Thumbaww...

[North_Ranger]

Hrrrggghhh... Just heard some pretty ghastly news.

My dad is something of a Do-It-Yourself man, and ever since he retired he has expanded his repertoire into renovation and even building furniture. He's always been careful, having had his share of cuts and bruises whenever there was something to be done around the house.

Today, his attention slipped

I heard this from my mom when I called her today (being the runt of the litter an' all), and apparently dad was at the carpentry class, where he was doing something with a circular saw. I don't know how it happened, but apparently he managed to saw off the thumb of his left hand at the first joint.

He's okay, though... They rushed him to a hospital, where they stitched up the stub that was left of his thumb. Apparently it was impossible to knit his finger back on. We have been lied to by the TV... *sighs* Apparently he's being a sport about the whole thing, not letting the whole loss of a digit get him down.

I don't know why I take it so seriously, though... I've always seen my dad as someone who's always careful and who always knows what to do when there's something that needs fixin'. It was quite the shock to me to hear that something like this had happened to him. I tended to think this kind of stuff happens only to idiots who aren't careful when using powertools. Guess I was wrong, since I hardly consider my dad an idiot.

I don't know why I even put this up... Guess I just wanted to vent a little.

 

[Cuyval Dar]

Wow, that's terrible. Now I have to be more careful, so the same doesn't happen to me. Imagine, losing a gaming thumb.

 

[Green_Lantern]

It is okay North, we all need to vent up sometimes, I hope you dad get a nice recovery and gets more carefull in the future.

 

[Steve]

Ugh. Sorry to hear about that. I knew where the story was going and still cringed when I got to the end. Glad he's doing well, though.

 

[Cajungal]

Sorry, NR. I'm glad he's at least trying to keep his chin up about it. I hope it's not too difficult an adjustment.

 

[Kitty Sinatra]

Dude, accidents happen to everyone. It could've been way worse

*remembers the time he almost ballsed himself with a saw*

 

[Dave]

I thought there's be more than enough ice in Finland to save the thumb! (Seriously, though! Hope he's okay!)

 

[ZenMonkey]

Oh, man, I'm so sorry to hear that. I'm glad he's taking it well but still, hugs and good thoughts.

And also more credit to you for posting that story with such a hilarious title.

 

[Wasabi Poptart]

Sorry to hear of your dad's accident, but I'm glad he will be ok. I used to work around saws and other cutting tools (my parents have a saw sharpening business). All it takes is one slip up to get a nasty cut.

 

[doomdragon6]

I had (have? I need to visit more) a neighbor that accidentally cut off his toe while using a circular saw. I have NO idea how that happened. What I heard was that it was on the ground or something, and he was absent-mindedly trying to stop the blade? I dunno.

My girlfriend's dad is missing a bit of his forefinger. I never noticed until he threated my gf's little sister that if she didn't eat her vegetable she'd grow a nub like him.

 

[Espy]

Ah... poor guy! Sorry to hear it man...

 

[grub]

That Sucks!

I used to work at a cabinet shop as a sawyer, I slipped once and cut 1/4" off the tip of my thumb. It hurt like a bugger but there was no stiches the doctor just let it heal on it's own. It stayed sensitive for a long time until a callous grew on the tip. My wife was more concerned than I was.

One of the installers there lost up to the first digit on his thumb on a moulding machine. He recovered pretty well from it though. Another guy was using a chop saw and cut his hand pretty much off, they reattached it and other than a loss of feeling it is still usable.

In short, he should recover reasonably well, and be glad he didn't lose more. Plus now he has a new nickname "stubby".

 

[Rob King]

One of the volunteers at the food bank lost a finger this summer. I think it was his ring finger. He didn't seem too broken up about it. In fact, he seemed rather happy that he had a new joke to tell.

Anytime someone asks what happened, he simply explains that his wife was knitting him a pair of gloves, and ran out of wool. Because he is a lazy man (for the purposes of his joke) rather than run to the store to get more wool, he cut off a finger so the glove would fit.

Also, any time someone is talking to him and he isn't paying attention, he has an excuse. If anyone gets irritated with him, he points to his missing finger and explains 'Sorry, I'm not all here today.'

 

[North_Ranger]

Heh, thanks for all the well-wishes, folks. I'm sure my dad would appreciate hearing all this - save that he might be a little weirded off that I posted about it to a bunch of 'strangers' in the Internet

The funny thing is, he has a doctor's appointment today. When he was travelling about two weeks back, he developed a nasty pain in his foot. He's been on antibiotics, and the pain has dulled pretty well. But he still wanted a check-up. My father is not the joking kind, but I really hope he'll go to the doc's and say something like "Oh, the thumb? No, that's okay, nothing to it. It's my foot that's bugging me"

@Dave: Didn't you hear? They tried that. Couldn't do it. Friends lied to us! Also, there be no snow here - yet

@ZenMonkey: Heh, thanks. I just didn't want to sound like a whiny little git in the title. I mean, he lost the finger.

Also, it's oddly comforting to hear that you fellas know people who've lost digits. I just hope my dad can keep his spirits up, and not end up making comparison to his own father; granddad came home from the war with half his fingers reduced to stubs or clean off.

 

[Hylian]

Man I can't imagine what I would do if I lost even a part of my thumb. I play a lot of console games and I really need my thumb. My brother thinks that I would rather lose a leg than a thumb. Now while I can't say for sure I agree that I can say I wouldn't want to find out about either.

 

[Rob King]

Maybe I'm a horrible person, but I always console myself with this fact: If I ever lose a limb, for whatever reason, I will from then on have the most badass pirate costume every Halloween until the day I die.

 

[Bubble181]

Well wishes to him; and yeah, if it's only the top digit, he should be able to manage OK. As long as he can still hold things with his hand, it's all good. Losing a whole thumb is pretty crappy, though.
Wel, losing a part is, too, so, health and hugs to him. Or health to him and hugs to you, if your father would think it was weird.

 

[lafftaff]

It's always a little scary when your parents get hurt. I hope it heals well.

When I was 12 yrs. old I had a friend who would come over every single day. So when she called I told my sister to make up something about why she couldn't come over. So she told her I'd cut my finger off & was being rushed to the ER. Then, my friend's mother calls my mother saying "OMG! Did you hear what happened to your daughter?! She's at the ER!" This then leads to a very angry call from my mother who knew I was lying. I then had to apologize to my friend & her mom. I don't think I'll ever again have to apoligize for lying about missing appendages.

 

[Chibibar]

ow... I am glad your dad is alright. I always get scare using tools and always pay close attention when using tools (my dad taught me that) so I cringe when I read your post.