[TheForge] Re: fingers -- re-attachment best practices??

[Mike Spencer]

In the 70s, a guy here got a finger whacked off in a fish processing
machine.  His mates stemmed the bleeding, threw him into a car and
went tearing off to the hospital, 20 miles away.

In the fish plant, they partially dismantled the machine, found his
finger in the accumulated fish scrap, bagged it, put it on ice
(plentiful in a fish plant) and sent a second car tearing off to the
hospital.

Word was that reattachment was successful.  Never heard the final
outcome re. recovered mobility and control. That kind of surgery has
advanced enormously in the last 30 years so yes, bag and ice any lost
parts. 

In the 50s, my friend saved my life by applying a tourniquet after a
failed rocket experiment.  A piece of metal had passed through my
middle finger at the medial/distal joint, nearly severing it and
others severed my ulnar artery. Happily, my friend had Scout
training (tourniquet managed correctly) and an orthopedic surgeon was
on call so I kept the distal phalanx, albeit with a frozen joint. I'm
very grateful to those guys.  The only thing I can't do that I'd like
to is finger-pick a banjo.

My advice: Check first for arterial exsanguination. (Well, airway
first, then exsanguination, but the OP asked about injuries to
extremities, not face/neck.)


FWIW,
- Mike

-- 
Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada       .~. 
                                                           /V\ 
mspencer at tallships.ca                                     /( )\
http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/                        ^^-^^