fypon

About three weeks ago I was sparring with 7 other karate students. We would rotate opponents every minute. I took a few good hits but nothing bad. I tried to block a roundhouse kick with my right hand and missed with my forearm instead the kick hit my pinky. Which hurt but I had thought I just jammed it. It swelled up and turned purple but went back to normal after a few days.

The next week we were doing kick/punch drills. During one of these drills my pinky starting hurting quite a bit. It swelled back up again so I iced it and took it easy. The swelling went down but now I had a bump on the top of the first pinky joint. It never went down and became very…. tender.

After a few more days I thought I should have it looked at so off to my family doctor I went. She took one look at it and sent me to an orthopedic specialist. X-rays showed that I fractured the bone at the joint of the tip of my pinky. Then by punching away moved the fragment of bone over top the first joint. This eventual dislocated the tip of my finger downward. The orthopedic doctor stated the best route was to insert a pin into my finger.
I was ok with the idea so off to surgery I go.

Surgery day comes and I am escorted by my wife to the hospital at 7:00AM. I am prepped for surgery while my wife keeps me company. In a staging area before going into the operating room my doctor comes out with a HUGE needle. This thing had to be ten inches long and about a half an inch thick. He then told me “this is going to sting quite a bit”. He stuck the meaty part of the bottom of my hand. Sting my ass! It was every needle I have ever had in my life all at once. At this point my wife can no longer watch and turns away as he begins to move the needle in and out left to right to spread out the local. I take the pain by clinching my other fist so hard my hand starts to shake. When it’s all over I told the doctor “you weren’t kidding about the sting part”. He said, “Yes there are a lot of nerves there”. Five minutes later I cant feel a thing in most of my hand.

After an hour I am whisked into the OR and prep my hand for surgery. They bring out this huge blue cover. Blocking my view of my hand. I had really wanted to watch this but they weren’t interested letting me view the procedure. The doctor starts I feel tugging here and there. A can hear a low speed drill, more tugging, more drilling. This goes on for about 15 minutes. When its all done and I can finally see my finger is bandaged up and wrapped with so much gauze its six times the size it used to be. Below are the results. Three pins all together. The largest of the three starts at the tip of my pinky and goes almost to the second joint keeping the finger straight. The other two pins are holding the bone fragment in place. I’m given a prescription for painkillers and antibiotics and sent on my way.

I don’t get feeling back in my hand until 11:00PM that night. When it wore off the painkillers were in hand fast. They don’t take the pain away but make it bearable. All of this for a little piece of broken bone in the wrong place. The pins come out in one month. If I can stop banging the damn thing every 20 minutes until then I’ll be a happy man.

-F

wakelagger

Gross. Looks like a fishing lure that impaled your pinky.

Medicine isn't pretty, but it does a pretty good job of curing your ailments.

CoachAlan

That is frickin' awesome! I would be showing that to everybody!

Come to think of it, I guess that's what you're doing... Carry on.

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Diamond

Been busted up lotsa times sparring, but nothing that cool.

Stompy

That's weird, you'd figure that they would've at leased used a smaller agent before shoving a hose of a needle into your hand..

Like apply it in 2 stages: first, a small pinprick (which would be about as much pain as you'd feel through the whole thing) to inject the initial numbing agent. Wait 10 minutes, insert the big one which will provide the rest. At least you could've avoided unnecessary torture

Ah well, that's a cool pic though. Looks like it would be constant pain with that.. I could never imagine having pins through my bones... it just seems like the most agonizing thing ever.

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fypon

Update. The pain has subsided for the most part now. Again, if I can stop banging the damn thing it would be really great. I just finished mowing the lawn last night, pulled the lawn tractor around to the garage to park it. When I reached out to disingage the blade I hit my )#($*#%^ finger on the deck adjustment lever. (%$* that hurt. I just hope I can bend the lever back in shape later. :0 For now I'm off the pills and working on liquid pain killers. =)

-F

Xell101

Man that sucks, not to mention you've got hardware poking into and out of your pinky that also looks to be a little bulky for a wee finger. What's the risk of infection, will you have spiffy little holes there when it's removed?
Anywho, 'I blocked a roundhouse kick with my finger' is a hell of a lot more manly than 'someone dove into my hand while we were playing Volleyball with statuesque men.' It was kinda funny though, the pinky had been pointing way off in the wrong direction for the entire period of four hours awaiting care, 3 of which in the waiting room watching talk shows about empowered, independent, and sassy women as well troubled kids back talking to their emotionally distraught parents while people in cammies yell at them.

Nefir

I cringed several times while reading your account of the procedure. Yow! Very cool story though. Hope your pinkie makes it through without any further... adjustments!

Well, at least now you can point that thing at peoples' crotches and menacingly say "Never underestimate the power of the Schwartz!"

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weapon26

When I saw the thread title, I was sure it was going to be a groin mishap. I've seen more of those to last several lifetimes. Your injury definately looks very painful. I don't think people realize the pain we go through *and block out at times*. I myself am a third degree black belt and taekwondo and have seen my fair share of mishaps.....

At the 2001 Nationals I heard over the loudspeaker, "Medic to ring 8, medic to ring 8." Then about 5 minutes later I hear, "Mop to ring 8, mop to ring 8." One of the guys took a kick to the face that shattered the orbital socket. The medic was for the injured, the mop was for the mess.

I took a gold medal in every state competition I competed in (except one) and beat the 6 time national champion in my last tournament. The year I didn't win was because I was disqualified for "rendering an opponent useless by way of illegal technique". We have this move where if they come around with a high kick, you kick between and underneath their spread legs (bare with me) and strike to their stomach. It's a very risky move that I didn't pull off. I accidently kicked him right in the groin, laying him out on the floor screaming. I felt so bad for him, because we've competed for so long together. It turns out that I kicked so hard that I split his groin cup in two.

I retired early at 23 after having my ACL torn and rebuilt. I competed three times after surgery. The first was 1 month after the surgery, I took a gold medal in forms at regionals. I won 5 out 6 fights months later and decided that it was best not to push my luck anymore.

00111000

Holy crap...that is gnarly. I hope you have a quick recovery and stop banging it on things. I've got a few extra hockey golves laying about if you want a bit more protection from banging into things.

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Ripsaw

Ouch? Are you going back to training after you heal up?

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fypon

Thanks for the comments people, lightened up my day.

The hockey glove idea might just work if I can get me finger in there.

I will go back to training after I'm healed. I really not going to stop I just wont be doing anything that requires hitting things with my right hand

almostaugust

Jesus man.