no hunt today, had one of those phone calls

dirtlooter

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Jun 5, 2014
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had a lot of plans for today but they all got put to the wayside when the phone rang. My son had a machine at where he worked to malfunction and had lost the end of his left pointing finger. the end of the finger had been smashed, the flesh destroyed and the bone tip shattered. So we spent a chunk of the day at the hospital watching the 11month old grandson while the surgeons repaired the finger as best they could. all things considered, it could have been a lot worse, he could have lost the whole finger, multiple fingers or even his hand. how quickly things can change, it wasn't the best phone call but it surely could have been a lot worse, one of those that no one wants to hear. so maybe tomorrow I will get to try out my new gloves or should I say, start breaking them in.
 

Accidents happen, hope he will be ok. Get this, my brother in law was training officers a few years ago, was doing a demonstration, f'd up by accidently shooting his thumb off.. I mean OFF OFF.
 

that would definitely ruin your day, also make it harder to grip things. being a survivor of numerous bad health problems, I am a firm believer that most of the time, it could still be a lot worse although while you are going through something, it is hard to see that!
 

It didn't help his golf game either
 

Anything could always be worse,always keep it in your mind.As the saying goes "I cried because I had no shoes until i met a man that had no feet"
 

Ouch,a lot of nerves in a finger. Sometimes modern surgery has it pluses. Pain management too.
 

sorry to hear that,it had happend to me when i was younger while building a house.tip of mine was torn off as i fell three stories down to the basement.i still try too keep it hid till this day
 

yes, we were told that today, that the finger was going to be very "sensitive" for a while, the way he was shaking before the surgery... he has always been know for being tough but this was a pain at a different level for him. James, a while back I was feeling a little sorry for myself, have had a lot of bad health problems in the past, a recent surgery on my right foot has left it drawn up to where I walk on the side of it and have to where a Forest Gump leg brace. An older lady re- opened my eyes, her legs bent backwards the wrong way and had to use a walker if she attempted to walk (with two leg braces), we spoke several times and always with the biggest smile in spite of her struggles. I knew that she would love to have my one good foot... so there is a lot of putting things into perspective, at east if you are smart. I have learned to focus on what I can still do and not on what I can not do any more... there is still a lot to do if I so chose to. thanks all Jerry
 

I don't like the word malfunction. Did he mess up or did something go wrong with the equipment. Because yea, it could always be worse but it still sucks. He still has to deal with a bum finger. Who was responsible for the machinery? Can it happen again? To someone else? Wishing him a speedy recovery! All the best. Mike
 

I was at work in 06' getting ready for an important meeting when my office phone rang.... It was my mom telling me that your father had an accident with the table saw in the shop. Any accident with a 12" table saw is not good. Cancelled meeting drove to hospital. Somehow he had got his hand in the blade between the thumb and pointer finger and sliced the web about 1" deep and then his palm toward wrist about 1/2" deep for about 6". Nasty lookin' wound and a lot of stiches. It was his fault he said... The woodshop just wasn't the same for awhile.

My best to your son... That is going to hurt for a spell.
 

hope he gets better soon ---machine malfunction --sounds like a lawyer needs to be consulted * to pay for the medical and partial finger loss. (the machine manufactor maybe liable or his company if safe guards were not in place.
 

Argh, I'm so sorry. Sure, there are always worse things but it's still a trauma to deal with. I hope he heals quickly and isn't in pain.
 

I got rid of my table saw after trying to build a sifter the night before a Colorado trip. Split my right
forefinger, had to go to hospital, still left the next day and used an old sifter instead. Once had a
printing press yank off my thumbnail but the clinic sewed it back on, it never even turned black.
 

Our best to your son for a speedy recovery!

Any time you can walk away from an encounter with a machine is a good day!

Must be déjà vu week! I had to go see a family member in the hospital last Sunday,but I got the call after I had been detecting!
 

Sorry to hear it. My son was using an electric planer and planed off the end of his pinkie finger including most of the nail and some bone when he was 14. It couldn't be stitched closed, so it just stayed bandaged for weeks with one of those hard plastic cots over it until the skin closed over by itself. It was painful, and slow to heal but amazingly you can't really tell anymore that part was missing unless you look closely and see he has a really short nail on that finger.

I hope your your son has a speedy recovery
 

thanks all, he is doing better, has a plastic tip for right now and is hopeful to have the fingernail however small
 

that's why i don't answer the phone...
hope thing goes well for him and a speedy recovery...


liftloop
 

Things can happen so quickly. Hope the son continues to improve.
My dad, in his teens, and his brother, about 2 years older, were chopping wood for their heating and cooking needs. They had a 'rack' that held the log while they used an axe to cut the log to proper lengths. Dad's bro kept sticking small twigs on the log so that the axe would cut them. Just playing around. But the bro made a mistake and put the twig a little farther than he intended, just as the axe came down. He lost his first and second fingers at the knuckle where they connected to the hand. I remember asking Dad what was done about the fingers. He said the bro just 'jumped around, hollering, for a bit'. They went to the house and the mom managed to pull enough skin over the bones and sew it together. The stumps were extremely sensitive for a number of years, but finally got callused enough that they didn't bother him. I don't think he ever went to the doctor. This was in about 1915.
 

my brother blew the end off his pinkie with a M80, i had to call my gf for a ride to the hospital, believe it or not we were able to hide this little doozie from our parents, we were just teenagers at the time. we just joke about now, i tell him its a good thing he never followed thru with his piano lessons, lol
 

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