So, my mum was ill last week with the regular flu. I just gave her a call on my lunch hour to have a hardy har-har about swine flu with her, only to find her answering my call from the hospital in Moca. She is fine. The picture of health. My dad on the other hand.... Where do I start? My father is a klutz. He has no idea where his body parts are at any given time. Join this with his love for power tools and you have a disaster waiting to happen. Long story short, he removed the better part of his left thumb with a machete trying to open a coconut. Sounds like a joke, right? I swear it is not. I have to go to Moca after work today to help finish off the lawn (tomorrow, of course) and all the other odd things for this week. My stomach is loose and ookie because I have a horrid phobia of amputation (I think I may have mentioned this in the past) and I will not be able to look at my dad's hand without making quick how-do-you-do with floor.
Ohh...your poor dad. I wish him a speedy recovery. I advise you to hide all the power tools and machete's when you get to your folks' place. Try not to stare at the thumb. Just treat your dad like he's your dad...just don't offer to change the bandage. Once it heals up...it should be easier. Just think of it as a short thumb...not a partially amputated one. At least..you didn't do it. I personally amputated my cal Bailey's tail with a door. That was traumatic...I am sure who had it worse though... I am pretty sure HE doesn't remember it now. I will live it forever.
Yikes! Poor kittie.... Yeah, I'm going to do my best. My big worry (lord help me, this is so many kinds of selfish, but just to get it off my chest...) is that now I'm gonna' have to be shuttling back and forth all the time to help with the property. It's a huge hunk of land. Four acres. There might be some rich folks here on the forum who consider that puny, but it's more land than all the houses I have ever lived in put together! Anyway. Yeah... I see myself as the groundskeeper here in a bit.
Make William help and forbid him to wear a shirt. At least you will have something nice to look at while working.
OMG! Thank you so much. That just made me laugh so hard, and right when I needed it. If I get to the pearly gates before you, I'll make sure get an upgrade.
your poor dad and poor you. I have a phobia of scars and amputations. My advice is just don't look at his hands. When my father in law had his leg amputated he came for a visit in the summer and would walk around in shorts. My husband had to ask him not to as I would get butterflies in my stomach and just come close to passing out. So kind of just look past his hand. And do not do the same thing he did. You are a good son to help out when they need it. And 4 acres is still a good chunk of land wealthy or not it still has to be cared for.
Nah, your dad will go back to doing what he loves. I don't see you being a grounds keeper anytime soon. My husbands grandpa at age 85 decided to work with wood and a circular saw thing and loped his fingers off thumb, pointer and part of the bird. Well my husbands family is far from normal, they bought gloves and took the fingers off that he didn't need. It was suppose to be a joke, but it made me and my husband gag. Just try not to look at it. I know that will be hard, but soon you will be use to it.
and when William gets burned to a crisp you will have the pleasure of slothering burn cream all over his poor abused body. maybe a muscle shirt would be better than no shirt.
Is there any chance of reattaching his thumb? Anyway, make sure you breathe normally before you enter the room, and that you have had adequate nutition (low blood sugar and hypoxia will make you more likely to kiss the floor). Also, plan tour approach to make the best use of physical supports. I understand about the groundskeeping. You do have your own life, and even if it is selfish to resent circumstances tat interfere wiith that life, selfishness is only a bad word if you allow it to be. You do need to take care of yourself, to make your life a priority. People who try to tell you otherwise are full of it.
My great unlce cut his thumb offwith an axe while splitting firewood. Dad took the tip of his right index pinger off with a planer. Wallace got his thumb reattached, dad didn't find his finger tip for another week. tl;dr surgeons are great anymore. If he has the bits they'll fix em right up.
It depends on how long it took to get both patient and thumb to hospital...how much of the thumb was removed...whether it was a clean cut or mangled...whether patient is older or has diabetes or other problem that would affect healing...there are lots of factors
A machete probably would have made a pretty clean cut, if swung to split a coconut. At least that factor should be favorable.
People can get by just fine missing part of a thumb. I had an art teacher who was right handed and chopped off most of his right thumb in a paper cutter...he still found a way to hold a paintbrush and do wonderful things.
Nope, the missing bit remains missing. It appears the whack gave the now departed thumb segment a trajectory into the woods behind the house. Lots of leaf litter.
Some poor critter will be left to find the remains of his thumb! oh gawsh. Sorry to hear about your father's accident, Wrey! Hopefully, if anything, this will remind him to be a little more careful when cutting strange fruit Or using any dangerous tools, for that matter. I hope he has good care at the hospital and is on the mend quickly.
Ouch. At least it wasn't the whole thumb? I hope he recovers quickly. My brother hacked off the tip of his thumb in a freak tortilla-cutting accident. A also used to work with a guy who lost his index finger in a meat grinder. I made it a point never to accept anything from him that involved ground meat.
My friend once was on her boat, and she was trying to get from her boat to another that was pulled up alongside. She put her hand on the edge of the other boat so it wouldn't drift away, but a wave suddenly rocked the boats -- one boat slammed into the other and the next thing I knew, my friend's thumb was in 2 pieces on the deck. She went to the hospital and they were able to stitch the thumb back on!
Well, he seems ok. His thumb is pretty well mummy wrapped and so it is not gross to look at as of yet. No stitches have been taken at the moment. He'll be going back in two days to ensure that there is no infection prior to closing the wound because there was bone loss involved and they want to avoid at all cost osteomyelitis (bone infection.) All that being said, he seems ok.
Hope your dad recovers soon. It's amazing how people can adapt. Our next door neighbour is a furniture restorer and he lost most of the last 3 fingers on his right hand but still manages to work. If it's a clean amputation it's actually not that obvious, you'd be surprised. You'll probably cease to notice it in a short while. Best of luck to you all, and make sure that garden is looking great for his return!
Think about all the great jokes in the future..."Hey dad, gimme high four!" My best friend in the bass fishing world lost a thumb and finger in a shop accident in high school. Many years later, he became a butcher in the local meat market. His favorite stunt was to wrap someone's meat order in butcher paper and push it across the counter to the customer with his three fingered hand on top. Everyone noticed and a few people turned white. One lady passed out. Danny got fired! LOL My wife and I went out to dinner with Danny and his wife after he won $35,000 in a bass tournament. It was a great BBQ joint and after the meal, we all opened our Handi-wipe packages to get the moistened towelette inside. Having no thumb on one hand, Danny couldn't open his tough plastic package. Unfortunately, he made a sarcastic comment to his wife moments earlier and she refused to help him. She also demanded that my wife and I "stay out of it", so Danny road home with BBQ sauce smeared across his cheeks. Sorry of make light of your dad's situation, but it really can produce some funny moments in the future.
