so good. I probably won't be on long and seldom until they get better some. I'm definitely considering a tattoo that says Stupid, lol.
I go back and get checked in 2 weeks, unless something comes up. They will then consider taking the stitches out. I am thankful for God allowing me to keep my fingers and directing me to excellent doctors and hospital. My fingers are still too swollen to bend, plus I'm almost afraid to bend them as much as they are held on by. Mark fed the cows for us, so I'm good for a few days. Megan is feeding the chickens and plans to do the garden are delayed. Happy Easter. There are miracles that still happen.
