Broke my typing/wiping/driving finger

J-sews · **on:** March 10, 2012, 04:24:00 PM

Stupid snowblower.

After getting more snow in one night than we've gotten all winter long, I was trying to clear out my driveway last week. The snow itself was wet and heavy, and my old snowblower was barely managing to chew through it. I've got an old Ariens 10-horse walk behind, and after nearly two hours of manhandling this tempermental brute, I was pretty tired. Which probably somewhat explains the utterly moronic thing that happened next. $:-\$ It happened so fast...One second I was cursing the fact that the chute on the snowblower had clogged up again, and the next second I was hopping around holding my finger!

I'd stopped, waited for the auger to quit turning, then reached in with my hand to clear the packed snow. But unbeknownst to me, the paddle wheel that "flings" the snow had not stopped spinning, and it grabbed hold of my leather glove and pulled my hand into the chute.

WHAM!

The pain wasn't so bad at first, but one look at my half-severed fingertip got me sort of sick to my stomach.

I grabbed a handful of snow, wadded my finger into it, then walked into the house and rousted my wife so she could drive me in to Urgent Care. Thankfully it was only an hour long wait.

Then they x-rayed me (broken in two places) stuck a needle directly into the wound

to numb the area, and gave me four stitches. The nice doctor there told me it was his fourth snowblower/hand incident this winter, and that I was lucky it hadn't cut completely through.

That was a few days ago. Now the whole end of my finger is black and gruesome looking.

How embarrassingly stupid.

Grant Lamontagne · **Reply #1 on:** March 10, 2012, 04:35:44 PM

Holy crap that looks nasty! You are lucky though- I've heard stories of folks searching snowbanks for missing appendages, and in some cases not finding them until spring!

I don't trust snowblowers as far as I can throw them for just this reason. Of course 10hp here is just what you use on your walkway. Anything less than 15hp in Nova Scotia wet snow means you are shoveling by hand after the blower dies.

Look on the bright side- with the careful modifications done to your fingerprints they'll never be able to connect you with any previous misdeeds!

Def

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J-sews · **Reply #2 on:** March 10, 2012, 04:44:32 PM

Hmmm, I suppose there is a bit of an upshot there.

Although right now its just damn inconvenient. Have you ever tried wiping your bum with your other hand? It feels like you've got some total stranger feeling around in your nether regions!

nuphoria · **Reply #3 on:** March 10, 2012, 04:48:51 PM

Awww Bob, I feel your pain

Believe me though, as vile as injecting in to the wound is, it's a LOT better than getting a couple of nerve block shots in the knuckle. I hope you heal up fast, and make sure you start regular massaging to it when it's bearable - you have to get the scar tissue broken down ASAP and the blood flow fully restored to avoid permanent damage.

I used a little bio oil with a drop a lavender mixed in - good healing agents

Syph007 · **Reply #4 on:** March 10, 2012, 04:54:40 PM

OUCH! Yours must not have all the damn safety switches the new ones do? Nothing turns on mine unless I hold down levers on the hand grips... which is good as Ive done exactly what you describe to unclog slushy snow from the chute and could have easily had a similar accident.

Time for a new blower?

Threeme2189 · **Reply #5 on:** March 10, 2012, 05:00:21 PM

OWOWOWOWOWOOOOOOOOOOWWWOWOWOW!!!

That looks nasty :/

I'm glad they got it sewn back on, and I hope it heals and all is well.
At least you can practice using your weak hand now, and becoming a bit more ambidextrous

Grant Lamontagne · **Reply #6 on:** March 10, 2012, 05:06:57 PM

Quote from: J-sews on March 10, 2012, 04:44:32 PM

Hmmm, I suppose there is a bit of an upshot there. Although right now its just damn inconvenient. Have you ever tried wiping your bum with your other hand? It feels like you've got some total stranger feeling around in your nether regions!

Jeez, usually I have to pay extra for that!

So the lesson learned here is to only stick your off hand in flesh and bone crushing equipment from now on?

With all the heavy machinery you deal with at work and all the OSHA approved safety equipment and practices you enforce on a regular basis I'd have thought you'd have known better than to stick any body part into an auger. Of course, this is coming from a guy who watched his father cut off the fingers of his left hand with a hatchet, then a few years later I accidentally put the same hatchet into my shin bone, so what the heck do I know about safety?

Def

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AimlessWanderer · **Reply #7 on:** March 10, 2012, 05:08:00 PM

Ouch Ouch Ouch!!!

Chrissy's right - those nerve blocker shorts are evil. Glad it wasn't much worse mate. I've had hands out of commission temporarily before. It can be a real pain but can also have it's benefits. I was only about 12 when I had an operation n the tendons and guiders of both hands at the same time. In was in hospital for the best part of a week, and a day or so after the op a very attractive nurse came up to me and told me it was bath time. The broadest smile imaginable appeared on my face as I raised my two bandaged hands. I said I can't get these wet, you'll have to do it, and that grin stayed there a long time. Sometimes hospitals aren't all that bad

ducttapetech · **Reply #8 on:** March 10, 2012, 05:11:01 PM

WTF ......That is all kinds wrong......owieeeeeee.............finger cuts are the worst, followed be loosing finger nails.
Glad you didnt loose a finger or your whole hand. Hope you heal up fast.

dks · **Reply #9 on:** March 10, 2012, 05:15:01 PM

Good to see you still remembered to take a picture for us!

Farmman · **Reply #10 on:** March 10, 2012, 05:15:18 PM

Ow bob that looks painful. Hope it's not your mining finger too, or do you use the flair like Matt too?

Neil · **Reply #11 on:** March 10, 2012, 05:16:03 PM

Ouch indeed

I hope it heels swiftly Bob.

Gareth · **Reply #12 on:** March 10, 2012, 05:32:18 PM

Jeeze Bob, that looks sore.

Chako · **Reply #13 on:** March 10, 2012, 05:32:26 PM

You are lucky Bob (as far as these things go). I know of 2 people who have had worse injuries from snow blowers. One even had to do the snow bank search for a couple of fingers.

Here is to a quick mend.

edcgear · **Reply #14 on:** March 10, 2012, 05:58:43 PM

Damn that looks painfull!!!

That should remind everyone not to stuck fingers in any machine with moving parts!!

Hope you heal fast!!

J-sews · **Reply #15 on:** March 10, 2012, 06:20:08 PM

Thanks for all the well-wishes folks.

I'm due back to the doc's on Monday for a follow up. So far the only real inconvenience has been writing. $:-\$ My job has me leaving lots of handwritten notes for people throughout the day - needless to say my penmanship last week was severely lacking.

And as regards the stupidity of sticking my hand into a meat grinder, well in my defense, my old snowblower doesn't have one of these decals like all the newer ones do:

Grant Lamontagne · **Reply #16 on:** March 10, 2012, 06:27:10 PM

Sue the manufacturer then!

Def

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Carlos · **Reply #17 on:** March 10, 2012, 06:43:53 PM

That's impressive indeed , the whole hand seems "blackened". But besides the cut you also have the finger broken -- if I read well -- they did nothing to fix the finger?

J-sews · **Reply #18 on:** March 10, 2012, 06:52:18 PM

Quote from: Carlos on March 10, 2012, 06:43:53 PM

That's impressive indeed , the whole hand seems "blackened". But besides the cut you also have the finger broken -- if I read well -- they did nothing to fix the finger?

Nothing.

The doctor said he would have used a splint had it been the first or second section of my finger that had broken. But because it was the third section, they just stitched up the wound and wrapped the finger and shooed me out the door. $:-\$

Reinier · **Reply #19 on:** March 10, 2012, 07:03:51 PM

Wow that's nasty

I hope it all heals fast

jzmtl · **Reply #20 on:** March 10, 2012, 07:37:54 PM

Hope you get better soon! That looks really painful, I have cut my left index finger pretty bad in almost the same location so I know!

stressmaster5000 · **Reply #21 on:** March 10, 2012, 07:40:13 PM

Ouch! I feel your pain. I too have had the tips of 2 fingers(pinky and middle) chopped clean off with 80% of the nail beds and they bled like crazy.

And what is up with shoving the needle into the wound!

Wow! Sure wish they would invent numbing drops like the dentist uses.

I wish you a speedy recovery!

PS: you should repost this in the "Black kind of day" EDC thread when it is really black!

Mr. Whippy · **Reply #22 on:** March 10, 2012, 07:45:22 PM

Ow!!

Geeze Bob! I was sure I was going to read about an accident at work. That looks painful.

If you need a new fingertip, I'll look around the lab and see what I can find. $:-\$

Mike · **Reply #23 on:** March 10, 2012, 07:55:10 PM

I am very glad you didn't lose your finger, or worse! OUCH!

Mike

J-sews · **Reply #24 on:** March 10, 2012, 09:40:33 PM

Quote from: Mike on March 10, 2012, 07:55:10 PM

(Image removed from quote.)

I am very glad you didn't lose your finger, or worse! OUCH!

Mike

It's not my fault I tell ya!!

My snowblower doesn't have the warning decal!

ironraven · **Reply #25 on:** March 10, 2012, 10:31:48 PM

So... Is it safe to assume that next year you'll have a paint stirring stick dummy corded to the snow blower by next winter?

Craig · **Reply #26 on:** March 10, 2012, 11:39:06 PM

Quote from: ironraven on March 10, 2012, 10:31:48 PM

So... Is it safe to assume that next year you'll have a paint stirring stick dummy corded to the snow blower by next winter?

Might be a good idea if the manufacturers fitted something like that as standard.

Get well soon, Bob.

Mr. Whippy · **Reply #27 on:** March 10, 2012, 11:45:55 PM

I have 6 uncles on my mom's side. Oddly only my Uncle Bob has lost digits in machinery (baler to be precise--but not unlike a snowblower). Maybe it's a "Guy named Bob" sort of thing...

Ashley · **Reply #28 on:** March 11, 2012, 12:24:36 AM

Here's to a quite speedy recovery Bob

Sent from Ash forum mobile

edap617 · **Reply #29 on:** March 11, 2012, 12:37:25 AM

I'm so sorry to hear about the accident Bob. I hope your wound will heal fast.

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