Unfortunately I've seen pictures like that too many times for comfort.
Two years ago I watched whilst a very skilled surgeon at Wythenshawe Hospital in Manchester put my badly damaged right thumb back together under local anaesthetic and a tourniquet. It was fascinating in a way to be so detached from what was happening, at least initially, but towards the end of a 25 minute procedure the amount of pain in my right arm became almost unbearable, despite no less than 9 shots of anaesthetic, and it was necessary for a nurse to restrain me physically whilst the surgeon finished up. At least I couldn't feel the stitches going in :?
Once out of theatre I was OK for another 8 hours or so until the local anaesthetic began to wear off. I then endured what I can only describe as one the most painful 4 or 5 hours of my entire life. Apparently you have a huge number of sensory nerves in your fingers and thumbs which makes the hands one of the more painful parts of the body to injure. Believe me, I was a biker and I've had my share of broken bones and road rash but absolutely nothing could compare with the amount of pain I was in when everything "woke up" so to speak. I cannot begin to comprehend the amount of pain that amputee would have been in at that juncture. In my case I was eventually returned to hospital that evening and an elephantine dose of painkillers administered so that I could get some rest. I was only off work for a few days, although on pain killers for about a month. The thumb took three months to heal, nearly six months to get almost full motor function back, and two years later I still don't have full sense of feeling or strength in the thumb - and probably never will. Which is one of the reasons I can't/don't text (so at least one plus in the whole episode :lol: )
Whilst attending hospital afterwards for physio I met quite a few people who'd experienced work-related trauma injuries, many much more serious than my own. What struck me was the number who said something along the lines of "if only I'd known better" or "it was just a momentary lapse".
This wasn't my first woodworking machinery related accident, and it won't be the last I feel sure, but hopefully it will be the most serious. I am constantly trying to ensure that it is. I trust that helps explain part of my somewhat zealous approach to safety and why I'm not really so jocular about it.
Thank you for posting this Niki. It makes a point more graphically than I could.
Scrit
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