And, what else.
Well, I went to the conference on Friday, and I gave my presentation, and (of course) it went just fine. I was able to answer all my questions. And my cutie-pie dad came all the way to the meeting, and walked around on crutches all day [he had both knees replaced a month ago] just to support me. (maybe not 'just' to support me. He might have learned some stuff too, hopefully.) And, he bought me a ridiculously overpriced super nerd present from the vendor too. (A little 3-in-1 two-point discriminator, goniometer, and penlight. Yeah, I know you're jealous.) So... that went well. Then when I got back into town friday night, we went to see a super fun swing band, and watching the couples who REALLY know how to dance made me really want to learn. They were having so much fun. So, that's on my list.
Sunday went to get a christmas tree... trekked out to a tree farm in the boonies... kneeled in the snow/mud to cut it down... drove home at about 5mph b/c we were afraid it would blow off the roof of the car... and finally put it up. And- it's now thursday and I only have half the lights up. Ack. (so, "decorate tree" is still on the list, along with "buy presents", "make cookies", "send christmas cards" and "tell mom a few things I'd like so she will stop asking". I'd better get cracking!)
Then yesterday it snowed for the first time. Only a couple inches, totally no big deal. I went to drive in to work, and OMFG it was the worst drive to work I've ever had! I don't get it! I figured after 5 years in buffalo with no trouble (in my little MINI, with NO snow tires, I only got stuck once- and that was in my own driveway during the october storm) that 2 inches of new england snow was no biggie. Well, I had ZERO traction, and my traction-control kept kicking in, so I could not get ANY speed, and was going so slow I was probably dangerous. Even though I had the gas floored. WTF?! Maybe I need snow tires. It WAS wet snow, maybe it was extra slippery? Dunno.
But so I was on call yesterday. Bad timing. I was in the OR all morning, and by the time I got out I had about 4 messages from the ER. And a message from the resident who sounded a little overwhelmed. By the time I met him in the ER it was about noon, and he was trying to handle SEVEN snowblower injuries.
WHAT THE FUCK, PEOPLE?
"don't stick your hand in the snowblower" is not fucking rocket science!!! By the end of today the grand total of mangled hands seen was ten.
And here's the gross pic. This is how I spent about 5hr (in the OR) yesterday afternoon. [sadly, the fingers were too mangled to re-attach. And that stringy thing is a tendon. I don't have a pic, but the fingers are in another bucket, with more tendons trailing out of them like that.]
(picture removed for decency's sake)
I flew past the picture cause I didn't want to see it. In fact we where talking a little bit about this Journal last night at the estrip pot luck. I Think I said something along the lines of if there where no identifying marks then it would be ok because it doesn't breach confidentlity. I also said that If I was asked about the picture being posted I would say yes. But if I found the picture on line and wasn't asked and the picture was snuck then I would be upset. But that is just me, I say keep it up as a warning to others.
ooohh, and I was just reading something about prostheses in Science/Nature (I forget) but they were discussing the possibility of a chip controlled prostheses that would receive precisely controlled input from human nervous electrical charge (further up from the prosthesis or directly from the spinal cord segment controlling the appendage) and transmit them to the prosthesis - basically doing what the human body does.
The day that becomes commercial, the humanoid robot may not be a thing from fiction and amputees need not think it's the end of the world (and you will be aided by computer scientists - possibly in the OR, to determined personalized patient voltages and other patient-specific characteristics!)
Nice to hear the follow-up to the surgery. I think your specialization is so cool. :-)
PS: Weren't you the one agonizing over lack of readers? Well... now you know what gets you vocal readers here. Hahaha
wow! lotsa comments.
To respond-
@Tiny- yes, I agree. Losing hand function is devastating, which is why fixing it is so satisfying. And single finger prostheses are not very common, b/c they are considered cosmetic, and are very expensive (and not often covered by insurance). That said- the silicone cosmetic prostheses they make now are INCREDIBLE. Totally realistic (but not functional). They DO make really amazing functional hand prostheses now. don't look much like real hands, but they MOVE and work. They have ones that hook up to nerves and everything. super cool.
@Dcoffee - are you kidding, or does your snowblower seriously have a cartoon of fingers getting cut off? If so, that is AWESOME. And yes, 2-3 finger hands do really well. this guy will have a thumb and ring/little- he should do fine, once the shock wears off and he makes it through rehab.
@jbeatty- I don't think mower accidents are as common, b/c I think when they're off, they're OFF. Unlike snowblowers. At least, I certainly hope they are.
@drew- that's what I'm saying. My car throttles down so much to prevent spinning, that even when I floored the gas, it wouldn't go any faster than about 5mph b/c anything more would just spin.
@Lauren- that picture was taken in the OR, before we got started. I just took it with my phone while waiting.
And finally, @Jim- lol.
And to clarify-
this guy lost his index/middle fingers. In that pic the ring finger is there, but it's flexed. the thumb and ring were all busted too, but we fixed them. So he should end up with a pretty good thumb, and ring/little to work with, which should do pretty well.
Drew: Speed is like violence, if it's not working yet you need more of it.
@Lauren, I think technically, thrower is more accurate.
@Jim, REALLY?
I disagree Drew, when in doubt floor it.
random, but related question. i hear often enough in Buffalo "snowTHROWER" as opposed (?) to snowblower. At least, I thought I did, but none of you said it. Course, I don't think there are too many native Buffalonians in this crowd. Hmm.
Seriously though Jenks, how did you manage to take this picture?? :)
If you are driving in slick conditions and you floor it, you will not go any faster. You will in fact go slower because you will lose more and more traction, and you will create more and more ice beneath you.
(e:vincent) I can't think of the kids name, other than a nickname a few of us (Janelle R. and Mike R.) had for him- "meatball". He lived on my street.. Mark, maybe? Is that the kid you are talking about? Funny if it is because anytime I hear of anyone's fingers or toes being cut off, I think of him. That story stayed with me (never saw his foot, or lack of..)always. And the image of his flopping sneaker!
Yikes is all I say say as I can't believe I actually scrolled down to take a look as I'm squeamish.
I remember as a kid there was someone with whom I played baseball with who had 1/2 of a foot. The story was that as a kid he was mowing the lawn barefoot and something or another happened. It was just weird to see his run as his sneaker would just fold in half. Later on I guess he got a prosthetic but it's still something that stuck with me.
Wow, that is a crazy picture. I know a guy who was/is a really great bass player who lost his fingertips doing that. It's a shame that guy lost half of his hand. I'll bet you can wait for the first day of mowing season.
ok maybe I will sell my snowblower after all. I never use the thing. Seems pointless, we only use about 1/3 of the driveway for the car. I'm young, I can spare the 20 minutes.
Now that kinda makes me freaked out. First I laughed at the warning picture of the poor stick figure guy getting his fingers thrown out the top. I promise Jenks I will never stick my hand or foot or anything living in a snowblower.
To make you feel better, my father in law is missing parts of 3 fingers, and he's the craftiest dude I know, using his thumb and pinky to build stuff you could live in.
AAAAgrh, grammar.
Do they prosthetic fingers nowadays? At least everything till the end of his palm might potential be working, no?
That beats every road kill pic I ever took in grossness. I can't even believe it's real. I would be so fucked without my hands.
That is so sad. The hand is one of worse things to mess up in the body.
Your niece is the cutest little girl I have seen in a long while.
A need to unclog the packed icy-snow makes sense. That is SCARY though that it could still be powered even after shutting it off. Yuck.
Used a snowblower for a long time and never felt compelled to reach in, even less so while it was RUNNING???? whatthe hell makes guys think that?
Oh no, (e:jenks)! Don't take it down and don't feel bad. I was being evil. Apologies!
14 is an awful lot of snowblower injuries.
Aw crap... I wasn't making fun!
I debated whether or not to post the pic- but in the end decided it's ok b/c there's no idenitifying info.
Now I feel bad. :(
Should I take it down?
I feel terrible for the guy. Most of the people just lost fingertips, if anything. Only one had to go to the OR. It was sad to not be able to save the fingers. But in most cases, bad fingers are worse than no fingers.
And carey- apparently one sticks one's hand in a snowblower to unclog chunks of ice. And in their defense, apparently even if you turn it off, there's lots of stored up energy, so once you get it unclogged, it spring to life and rotates a few times. So, turning it off is not enough.
Also had a 3 year old girl yesterday who "stuck her hand in a blender". not sure I believe that one- but that's irrelevant. We fixed her the best we could.
And one guy told me today that his record for snowblower injuires is 14 in one day, so we weren't even close!
I'm disturbingly enthralled with that mutilated hand picture.I've never used a snow blower so.. under what circumstances would someone stick their hand in one? Good grief, ten mangled hands in one night? Too bad about the fingers. Well anyways, give him a high five for us. bahahaha
Did you tell the poor guy, "Just because you didn't read the instructions on the snowblower, I'm going to take a picture of your mangled hand and post it on my blog so I can make fun of it."? <evil giggle> Well, I guess we've all been warned.
Love the picture of niece on rocking sheep!!