On November 22, 2003 I was building some cabinet doors and managed to stick my thumb in the table saw. Here's an account of the event which I sent to sever friends.

Saturday, two weeks ago, I was building the frames for my kitchen cabinets. I was using a table saw with a dado blade. The piece I was cutting kicked back and somehow I managed to get my right thumb into the blade. I took out most of the meat from just below the middle joint to within a quarter inch of the end. All of this in the soft, finger print side. I also cut both bones, the ligament and broke it.

To say that this hurt is an understatement. Amazingly I didn't yelp or curse. And I remained calm. Mostly because I didn't want to overly excite Miss Nina since I needed her to drive me to the hospital.

Anyway, I went into surgery about three hours later. Because it hadn't been eight hours since I had eaten, they gave me three options on how to have the surgery. I elected what I thought they called a "beer block." This meant that I would be awake during the surgery. Basically they start at the fingers and wrap the arm very tightly, squeezing out most of the blood. Then they apply two tourniquets at the upper arm and fill the lower arm with lidacaine. They started to put a curtain up so I couldn't see, but I ask them not to and indicated that "I might need to help." Since I was laying down and my arm wasn't elevated, I didn't have the best of views, but I could see most of what was going on. It was actually pretty impressive. The doctor had to make an additional incision at the base of my thumb to get the ligament. He drilled two holes through the front of the thumb and out the back, going through the bone. This was so he could re-attach the ligament to the bone. So there are two wires coming out the back of my thumb and four out the front. There's also a button on the back of the thumb to thread the wires through. Presently it's cutting into my thumb and hurts. There was also a piece of meat hanging to the side which they were able to reattach. He wasn't sure that it was going to take. So far it has.

I've been to the doctor twice since the surgery to change the bandages. They won't allow me to do it since it has to be kept very sterile, else it'll rot off. I go in Monday to have the stitches removed. I'm not sure when the wire come out. Nor am I looking forward to it. I have a cast on the outside of the thumb midway down to my lower arm. I'm guessing I'll have to wear it another four to six weeks.

I haven't seen it straight on during either of the bandage changes since it hurts to turn it over. But from a profile view it reminds me of a Frankenstein movie. I'll have my digital camera on Monday and will have pictures for those so inclined.

My doctor has told me that I'll have to go to therapy and that it will be arthritic due to cutting the bone on both sides of the middle joint. How much functionality I'll lose is unknown.

I guess all things being equal, I'm rather lucky. The conversation the doctor and I had right before surgery sums it up best.

ME: Well doc, I guess you've seen worse.
DOC: Yeah. I've seen 'em off!

Here's a few pictures from my November 22, 2003 encounter with my table saw.

I cut my right thumb on the soft, fingerprint side with a dado blade. I took out a lot of skin and flesh from the middle joint to about a 1/4" from the end. I also cut the ligament, cut both bones, chipped the bones,cut an artery and broke my thumb.

December 8, 2003 at the doctor's office. The button on the back has two wires running through it. They go through the skin and the bone and hold the ligament in place so that it will reattach to the bone. And yes, the button is cutting into my thumb.

My Doctor took the pictures at my request. He asked me where I was going to put the picture. "Right above the table saw seems like a good place to me Doc" was my reply.

December 8, 2003 at the doctor's office. The more painful side of the cut. The cut at the base of the thumb is an incision that the doctor made during surgery to get a hold of the ligament. He removed about ten stitches right after this picture. Neither of us enjoyed the experience.

Day 17. December 9, 2003 at home. My first time to have to clean my thumb. This is after cleaning it. This is 19 days after the accident, so a lot of healing has occurred.

December 9, 2003 at home. Just another view. Notice the one stitch in the lower joint. It would not come out. The rest of the stitches will come out Monday, December 15th. I'm not looking forward to it.

December 9, 2003 at home. A view from the back side. It's still swollen about 50% larger than normal.

December 15, 2003. The rest of the stitches, about 12,were removed today. The area in the middle which was completely cut out is healing nicely. It's scabbed over, but still oozes and bleeds. Notice the wires sticking out. There are four of them in the bunch. They're there to help hold the ligament in place. They come out December 29th.

December 15, 2003. Another view.

December 15, 2003. Some of the swelling is gone. There are two wires going through the button. They come out December 29th also. I'm sure that will be another red letter day for Mr. Thumbkin.

My Doctor thinks Mr. Tuumbkin looks pretty good. I've seen Mr. Thumbkin look better, but all things being equal, it does look a lot better than it did 3 weeks ago.The ligament is still attached to the bone (it's bent forward), or at least it's being held against the bone with the wires.Whether it's going to stay attached or not is still a question. Assuming it does, I will have pretty good functionality in the thumb, but it will never be 100%.

December 17, 2003. Mr. Lefty and Mr. Thumbkin side by side. Mr. Thumbkin is decidedly swollen and larger.

December 17, 2003. Another Side by side view.

December 29, 2003. The wires that have been holding the ligament against the bone were removed today. To say that it was less than pleasant is an understatement. The conversation between my doctor and I went something like this:

Doc: Ok, just lay back and relax.

Me: Is this gonna hurt doc?

(The Doc grabs hold of the fours wires on the bottom with a pair of pliers and pulls the wires very hard and fast. This also pulls the wires coming out the back of my thumb. They travel from the back of the thumb and out the bottom.)

Doc: Umm, yeah!

The button is also gone. You can see one of the holes where the wire came out the back of the thumb. It's the red spot just left of the thumb nail. The other hole is above it, but next to the nail. You can also see that the thumb is bent slightly. This is the result of having cut away part of the bone. The drawing below shows the area of bone damage.

It's still swollen about 35% larger than normal. The doctor says this is normal and it will remain swollen for many months. He wouldn't quantify that statement, but he didn't disagree when I ask if that meant five or six.

The drawing is oriented the same as the picture above, and the view is from the back side of the thumb. The red area is the part of bone that was cut away during the accident. It actually extends around the thumb to the bottom side.

Another view from the bottom side. The bend is also visible from this side.

January 6, 2004. I started therapy January 2nd. It's coming along pretty good. The base joint is working really well, but there's no movement in the middle joint. But, I think it'll be working by the end of the week. It's still hypersensitive, particularly on the side where the bone is cut. I still haven't gotten up the nerve to trim the nail.

January 6, 2004. It looks a bit nasty in this picture, but that's due to the Neosporin softetening up the wound. And the scab on the end of the thumb is beginning to turn lose.

January 6, 2004. From the otherside.

January 7, 2004. It looks much better. The cut at the end of the thumb looks amazingly good and the surgical incision at the base of the thumb is completely healed.

January 7, 2004. A closeup of the previous picture. The shiny look is due to the Neosporin.

January 7, 2004. Just another view.

Due to continued pain in the wrist I went to the doctor on January 6, 2004. He examined and x-rayed the wrist area. It is fractured and there is a piece of bone floating above the wrist. In the x-ray the broken piece appears to be somewhat triangular in shape and about 0.5 cm in length and height. It was uncertain as to the exact source of the piece of bone, but he believes it is the pisiotriquetral, labeled P above, which has broken away and the fracture is in the triquetral (Tr above). Since the wrist was in a splint for five weeks, and over six weeks have now passed, the fracture has healed. He doesn't think the piece floating around will pose any problems long term. If it does, it can be easily removed.

January 14, 2004.

Day 70. January 31, 2004. It looks a little odd at the end. Mostly because the pad part of the thumb is very puffy. The red spot is wear I thought the gauze was sticking out of the wound. My doctor says it was a stitch. He cut it off during my last visit on January 20, 2004. It had a fabric look. He tried to pull it out, but wasn't able to. Whatever it is, it's keeping the wound from completely healing. I still think it was a piece of gauze. And it's still in there.

I'm going to therapy 3 times a week. Everything is working well except the middle joint. The joint at the base of the thumb moves very well and without any pain. The index finger, although not injured in the accident, is still a little stiff from lack of use. It only bends to about 90 degrees when I first wake up. After very little stretching it can be forced to bend 100%, but only about 90% without external pressure. The middle joint of the thumb has almost no movement if any. If it does have any movement, it's no more than 5 degrees.

Day 70, January 31, 2004

Day 70, January 31, 2004. A view of the back of the thumb. It's a bit crooked. The nail doesn't feel like it's firmly attached.