One year aniversary - Brown Cafe

dannyboy · 07-15-2009, 09:16 PM

Well its been a great year.

I must say I enjoyed this day much better than the last one.

Hard to believe its been that long.

But then again, seems just like yesterday

d

dilligaf · 07-15-2009, 09:28 PM

One year anniversary for what Danny?

dilligaf · 07-15-2009, 10:04 PM

Are you talking about your hand? Has it been a year already? OMG time flies.

Baba gounj · 07-15-2009, 10:07 PM

Well done

dannyboy · 07-16-2009, 07:25 PM

I think the had is beautiful, others think it is ugly. I guess its perspective.

I do have a disability when throwing a decent bird though

. Looks like a cross between Oprah and the hunchback of notradame.

Kinda funny, was in Home depot the other day, and the only line open had this mom with her out of control 3 year old. And man was he out of control.

She was trying to check out and convince him that they were going to get supper. And of course he didn't want any of the suggestions she made.

I was right behind the painful exchange, so I thought I would at least distract the kid enough so mom could focus on checking out.

I told the kid that he better eat when mom said, other wise parts of his body would drop off, see, just like my hand.

HE studied the hand and fingers for a while without saying a word. Really studied the index finger for what seemed to be forever.

Finally he extended his right hand and index finger, and asked "need me to pick your nose?"

By that time there were probably 25 people behind us, all of which roared with laughter.

Oh for life to be that simple, to offer someone to pick their nose for them.

d

Bubblehead · 07-16-2009, 07:33 PM

Dannyboy I hate coming in in the middle of a story but am compelled to ask about the origin of your injury.

dannyboy · 07-16-2009, 07:56 PM

Doing the right job but with the wrong tools.

Was in Ashboro at the Zoo putting in a new floor for the Giraffe's and Ostriches.

The pens where they keep the animals during bad weather and overnight has a concrete floor, an in part of it, they had tried to put in a rubber coating to soften the concrete.

They now know that concrete floors on hoofed animals causes issues with ankles, knees and hips.

They had actually wanted us to tear out the rubber as it was pitted and cracked and was very hard to keep clean. I persuaded then to allow us to keep that floor and cover it with the same lining we spray for ponds and water features. That way it would be extra soft, as the old female used one of those cages.

Anyway since we only had grinding heads for concrete, the only blade for the 9 inch grinder was a Makita saw blade made for treated lumber. It worked great, until I was almost done. As I was working my way down the last wall cutting in a key, the breese blew the door open, and right into the blade.

It kicked back and hit the back of my right hand. Really didnt hurt, so I stood up. That is when I noticed a stub where my middle finger used to be, and from there to where the thumb used to be was gone. The whole top of my hand was gone. Just the ring and pinkie finger was left.

And of course, since the blade had made a lot of dust, I had the rubber coating, complete with animal crap at least an inch all over the back of the hand.

So I picked them up and was blessed enough to be near enough to Duke to have them take me there. And I was equally blessed to have their best surgeon finishing a 7 hour surgery, because all the others that looked at it said they could not even save the thumb. He not only saved the fingers, but the thumb as well.

We went back 13 days later to finish the job.

Been slow at times, but it has not stopped me from doing just about everything again. Even pitching ball for the all star neighbor boy. I can throw a mean spin ball because my fingers are bent kinda screwy.

So there you have it. Sorry to be so long....

d

dannyboy · 07-16-2009, 08:14 PM

Here is a more visual aspect of what happened.

The first is the xray where you can see the diagonal cut to the middle finger, cut the top off the knuckle of the index, and cut right through the joint on the thumb.

The second is after 12 days, then 23 days.

d

Bubblehead · 07-16-2009, 08:15 PM

Wow, wouldn't have guessed that one.
Your "luck" was all over the map that day.
Last question(s): How does a jaded UPS driver end up building habitats at the zoo? You are or were a driver right?

P.S. Glad to hear about your miraculous recovery.

dannyboy · 07-16-2009, 08:33 PM

As a driver, I developed many interests, and did a lot of things. Foster parenting was one that we invested a lot of time into, but thats another story.

I enjoyed building water features, fish, especially Koi, and water plants.
Opened up a business that was seasonal, and had it open only on weekends. IT grew to be too much just for weekends, so we opened 6 days a week.

Then people asked me to design and build ponds for them. Really did not have the time, but I did some of those jobs on the weekend.

Then when I tore my knees out at work, I was layed up for quite a while, both before and after the surgeries. I worked part of one day after that, at which time it was determined that going in and out of the package car would cause me to have to replace both knees.

It was at that time that it was determined in the best interests of both myself and UPS that we should part ways. I had over 33 years in, was able to buy out three years of my retirement, so out I went.

As the business grew, we got into spray-in liners for ponds. That led to doing what is called large animal remediation, a fancy name for making the animals more comfortable in an enclosure.

In the last 3 years, we have done Urban Outfitters corp offices in philly, Outdoor adventure's white water rafting course in McTeer MD, several exhibits at the Hershey Zoo, Knoxville Zoo, and built ponds from upstate PA to Naples Fla, just to name a few.

While I dont really like being away from home, as a business man, you have to go where the business is.

And I am way to young to just sit down and die.

d

PS I know that for some that this might be corny, but I do believe in a God that was watching out for me. I think he was wanting to get my attention. He did.

But without His guidence to see to it that I was taken to the right hosptal (I was put on diversion twice to end up at duke) and to see to it that the head of micro surgury was already there(after all the other surgeons had declared it a lost cause even for just the thumb), I was way more than lucky, I was blessed.

Bubblehead · 07-16-2009, 08:55 PM

Impressive and inspirational story.
Proud to cyber-know-ya!
Ironically this morning on Good Morning America was a story of the first double hand transplant.
Amazing technological times we live in.

dannyboy · 07-16-2009, 09:12 PM

It is impressive some of the things we can now do.

But I wonder, should we actually be doing some of these things, just because we can?

Yeah, transplants, replants, cool stuff. But there is a sinister underbelly to the beast that is coming on strong.

Like having guys have babies? The technology is there, but should we really have done it?

d

dilligaf · 07-16-2009, 09:45 PM

I hadn't realized it had been a year already. It's nice to see good things come out of bad accidents. The story of the child was priceless. And it's nice to see you spending more time with us. You have been missed.

City Driver · 07-16-2009, 11:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dannyboy

Here is a more visual aspect of what happened.

The first is the xray where you can see the diagonal cut to the middle finger, cut the top off the knuckle of the index, and cut right through the joint on the thumb.

The second is after 12 days, then 23 days.

d

damn.....i worked with a guy at roadway who was on a forklift and had his hand somewhere out of it and it got smashed between the lift and a pole, he only has a thumb and 2 fingers on that hand

HEFFERNAN · 07-17-2009, 04:08 AM

D

I didn't realize the severity of the injury. Now I understand why you were typing with one hand last year. Its good to see you are doing well and your sense of humor has continued.

Great to see you still on the site spreading your knowledge to the masses. If I didn't agree with you so much, we can have one of our post battles. LOL

Keep on Truckin'

mattwtrs · 07-17-2009, 05:36 AM

Thanks for sharing your story!

I think Art Linkletter would say Kids say the darndest things!

trplnkl · 07-17-2009, 05:37 AM

Congratulations on overcoming the injury and having the courage to rehab to continue to be useful. I know you had to go through alot of pain and anguish to get to where you are today.

dannyboy · 07-17-2009, 08:16 AM

The pain was not all that bad (except the girls a physical therapy pulling the scabs off the wounds each week), the nerves were cut. But the flip side of that is that I had no clue if the fingers were in danger IE getting slammed in a car door, caught on a door handle (had that happen to me going into McDonald's), or just getting way too cold.

The hardest part was going from a very independent person that can do it all himself, to instantly relying on others. Simple stuff like pulling up socks, writing (got pretty good with my left hand) or even feeding yourself. You really dont realize how much you use the dominant hand more than the other.

But most of that is in the past. Getting feeling throughout most of the fingers, index is the slowest.

Biggest problem is that of the thumb, I cant grasp large objects with it anymore (large drinking cup for instance), cause the cut through the joint had to be allowed to fuse.

But its all good, getting better at typing again, so practice helps.

d

over9five · 07-17-2009, 11:23 AM

I remember those pictures from last year, but how does your hand look now?

bigbrownhen · 07-17-2009, 07:30 PM

Danny, glad to know you are doing so well. My younger brother lost all fingers and thumb on his right hand as a toddler. I have seen him stuggle with certain things, but he has managed to overcome alot. It has been a hard road, but your strong constitution has served you well.

PassYouBy · 07-18-2009, 05:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dannyboy

PS I know that for some that this might be corny, but I do believe in a God that was watching out for me. I think he was wanting to get my attention. He did.

But without His guidence to see to it that I was taken to the right hosptal (I was put on diversion twice to end up at duke) and to see to it that the head of micro surgury was already there(after all the other surgeons had declared it a lost cause even for just the thumb), I was way more than lucky, I was blessed.

Not corny if you ask me! If I/we didn't have God watching out for us, we would be in some serious "you know what"!

Its good to see you doing better Danny!!!! Thumbs UP!

Mike23 · 07-18-2009, 08:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dannyboy

Biggest problem is that of the thumb, I cant grasp large objects with it anymore (large drinking cup for instance), cause the cut through the joint had to be allowed to fuse.

d

Congrats on the rehab. It's good to here such a sever injury is at least healing at all and it sounds like it's still healing! Did the doc say how much % of movement you'll get back?

I am sorry though that you can never hold a giant beer

No man should have to go through that kind of pain

over9five · 07-18-2009, 08:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mike23

I am sorry though that you can never hold a giant beer

No man should have to go through that kind of pain

Bring a straw to the pub!!!

Mike23 · 07-18-2009, 11:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by over9five

Bring a straw to the pub!!!

But then you get too much 'head'...from the beer, not the pub

dannyboy · 08-01-2009, 10:45 AM

Sorry it took me so long to post back. I had to get the camera to working again. Seems like the wife and daughter..........well those of you with wives and kids understand.

The fingers are at kinda a strange angle. The middle finger will always be bent the way it is. And fat due to the overlapping of the bones. Index finger is getting more movement and feeling, thumb is about as good as its going to get.

As you can tell, very blessed and happy with the results.

d