Anyone severed or partially severed a finger?

[Ouchyfinger]

Name changed for this but been on Mumsnet for years.

At the weekend I’ve suffered a pretty horrific injury to my index fingertip when I stupidly tried to wrestle a chew that I thought my dog was choking on from his mouth. It was three quarters amputated and hanging by a thread. Ddog very elderly and been agonising for weeks when the right time was to let him go due to his decline. We’ve had him pts yesterday 😔.

I’ve had surgery to reattach and luckily all seems well and I haven’t had to lose any part of my finger (apart from nail). Been signed off work for two weeks with huge bandage with follow up in six weeks with consultant.

Now it was like pulling teeth in terms of asking when I’d be able to use it again. Im a secretary and touch type all day and that is pretty much 95% of my job. Consultant just smirked and said I’d have to adapt using three fingers. Okay fine but wondered if anybody else has suffered an injury like this and how long it took to regain full use of their finger. Happy to go back to work ASAP as I’m not ill but i can’t see how I’m going to do my job properly as it’s very fast paced and I use that finger constantly normally.

If the injury is just to your finger tip im not sure why you wouldnt be ble to use your finger again, obviously after the huge badge etc is removed. My friends son almost severed his entire index finger from the base (held on my one tiny bit of skin) he is able to use his finger again just as before.

You poor thing! I don't know the answer but this really annoyed me-
Consultant just smirked and said I’d have to adapt using three fingers
I bet he (?) wouldn't have said that to a surgeon! How condescending.

Not my finger but I did nearly chop off my toe including breaking the bone. It’s been a couple of years and it’s still sore and doesn’t work the same.

I very much doubt you’ll be back in work in two weeks if I’m honest, certainly not typing! Never lost a finger tip but I did have a bad accident where I severely injured my arm (cut to the bone, about 2/3 of the way round).

I was in a sling for about 2 months, then I started on physio - at first I couldn’t move my arm more than a few millimetres. I had about 4 months of physiotherapy to get to the point I could straighten it.

I realise that it’s quite a different injury but if you’ve severed tendons etc I imagine you’re going to need a fair bit of recovery time.

I hope it goes swiftly for you

Gosh, poor you, how sad too about your dog ☹️
I hope your finger heals quickly. I took the tip off my index finger and it’s absolutely fine now. Took a few months for the sensation to return.

I once sliced through my index finger at the top knuckle with a carving knife. I had a bandage on for about 10 days, but regained use of it quickly enough. 25 years on I don’t give it a second thought.

Good luck @Ouchyfinger, I hope you heal well.

@Naggety

You poor thing! I don't know the answer but this really annoyed me- Consultant just smirked and said I’d have to adapt using three fingers I bet he (?) wouldn't have said that to a surgeon! How condescending.

I am a professional pilot and my surgeon told me when I was injured that I should consider a different career. So twatty surgeons can be twatty to a variety of professions. I reckoned at the time he wouldn't have said it to a man, and throughout my rehabilitation I came across a number of consultants who did not take me seriously because I was female.

To the OP, my neighbour partially severed his index finger about 6 weeks ago. He is still in immense pain over it. It was successfully reattached and he's been told it is recovering well, but will take a long time. He suffered a lot of crushing injury too (dropped something very heavy on his hand and got it trapped) which may explain the ongoing pain, and has had an infection in it. I think this is an injury that takes time to heal. From personal experience, injuries always heal better if you give them as much time as you are able to. I went back to work after the injury I mentioned above at 14 weeks, mainly to prove the bloody surgeon wrong. Years later, with hindsight, work wouldn't have cared if I'd had an extra month or 2 off, but it would have greatly reduced the pressure I was putting on myself. It's worth taking the time to recover well.

@Naggety

You poor thing! I don't know the answer but this really annoyed me- Consultant just smirked and said I’d have to adapt using three fingers I bet he (?) wouldn't have said that to a surgeon! How condescending.

Yeah I know, what a dickhead.

@Hellocatshome

If the injury is just to your finger tip im not sure why you wouldnt be ble to use your finger again, obviously after the huge badge etc is removed. My friends son almost severed his entire index finger from the base (held on my one tiny bit of skin) he is able to use his finger again just as before.

Yeah I'm sure I will be able to use it but I was thinking in terms of if I, bs k to work in just less than two weeks how I will manage if I still can't straighten it. I tend to give it some hammer at work in a fast paced job, 95% involving a keyboard and i think I'd find it hard to keep up the pace typing with three fingers, especially as I'm not used to it having touch typed for the last thirty odd years. I'm not a one finger typist if that makes sense.

@Ouchyfinger, have a look into voice activated Word software. I have a feeling it might be standard in some later editions. One of my colleagues (also secretarial) used it when she damaged her shoulder.

Not quite the same, but I'm currently six weeks post surgery for a severed flexor tendon and nerve on my thumb. I spent the first five weeks with my hand strapped into splint 24 hours a day, only now am I allowed to be splint free during the day. The hospital signed me off for six weeks after my operation.

I wouldn't expect to be back at work after two weeks, my thumb is still sore and swollen and I'm hesitant to use it for anything other than the exercises from the physiotherapist. I've been given three months is a timeline for things to return to something approaching normal.

My employer has purchased dictation software (Dragon NaturallySpeaking), and with the aid of this I'm doing a low-key return to work next week with lots of allowances for breaks et cetera. I don't know when I'll be back to normal typing.

Anyway, sympathies from one recent recipient of emergency hand surgery to another. Hope you're feeling better soon.

I suspect it is going to depend on what other damage there is. I had a bad accident as a child and caused damage to nerves, tendons etc. Even now, over 50 years later, I have no movement and severely reduced feeling in my finger. Although I can type, I have a rather eccentric style due to this impairment. You will need to wait and see what happens as your hand heals.

My chef ds chopped the top section of his forefinger off..
And threw it in the bin!!

Surgeons managed to get it back on. Dressings changed daily to check if the tissue was still alive.
.

Not envy..
He is still a chef and the finger works fine.
Not sure how long but he wasn't off work that long.
Grim tbh.

Thanks all, just been told long term one side of my finger will probably remain numb but that but other than that nothing else has been said. I'll suppose I'll just have to see how it goes and see what work say, I'm happy to go back but I, not sure how effective I'll be at my work. I work a lot with spreadsheets and a mouse using the affected hand so it might be a bit tricky at first, they'll just have to make allowances for my slowness.

My son did very similar when his fingers were trapped in a door. Besides his nail line growing differently it all healed very well - good luck op!

You poor thing, I exactly know what it is like .
I severed my whole right index finger tip in January this year in horrible immersion blender accident. Extremely painful, took off my finger pad and nail entirely. I nearly amputated my distal phalanx it was just hanging on skin. Both tendons ripped, one of them twice, it cut through the nerve, the bone was shattered into five pieces. I got more than 25 stitches and some k-wires. More about the injury here: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/general_health/4165670-Lost-my-fingertip-in-tons-of-pain-Warning-graphic-content-title-edited-by-MNHQ
I had it infected very badly, undergone several surgeries. My bone was not healing and as a result I lost some parts of the bone and tissue.
I started my physio in July (after half a year) and not ended yet . It hurts much when I touch it even now. It is heavily disfigured and I barely can move it, cannot make a fist and have no feeling I am not a secretarial but a housewife. Anyway, taking care about a toddler for a month in splints, cast and bandages was quite an experience ... When I type i simply cannot use that finger. Its my right hand and I am right-handed.
sending you healing vibs and hoping you are better