Sliced finger in di...
 

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[Closed] Sliced finger in disc, re-constructive surgery on Wednesday. Ouch.

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 barn
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Is this a classic 'noobie' injury or am I just a total doughnut?
Was in the forest, re-fitted front wheel and gave it a good hard spin to check pad-rub... only trouble is I left a finger in the way and bang, splat...

Crushed and split - blood everywhere, destroyed nail - chopped to the bone.

Wrapped it up (thanks for the gaffa tape idea I got from here) rode home (one handed) and went to A and E who referred me to specialist surgery.
They reckon they can sort it and save the end of the finger but boy do I feel stooopid.
It also hurt quite a lot.

Anyone done similar or am I literally the biggest plonker out here?


 
Posted : 09/01/2012 10:18 pm
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bin done 😉

But Im sympathetic...

Wasnt it someone called "fingers" at On-One who did it?


 
Posted : 09/01/2012 10:21 pm
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Ouch - hope it gets sorted, I've cut myself on discs before when working on the bike in the cold (rushing, not paying attention) but my worst disc related injury was a burn after a long descent - 'that looks really hot' say I before touching it just to make sure, still have the mark.


 
Posted : 09/01/2012 10:22 pm
 awh
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I've done that on the first day of a holiday in Morzine. We'd driven down overnight so I'd only had about 1hr sleep when I reassembled my bike. Luckily my injury wasn't nearly as bad.


 
Posted : 09/01/2012 10:23 pm
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Not something you'll do again I bet!

I worked in a ham processing place as a student. Cleanliness is next to godliness was pretty much their motto. Nobody would ever be daft enough to put their fingers on the slicing machine blade was their health and safety talk.

I still have a proper lump on the top of my left finger after absent - mindedly cleaning the slicer. Fortunatly they found the top of my finger (otherwise the whole days work was going to be binned)

Still have a daft looking left forefinger to remind me. So you're not alone! Hope you get better soon!


 
Posted : 09/01/2012 10:25 pm
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When i was in school a lad got 3 of his fingers trapped between the chain and front chain ring, on a single speed bike of his grandads, he didnt half scream when the chain ring was wound back releasing his fingers, seriously mangled.


 
Posted : 09/01/2012 10:25 pm
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I did the tip of one of mine with an electric hedge trimmer when I was about 12

put my finger on the top row of blades and pressed the trigger. I have no idea why other than to see if I could hold it still enough to keep touching the top row without, err, ... I "knew" what would happen - what a nob !

Couldn't tell my parents so I taped it up and left it. Luckily sorted itself

The "dead" bit is almost invisible except when my hands are cold


 
Posted : 09/01/2012 10:26 pm
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I did that when I just got my first MTB with disc brakes. 😳 The night before my first off-road ride on it, too. 😳 😳

Din'talf hurt.


 
Posted : 09/01/2012 10:27 pm
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Pics.?


 
Posted : 09/01/2012 10:29 pm
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No I dont get it, where exactly do you (not) put your fingers? So's I know where to keep my pinkies away from


 
Posted : 09/01/2012 10:30 pm
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So's I know where to keep my pinkies away from

Spokes. Maybe we shouldnt tell you so you can post up next January with some mangled digits.


 
Posted : 09/01/2012 10:30 pm
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oh, and my mum used to work in a lab where they used microtomes to prepare microscopy slides. Guy was carrying one of the blades, dropped it and put out his foot to catch it. She thinks it got maybe half way through 😯


 
Posted : 09/01/2012 10:31 pm
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I chopped the first joint of my right index finger off with a penknife when I was 13. Right through the joint, severed both tendons, it was hanging on by a sliver of skin. After some fancy stitching and power-drill work from a very clever chap in Glasgow Royal Infirmary, then a few months in a cast with a pin sticking out of the end of it, they remobilised it and it worked fine. I even got all the feeling back after a couple of years. Looks a bit wonky but I can use it for writing, typing, one-finger braking, no problems. Hurts a bit more than usual if I whack it on something, that's all.

I also know a guy who somehow put his whole hand into his front wheel whilst going at a fair clip - they rebuilt that too and it was seriously messy. He can still play guitar and piano.

It's amazing what they can do. You'll probably be fine. Good luck!


 
Posted : 09/01/2012 10:33 pm
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My daft one was sticking my finger in the grain auger on a combine harvester when I was about 12! It wasn't my fault, the Archimedes screw hypnotized me into it honest!

I took the top right off my rudey sticky up finger and was too embarrassed to tell anyone about it, till Mum on the farm noticed my oozing mess! It was too late to sort it out and it's been causing me slight problems ever since!


 
Posted : 09/01/2012 10:33 pm
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Anyone done similar or am I literally the biggest plonker out here?

I did something similar when viewing a car (Pug 209 GTi) in the early 90s. Popped the bonnet, gave it the "I know what I'm doing" and then proceeded to put the fingers of my right hand against the spinning vanes of the alternator. Cue grinding noise, blood and a 'Ggrrhrnnnrnhrhh'. Owner was in the house at the time so out he comes (oblivious to my stupidity) and says "Wanna take it for a spin mate?" Couldn't say 'No" could I ... so there I was doing a 10 min loop while constantly rubbing blood against anything from the steering column to the seat. Finished the drive and made my departure (without buying) pretty sharpish.


 
Posted : 09/01/2012 10:39 pm
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Did it spinning cranks with finger. Finger went under chain and through front mech whilst in big ring position. Squealed.


 
Posted : 09/01/2012 10:39 pm
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*Waits for Tim "Fingers" Kershaw to post pics & description* 🙂


 
Posted : 09/01/2012 10:46 pm
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I was chatting to the AA man who administered last rites to my old beemer

Radiator fans apparently have some viscous coupling (or sommit) that only engages the fan when the engine's warm. Prior to that, the fan will spin but you can stop it with a finger. All the new trainees get shown that you can do it, just without mentioning the "only when cold" bit 😉


 
Posted : 09/01/2012 10:47 pm
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My mum put her fingers into the still spinning blade of a Flymo many years ago.

Another guy I've worked with was making set panels when he reached under the wood to clear the blade of the circular saw and pulled the trigger at the same time. The blade split his finger in half lengthways. The surgeons saved it by temporarily stitching it back together and to the adjacent finger and taking the blood supply from there.


 
Posted : 09/01/2012 10:48 pm
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You weren't the guy at swinley near the top of the labyrith on Sunday?

I checked up on someone who had done the same. They had a riding buddy and phones and all seemed under control.


 
Posted : 09/01/2012 10:50 pm
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my cousin is a tip of his thumb and four fingers down after a motorbike chain accident!!


 
Posted : 09/01/2012 10:55 pm
 dyl
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My girlfriend got me out of bed on Thursday because she was late for work and her wheels (which she'd just put back on) weren't spinning properly. The bike was already upside down. The back wheel wasn't on properly - just undid & redid quick release - sorted. The front disc rotor was catching slightly on the pads - no big deal, I should have left it - but half asleep I decided to fix it, since I was up. Undid the caliper to line it up properly. Put my right hand on the caliper and with my left, spun the wheel as hard as I could. At this point, I discovered there isn't quite enough room between the spokes and the caliper for a thumb.

There was lots of blood and the world went fuzzy for a bit and I had to lie down on the floor. Fortunately she's a doctor and always has some steri-strips handy, so she stuck my thumb back together for me before she left for work.


 
Posted : 09/01/2012 10:56 pm
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Caught a glancing blow from one of my rotors in a moment of pure numptyness!Sliced through and about a third of the way up the nail, I opted for a rather nifty home steri strip repair.
[img] [/img]


 
Posted : 09/01/2012 11:06 pm
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I've lost half my right little finger after clipping a road work sign at ahem, 80mph on my motorbike about 18 years ago now. It's really hard to hold a full Handful of M&M's without some escaping from the side....
Brake discs are evil...

I work in furniture making so unfortunately see a lot of stumps about as well as my own. Our old technician at uni we called Dave-no-fingers. He once was working on a bandsaw and wanted to clear the table of dust. Without thinking he swept his hand across the table and through the blade. Dave no fingers.... 🙁


 
Posted : 09/01/2012 11:08 pm
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Darn that sounds sore OP.

I've done it too, but just nipped the end of my finger.

When I was about five, I caught the tips of three fingers in the sliding door of a Bedford van. These old sixties vans had doors like a safe. When it closed it locked automatically. My dad had tossed the keys into one of half a dozen identical brown paper bags of messages. They emptied them all out onto the floor in a bid to find the key and unlock it.

I nearly lost the tops off all three fingers, but they stitched them together. The nail beds are still misshapen, my ring finger pulped.

I hate threads like these.


 
Posted : 09/01/2012 11:18 pm
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I tore the end off my middle finger after walking into the glass at the end of a bus shelter. it bowed out and left a gap. I grabbed the pillar to steady myself and the glass came back and pinned it. I then paniced and yanked.

This was stupid.


 
Posted : 09/01/2012 11:29 pm
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somebody's going to have to post a degloving pic, sooner or later


 
Posted : 09/01/2012 11:31 pm
 barn
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@ sam_underhill

Yep! That was me! Thanks for stopping - I remember (vaguely).

Some quality blunders from the rest of you which have made me feel a lot better.


 
Posted : 09/01/2012 11:38 pm
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That table saw is amazing!


 
Posted : 09/01/2012 11:47 pm
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M worst moment of stupidity in this vein was not with moving parts but electricity. I was about 16, and was swapping fuses between two plugs to see if it was the fuse that was the problem or not. Mistake one; 'Shan't bother putting the cover back on the plug I thought, it's probably not the fuse, and I'll want it back to put back in the working appliance.' I thought... Mistake two, the biggy; 'hmm, I'll just quickly plug it in to test it, without the back on the plug, I'll need to push the prongs in directly, one per thumb...)

WALLOP! (even as I was lifting my hands towards the plug, there was a small voice in the back ofmy mind going 'hang on. Stop. Think about it. Noooo....'

I have a special empathy for patients that I defibrillate these days...


 
Posted : 09/01/2012 11:49 pm
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surprisingly i'm one of the a select number of chippies that still has all his fingers. although i did once manage to sink a 1" chisel into my arm.... (???)


Another guy I've worked with was making set panels when he reached under the wood to clear the blade of the circular saw and pulled the trigger at the same time. The blade split his finger in half lengthways. The surgeons saved it by temporarily stitching it back together and to the adjacent finger and taking the blood supply from there.

errgghhh...

I tore the end off my middle finger after walking into the glass at the end of a bus shelter. it bowed out and left a gap. I grabbed the pillar to steady myself and the glass came back and pinned it. I then paniced and yanked.

drunk? how do you walk into a bus shelter - unless your drunk....

a friend was cleaning his new ninga (or whatever) motorbike. stuck his finger in the disc to turn the wheel and couldn't get his finger out in time. his finger met the caliper, but the wheel kept on turning... he couldn't ride his new machine that summer and had to wait the best part of a year till he could ride again (bavarian winters... not many bikes out on the snow/ice).

a guy in our workshop took off the end of his fingers on the table saw a few months back. he left a lot of blood everywhere and now has stubby fingers on his left hand. we made him a pushery-througher thing and wrote "i'm replaceable, but your fingers are not" on it. 🙂

i've a friend who dropped a router into his leg. nice big boily scar on his thigh.


 
Posted : 09/01/2012 11:55 pm
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Proper lol at this thread. i broke my hand on a wall ride once. but none of it fell off fortunatley


 
Posted : 10/01/2012 12:04 am
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@barn , no worries, fingers crossed they stitch it back on ok, and you have a speedy recovery.


 
Posted : 10/01/2012 7:28 am
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[i]fingers crossed[/i]

rub it in why don't you, go on 😉


 
Posted : 10/01/2012 7:39 am
 TimK
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Ah yes, i was the original idiot to trim my finger end off on a disc rotor a few years ago. Here are the lovely pics 🙂

This first pic was the day after when it had been tidied up by the surgeons. It was interesting listening to them trim the finger bone while i was sat there awake 😮

[img] [/img]

This picture was after a couple weeks of healing. It was completed covered for 5 weeks and the dressing was only changed once a week.

[img] [/img]

And this is the bit i found stuck to the back of the rotor when i got home after being at the hospital

[img] [/img]

The moral of the tale is, keep your fingers away from spinning rotors!!


 
Posted : 10/01/2012 7:59 am
 barn
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@wwaswas
Comedy genius! Properly laughing out loud for the first time since finger munch. 😆


 
Posted : 10/01/2012 8:00 am
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well I wasn't expecting to have to swallow breakfast twice.

[edit] barn 🙂


 
Posted : 10/01/2012 8:01 am
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YAY, for the final pic from TimK

🙁


 
Posted : 10/01/2012 8:02 am
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After a long day of DIY I decided to cut up some of the off cuts for kindling so was using the small axe and holding the bits of wood. Yes you've guess it, got distracted and the axe went into my knuckle bone and finger, cue trip to A&E where after 3 hours they said we'll steri-strip it, after seeing my grumpy face they elected to stitch it.

I have a nice scar and a lumpy knuckle to remind me of my stupidity.

The small axe just s****s at me every time I go in the shed.


 
Posted : 10/01/2012 8:04 am
 barn
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@TimK
Wow.
Savage.
How much do you want for that bit of finger? Could be useful. Does Paypal Gift work for you?


 
Posted : 10/01/2012 8:06 am
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The mechanic in a bike shop I used to work in was working on a track bike one day - put his finger on the chain to check the tension and absent mindedly spun the wheel at the same time.

His finger went right round between the chain and chainring and it sliced the top third of his index finger clean off. All we heard upstairs on the shop floor was this yell and a string of very loud expletives. Ran down and found him standing there, white as a sheet and now totally silent staring in horror at the tip of his finger lying on the floor.

They managed to save it, we packed it in frozen peas and got him to the hospital quickly.


 
Posted : 10/01/2012 8:25 am
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Slightly different from the biking injuries, this was done at work in a bar. I made a round of cocktails and then was cleaning up afterwards and didn't notice that the boston shaker glass had broken around the rim. I was cleaning inside the glass and did a wiping motion and heard a crunching sound. That was the sound of the glass on my bone.

I shouted to the waiter to bring the drinks back to the bar (in case there was any of the glass in the drink) and then I went to A&E. As I was getting X-rayed I took a quick and dirty photo.
[url= http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7034/6672213403_37cd9dc036.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7034/6672213403_37cd9dc036.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/73332441@N05/6672213403/ ]Initial cut[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/73332441@N05/ ]hopsinjoor[/url], on Flickr

I ended up needing 5 stitches, and luckily had no lasting nerve damage.
[url= http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7141/6672214219_f4a7eccd8e.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7141/6672214219_f4a7eccd8e.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/73332441@N05/6672214219/ ]mmmm stitches[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/73332441@N05/ ]hopsinjoor[/url], on Flickr

It looked pretty cool after the stitches had been removed.
[url= http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7174/6672214891_2f82d97332.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7174/6672214891_2f82d97332.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/73332441@N05/6672214891/ ]after stitches removed[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/73332441@N05/ ]hopsinjoor[/url], on Flickr


 
Posted : 10/01/2012 9:42 am
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There was someone on here whose young daughter took her finger off on the disc while helping daddy clean his bike.

That table saw is amazing!

My great grandad had a home-made table saw. And 8 fingers.

Those two facts are related...


 
Posted : 10/01/2012 9:48 am
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@alpin,
Yes, I was slightly anaesthetised. Though I could easily have done it sober to be honest, I was walking along and turned to say something to someone then as I turned bag to face forwards, wham!


 
Posted : 10/01/2012 9:51 am

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