How to Survive a Table Saw Accident

We all have men in our lives that work around the house. I don't mean dusting and laundry. I mean building and fixing. Many of those men own circular saws, chainsaws and tablesaws. Some may use them on a weekly basis and some may only use them once every few months. No matter which category you fall into there is always a safety threat when you start the saw up. You can take all the precautions in the world and an accident can still happen.

It was a beautiful fall day. I was inside doing some work and my husband was outside "puttering" around. The kids were outside with him trying to be helpers. Our son is old enough to be a pretty good helper and was working on replacing some old rungs on a wooden ladder. Our daughter was working on a creation of her own. She was just happy to be wearing work gloves and using her own tools.

All three had just gone back outside after having a snack and warming up a bit. The radio was blaring some 80's song. I went back to the computer. It seemed like just minutes later I heard a high pitched sound. I thought at first that it was coming from some song on the radio. It took a another second before I realized that it was screaming and it was my husband. I knew that he had been using both the circular saw and the table saw for this project. My heart skipped a beat.

I jumped up and ran to the back door just as my son came running through yelling that daddy had cut himself. I ran out the door and onto the deck...no husband. He had run up around the house and in the side door. He was grabbing for paper towels and yelling to get the keys and get in the car. It was bad! I still had pajama pants on, and I couldn't get my jeans and sneakers on quick enough.

This was a critical time. Although my entire body was shaking and I was about as worried as you can get I knew that I had to keep a calm exterior, for my kids, for my husband, for myself. As I ran into the room to change I calmly told my son to get his sister and get in the car. He was great. He didn't miss a beat, and both were well on their way to being buckled in the back seat when I made it back outside.

Let's look back and take a look at some critical things that need to happen immediately after an accident like this. Everyone needs to remain as calm as possible. My husband remained calm enough to get back into the house, get something to apply pressure and slow bleeding, and actually went back down to the table saw to retrieve the top of his thumb. If this happens to your loved one and they loose their cool you are going to be the one who needs to do this. You need to stop the bleeding and it is good to bring the detached body part with you to the emergency room. Depending on how far your drive is you may want to take the time to put it on ice.

In our case we are only 2 miles from the hospital. My husband held his thumb tip in his hand. By this time the shock is wearing off and the intense pain is setting in. You are going to want to get to the emergency room as quick as you can but also as safely as you can. Put your hazard lights on. This will let people know that there is something wrong and makes your car stand out from the others on the road. If you come upon a slow moving car only pass if it is safe to do so. You don't want your trip to the emergency room to turn into a trip for all of you in an ambulance because you were reckless.

Before we had even traveled a mile my husband started shaking. He felt like he was going to vomit from the pain. Keep your hands on the steering wheel and your eyes on the road. Comfort him with your voice. Remind him of happy times or of things that he enjoys. Try to keep his mind off the injury and the pain. Don't forget the kids in the back seat if you are like we were and had children in tow. Reassure them that daddy is going to be alright. Let them know that you are going to the emergency room and the doctors and nurses their will take good care of their dad. Take a moment and remind yourself of that too.

When you arrive at the emergency room you need to make a decision. I parked right in front of the doors (not the Ambulance Only doors). I asked my son to bring his sister into the waiting room and as soon as daddy was in a room with a nurse I would be out. The reception area is just through the doors at this hospital so I helped my husband walk in and sat him in a wheelchair as soon as we got inside. You may need to leave your husband in the car while you go get a wheelchair to wheel him in. You may also need to quickly find someone who will help you with getting your husband out of the car and into the emergency room.

Be aware that there may be a line of people waiting to check in but their cases may not be as serious as that of your husband. There is usually a sign up that reminds you that it is not first come first serve; more serious injuries will be treated first. Do not be afraid to speak up and let the nurses know that you have an amputation. This will probably take precedence over the woman who is there for back pain. You will need to give your husband's name and date of birth before they do anything. As soon as that piece of the paperwork is finished a nurse will wheel him into a room.

As soon as I knew that my husband had a nurse in with him I went out to move the car out of the way. While doing that I called my in-laws and they headed out to pick up the kids. I am glad that I had my cell phone in my purse. When I came back in I went to my kids. I reassured them that daddy was in good hands now. I was honest with them and gave them what information I could. Daddy had cut off part of his thumb. The doctors may reattach it our may just stitch the opening closed.

Next I needed to sit down and fully register my husband. I was shaking by now and panicked when I realized that I didn't have my husband's insurance card. Although it is good to have it with you it will not affect the care that a person receives. You will have to call your insurance company about your emergency room visit anyway. In our Case you have to let them know within 2 business days. Again, you need to keep a clear, level head. They are going to ask for your husband's name, address, and phone number. They are going to ask where he works. They will want to know his social security number if you know it. They'll ask for his next of kin....you are it. They will ask you how they can contact you. You will have to sign some paperwork.

While this is going on the doctor and nurse are going in and out of your husband's room. They will not give him pain medicine immediately. They need to access the damage before numbing the pain. The doctor will use a dull stick type item to see how much feeling is left. The doctor that my husband had said that most people will have feeling right up to the tip. They are going to wash out the wound using a stream of saline solution.

When the first assessment was done they gave my husband a few shots of novocaine at the site of the injury. You may have heard of novocaine from the dentist's office but it is just a drug that is used to numb a specific area. These shots will only slightly dull the pain. My husband has a high resistance to novocaine so these first few shots did little to nothing. His waves of nausea kept coming and going.

When the pain was dulled the nurse came in to start an I.V. There are a few things that this will do. It allows the doctor to give your husband fluids if necessary. It also her them to feed an antibiotic through the I.V. Lastly, it provides an easy avenue to give doses of morphine which will be the true pain reliever.

Around the same time someone from x-ray will come down to take x-rays of the wound. The doctor looks at a few different things to determine what will be done. The x-ray will show exactly where the digit was amputated in relation to the bones and joints. It will show them if the ligaments that are needed to move the joints are still intact. It will show them what is left of the bone. The hospital that we went to does not have an orthopedic surgeon but has their x-rays on the computer so the surgeon an hour away could view them. We then had to wait for that surgeon to consult with a hand specialist. There were two things that could happen: the orthopedic surgeon travels down and does the work at the hospital that we were at or the hand specialist needs to do the surgery and we have to go down to his hospital.

Thankfully we didn't have to wait long. The orthopedic surgeon called to say that he would be traveling down to fix the injury. They would not try to reattach the top of the thumb. There was too little bone left above the joint and this would mean greater risk of the reattachment not taking and infection setting in. The ligament that moves the thumb joint was still intact so he would still have mobility without reattachment. Although they would not use the top of the thumb that we brought in to reattach they would use the skin to graft over the wound. The other option would be to graft skin from another part of the body.

While all this was happening my in-laws arrived, and although they had to leave without knowing exactly what would happen they took the kids. This allowed me to put my full attention on my husband and spend the entire time comforting him. Your children will be nervous and may not want to leave. Reassure them that the doctors know what they are doing, and that it is better for them to go with whoever is there to pick them up. Tell them that you can always call to let them know how things are going.

The next hour or so was a long one. We asked to get the t.v. turned on for some distraction. My husband was allowed to have some sips of water but no food. If yours needs full surgery it is likely that they will not be allowed water either. The pain will be constant. They gave my husband a total of 4 shots of morphine and several more injections of Novocaine. He was still in alot of pain. Football helped to keep is mind off of it though. A wet towel on his forehead may also help. Try to remind him of happy times.

Once the surgeon arrived I left the room. There was too many people and trays for me to stay. They fixed the thumb right in the room. It seemed like forever. I think it was close to an hour. The surgeon stitched up the side of the thumb that was split open. At some point he cauterized something...skin, blood vessels, I'm not sure. My husband said that he was doing pretty good being distracted by the football on t.v. until he smelt the burning. The surgeon was able to use the top of the thumb for a skin graft. Everything is all tied up with a bow on the top to keep the tissue and skin as tight as possible. This will prevent blistering or blood blisters. The skin may not take, but it will at least act as a natural bandage while the wound is healing.

The nurse wrapped up the thumb in gauze. You will not have to change this dressing unless it gets wet. You will need to call the doctor's office to make an appointment for him to see you as a follow up. They gave us prescriptions for pain medicine and antibiotics. Make sure you have somewhere to fill them. In our case it was 7:15 p.m. on a Saturday night so all the pharmacies were closed. The emergency room was able to give us starter packs that got my husband through the next afternoon. Before we left they needed to give my husband one last shot, a tetanus shot. Your's may not need this if he has had one in the last ten years.

We are almost two days out from the accident. My husband is still in alot of pain. He has some use of his left hand but has to be careful what he does because some things will stretch the ligament attached to the thumb and shoot pain up it. The pain medicine is making him dizzy so he is not doing much more than laying around. He is waking up every hour or so because of pain or flashback dreams. We still have a long way to go with the healing but we made it through the immediate trauma. Hope you can too.