Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post

clavus · 10-21-2004, 12:58 PM

*** Thumb update***

Well, my friend got REALLY sick. She is just starting to recover enough to do things like walk around the block. Here is part of the text of an email she sent me. Remember WASH YOUR HANDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
`````````````````````````````````````````````````

A thumb seems like trivial information when we are about to have elections and there is lots of real news, but in my little sphere, the thumb is a big deal. I saw the hand surgeon today—a wonderfully attentive man—who said that after two or three weeks more of IV antibiotics he will operate on the thumb. It will actually be two surgeries. He will cut a big rectangle of tissue off the index finger and while the end of the rectangle is still attached to the finger, he will sew the portion of the index finger onto the thumb, then he will encase the two fingers together for two or three weeks. The theory being that while the tissue gets a blood supply from the index finger, the flap will graft onto the thumb. Then when the graft looks healthy, it will be separated from the finger. Very clever. It doesn’t sound fun, but much more encouraging than the meat cleaver idea. Even though it sounds painful and time consuming, I think a thumb is a pretty important thing to save.

A more critical health issue is the fact that the infection has done a real number on my pancreas. I was discharged from the hospital with syringes, and insulin and a chart of when to give how much insulin. I take about three shots a day and have to test my blood sugar levels about five times a day. The big hope is that all this is temporary and that as the body heals, the pancreas will too. The difficult part isn’t giving myself shots; it is figuring out the amount of insulin that is hard. I guess the big danger is too much. Apparently it is easy to lose a few million brain cells if you overdose on insulin. I think I am already teetering on the brink of Alzheimer’s. I have no extra neurons to spare. I will have to be careful.
````````````````````````````````````
So there you have it. One day you are holdign a rose, the next day you have your index finger sewn to your diseased thumb, and your pancreas is shot.

Amazing. This stuff actually happens to people other than me.

10-21-2004, 12:58 PM	#15 (permalink)
clavus pow! Location: NorCal	* Thumb update* Well, my friend got REALLY sick. She is just starting to recover enough to do things like walk around the block. Here is part of the text of an email she sent me. Remember WASH YOUR HANDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ````````````````````````````````````````````````` A thumb seems like trivial information when we are about to have elections and there is lots of real news, but in my little sphere, the thumb is a big deal. I saw the hand surgeon today—a wonderfully attentive man—who said that after two or three weeks more of IV antibiotics he will operate on the thumb. It will actually be two surgeries. He will cut a big rectangle of tissue off the index finger and while the end of the rectangle is still attached to the finger, he will sew the portion of the index finger onto the thumb, then he will encase the two fingers together for two or three weeks. The theory being that while the tissue gets a blood supply from the index finger, the flap will graft onto the thumb. Then when the graft looks healthy, it will be separated from the finger. Very clever. It doesn’t sound fun, but much more encouraging than the meat cleaver idea. Even though it sounds painful and time consuming, I think a thumb is a pretty important thing to save. A more critical health issue is the fact that the infection has done a real number on my pancreas. I was discharged from the hospital with syringes, and insulin and a chart of when to give how much insulin. I take about three shots a day and have to test my blood sugar levels about five times a day. The big hope is that all this is temporary and that as the body heals, the pancreas will too. The difficult part isn’t giving myself shots; it is figuring out the amount of insulin that is hard. I guess the big danger is too much. Apparently it is easy to lose a few million brain cells if you overdose on insulin. I think I am already teetering on the brink of Alzheimer’s. I have no extra neurons to spare. I will have to be careful. ```````````````````````````````````` So there you have it. One day you are holdign a rose, the next day you have your index finger sewn to your diseased thumb, and your pancreas is shot. Amazing. This stuff actually happens to people other than me. __________________ Ass, gas or grass. Nobody rides for free.