I am now scheduled to have my router-damaged finger operated on this next Tuesday morning. The plan, per the doctor, is to either stitch it all up or to relocate some skin from elsewhere. All the finger closing ‘wiring’ appears fine. The finger extending tendon is an unknown at this time. I’ll be sedated to the extent that we are for a colonoscopy. Yee ha!

Good luck man. Does not sound fun.

Man that’s a horrible looking injury, hope it heals correctly and gets fixed.

Sounds like it’ll be a great nap!

And without the prep!!

No drinking the prep! There’s the bright side I needed.

All the best, sir!

"...relocate some skin from elsewhere." I don't wanna know.

Be well Amigo.

Best wishes

Damn bro, I just seen your finger and you beat it up pretty good. I hope they get you fixed up!!!

glad everything is still intact and hope it gets repaired back to almost as good as new.

Colonoscopy sedation is much safer than general anesthesia. That's good!

You'll be fine and good luck to ya. Looking forward to looking at that finger all fixed up.

Hope all goes well. Doesn't matter what it looks like when they finish as long as it works like it's suppose to.

Thanks for the best wishes. I’ll be fine. As for the origin of the replacement meat, if that’s necessary, the Doc said he’d ’harvest’ a chunk from a “hairless area under the arm”.

This is bothersome, but it’s only one finger. I can’t even imagine the problems some of you guys have had that wrecked motorcycles or cars and shed real blood and hide. For instance, a guy I know that takes down trees just managed to hit his leg with a chainsaw, and it’s a huge 36” bar Stihl. I need to call him. I won’t mention my little problem.

Pretty good prognosis all things considered. Glad to hear the damage wasn’t worse!

Best wishes young fella

Hoping for a speedy recovery!

I had surgery for Trigger Finger just over a month ago with a local anesthetic. I bet the sedation you are getting is for the skin graft donor site. I've had two skin graft surgeries down through the years due to a motorcycle accident. The doc said to consider the donor site as the same type condition as a third degree burn. You'll heal fine.

I just saw it as well.

I am surprised they didn't work on it much sooner

Best of luck to you, brother!


Do you get to choose where they get the skin graft from? I mean if there is a chance you will lose some mobility, maybe you could get the skin from some place it would be hard to scratch with a bum finger?

The Doc said they’d take the skin or a plug from a hairless area on the underside of my arm. I am ready to get this done and over with.

On the mobility, it’s snugly wrapped, but it seems that curling the finger works just fine. And I can extend the finger to some degree, though there may be some damage to the extender tendon (whatever it’s called) toward the end of the finger. Doc said that if the extender tendon is just damaged, it’ll probably be Ok, and if it’s severed, he could reattach it with a screw.

Sure wish I had listened to the little voice telling me “you’re tired, so put this off till tomorrow”.

Look up 'Mallet Finger' for a description of the that type of injury. Most folks view it as a cosmetic issue and not so much as functional problem (unless grossly bent down ). Gaining 'extension' after surgery may not be perfect. Conservative treatment involves splinting but the soft tissue damage on top may prohibit that.

Ask your Doc if he's ever heard the phrase "the enemy of good is better" (regarding orthopedics)

I’ll provide an update tomorrow. I’d take pictures, but I’ll probably be too out of it. Probably too ‘out of it’ to even ask the Doc what he did. I’m sure this’ll work out fine, but I have stuff to do. Minor stuff, but I’m ready (mentally) to get started. Worst case, I think, I can still coyote hunt in this upcoming cooler weather.

I’d ask the Doc what you said, but I’m guessing I’ll be out of it by the time he shows up.

10:30 am is my scheduled time.

Surgery over. I slept right through it. The nurse said the finger looked “gnarly”. I think it grossed her out.

Happy all went well. Looking forward to seeing how it looks after surgery.

I now it is protocol to indicate where the surgery is going to take place, but the arrow to your damaged digit is a little bit of overkill. I don't think they could make a mistake on which one needed repair.
Glad the surgery went well and pray that the grafts take hold quickly.

At the time, I did wonder how they might possibly work on the wrong finger. Nice doctor and great nurses. I was very impressed with Baylor Scott and White in Waco, and have been impressed at other times in the past.

Since I’m not missing skin or meat from any other body area, I guess it wasn’t a graft. Just stitched it all together I guess. The bandage stays on till Oct 9th, and the Doc said do not remove it, cause it’s really ugly looking. Ya think it’ll be less ugly by early October? Well, if you guys like, I’ll post a pic of the finger when the wrap comes off.

I don’t care if the final result is indeed ugly. I just want to get it back into action. The list of stuff to do is starting to grow, and I have to finish the baby cradle before the great grandchild is born.

good luck. any rehab exercises?

I suppose there will be rehab, but not before they unwrap the finger and see where we are healing wise.

Ugly is in the eye of the beholder. I think it will just look like a finger. All will be well.

Hopefully you get full use back.

Had the grand opening (unwrapping) this afternoon. Looks awful, but the doc says it’s good and pink, so I’ll get to keep the whole finger. Honestly, I didn’t know that was in question. Here’s the picture, with the black being stitches, and a heck of a lot of them. I have the Ok to get back to work, but have to wear a short rubber sleeve to keep dirt out. Think of it as a 2” condom. I’ll let you guys decide who on the forum could wear it for sporting purposes.

Looks like it needs a few more stitches.

He said it’d scab over, so wash it and air dry it. I have done so. Blood leakage has about quit. I asked the nurse if she knew how many stitches there were. She said “a whole bunch”. Looks kinda like 3rd grade kids had some booze and stitched wildly.

I like the Arrow on the finger so they know it's the right one on the left hand.

RE: Finger covers (Finger Cots) —

Where I worked we had some clean areas where workers had to wear finger cots (condoms for fingers). One guy I knew took one home, and when he and his wife were in their 8-year-old's room he furtively tossed it onto the kid's chest of drawers. When his wife noticed it she was "Wait, what?"

603, wishing you the best!

Thanks, and thanks for the laugh.

Good Lord that's a lot of stitches. That's going to be one, big scab. Good to hear you'll be able to keep the finger. We need all the digits we can get!

Sort of looks like they just stuck your finger into grandam's Singer sewing machine and ran it for a while. Hope it heals up fast

Dadgummit man

Good Luck 603

Just in time for Halloween.

This is the Halloween finger status. Less scab. The doc told me it was looking good, which I suppose means it’s healing nicely, cause looking good ain’t the situation. I’m back to working. My back is complaining, but the finger hasn’t complained.