Snowblower Mishap

[Brandon Chew]

On March 1st while clearing several inches of wet, heavy snow in my driveway, I got my left hand caught in the discharge chute of the snowblower. I'm not going to post anything on a message board about the accident itself, the operating state of the snowblower, or why I put my hand in there. Just thinking about what happened almost makes me puke.

The good news is that I still have all parts of all five fingers (and absent any complications due to infection it should stay that way), so far there appears to be no nerve damage, the joints on all fingers are intact with the possible exception of the very last joint on a couple of fingers, and I'm right-handed. My thumb was not involved. The bad news is that I have a few stitches on three of the four fingers, I have crushing type fractures of the bones at the tips of all four fingers, the second bones down on three fingers snapped in two, and I have torn tendons on two fingers so I cannot currently move those fingers toward the closed position.

I had surgery on my hand last Wednesday so that they could pin the separated bones back together in my middle finger. The other two fingers they were able to align without pins. Once the bones heal enough I'll need surgery again to try to repair the tendon damage. I don't know yet when that will be. I have a follow-up visit with the surgeon this Thursday.

I probably cannot use my left hand at all for at least a few months and the doc says the whole process including rehab might last up to a year before we say we are "done".

Lots of pain and pain meds during the past week, as well as the side effects that come along with them. Today was the first day since the accident that I could get by with taking just one Tylenol and a couple of ibuprofen, every 4-6 hours.

Coming on the message board has helped take my mind off other things and to keep a positive outlook. It takes a lot longer to type with one hand but during the last week I've already been getting faster. It'll be a several months before I regain enough use of my hand to resume inspections. I'm planning to use this time to dust off and refine my business plan, sharpen my mind, and concentrate on refining my writing and reporting skills.

A lot of things about my recovery and whether there will be any permanent damage are still unknown. So far the news has been good and I'm hoping and praying it will stay that way.

Brandon

[kurt]

Whoooaa, you dodged a bullet if you still have fingers at all. Old fashioned snowblowers (without the safety features) are sooooo dangerous.

Hope you recover completely. Healing time & therapy will make the difference. Don't push the recovery time.

Hang in there.

[hausdok]

Hi Brandon,

I'm so sorry to hear that. I know only too well how an accident can have long-term effects on your business. I hope you make a full recovery. Are you going to be able to resume inspecting soon or is that on the back burner for a while?

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[ozofprev]

Jeez! You say it will be several months - and we're coming up on the 'good' months.

You don't need anyone else saying you were lucky, so I'll just add that you are one of the good guys and perhaps one of the positives to come out of this might be that we get to see more of your thoughts here.

Heal quickly!

[Les]

Brandon,

Gary is right - spending a little more time here with your "little friends" can be beneficial! Inspecting is kinda like riding a bike, you really don't forget the process in the few months off.

Now for a technical question. How do you pick your nose when your driving?

[Scottpat]

Brandon, you are right about this board it can help to take you mind off of things. When I tore ligaments in my ankle last April, the computer and the boards were my salvation. I could not walk for about two weeks and could not inspect for about 3 months! I had a couple of inspectors that I sent referrals to and they in turn helped me by tossing me a few jobs when I could get back to work.

The pain meds are great but they will keep you in a state of depression. It will get better, but it does take time.

15 years ago I severed (cut off) my little finger with a piece of glass at home. With the grace of God and the talent of a few doctors they were able to reattach it. Today it looks fairly normal, but it doesn't always do what I want it to do! A BIG WORD OF ADVICE!! When you can you need to get into rehab and do as the say and as soon as you can get off the Rx pain meds.

[jon_ran]

Sorry about your accident, I hope that you have short term disability insurance or another income source while you are out. Like the others said, don't push your recovery - it will take time.

[Richard Stanley]

Is an assistant a possibility?

[randynavarro]

Best to you in recovery, Brandon.

As Jon mentioned, disability insurance is vital to our businesses. I'm going to review my policy today.

[Brandon Chew]

Thanks for the support guys; it helps me keep looking forward.

My wife is a physical therapist and is well connected in the area medical community, so the rehab side of things should be well covered.

Yep - disability insurance is a must. The odds of having a work-stopping accident sometime during your working career are very high. If you are not prepared it can bring financial ruin to your family. I have always self-insured (through savings) for six months and have long-term disability insurance for more than six months. In 23 years of working, this will be the first time I've missed a day of work due to an injury. My hobbies are not exactly low risk either: woodworking, remodeling, bicycling (fast) and skiing. I'm not prone to having accidents. My accident illustrates how under the right circumstances, a lapse in concentration for only a couple of seconds can have devastating effects.

Mike/Richard - I've been easing into the HI biz since I completed my training with Chad Fabry and Mike Nelson at ITA Rochester a couple of summers ago. I was planning to start a push this spring to build it into a full-time gig. What I'll probably do is hold off a bit on that and focus instead on those aspects of the biz that I can do with just one hand.

Les - hold the wheel with your knee?

Scott - I agree on the Rx pain meds and am working toward getting completely off them as soon as possible.

Brandon

(feeling lucky)

[Chad Fabry]

Brandon,

I have fixed probably ten thousand snow blowers in my life. It was a significant source of income for me for many years.

Having said that to illustrate how intimate I am with nearly every brand imaginable I'm curious which blower you had and whether you were using a nylon tie strap, electrical tape or a rubber band on the left lever. Also, since 1978 there's been a rather graphic illustration on every chute showing a hand disconnected from its fingers. Truthfully, it never dawned on me that while the graphic covered nearly every language they forgot about "engineer".

I'm terribly sorry you're injured. My best wishes for a complete recovery and a pain free future.

[Jesse]

In most winters I worked as a fireman/paramedic, I've seen at least one call for a finger lost to a snowblower. I get nervous putting my hands in there when the engine's off - maybe that makes me a sissy. Good luck, Brandon.

[Brian G]

As bad as it sounds, thank goodness you didn't lose digits in the process. It's nice to have a complete set. Besides, you might have eventually become one of those old guys with a 30 minute war story about how you lost the fingers (yeah it hurt like hell, but you finished the snow-blowing, ate lunch, and cut some firewood before driving yourself to the hospital). []

Brian G.

Hand Injuries Suck [:-thumbd]

[Brandon Chew]

Chad - 7 hp MTD, two stage, about 10 years old. Right lever controls movement. Left the auger and thrower. No field modifications to the levers or safety controls. Until that day, I never put my hand anywhere near the thrower, engine running or off. I'm sure every one of us has done something that we thought was really stupid after we did it. It's what makes us human. Sometimes we come away from those times unscathed, and other times we are not so lucky. I do appreciate your joke about reading "engineer" and it made me laugh. If you want to discuss the accident further, please let's do so off-line.

Jesse - I was the second guy to hit the ER that day with this kind of injury, and before I left four hours later they brought in two more. The surgeon who worked on me last Wednesday, had a guy with a similar injury scheduled right in front of me. When I walked into the reception/waiting area, we looked at each other and at the same time said "snowblower?" I asked the surgeon if he'd give us a "two for one" discount.

Brian - too much pain and embarrassment at the moment for war stories, but I'll be sure to spin a good yarn later. First thing I did when I pulled my hand out was count to five, look to the sky, and say "thank you". This was quickly followed by "oh, $hit!", some swearing at myself, and then the realization that since I was home alone at the time, I needed to find a neighbor quick before calling 911, just in case I went into shock before the EMTs got there. My 9 year old son was playing at a neighbor's house two doors down, so I knew that one of the adults was home there. I closed up my hand, held it closed with my right hand, and walked down the street to the neighbor's house. When I got there I told them what happened and just said "Call 911. I'm just going to hold my hand and sit back in this snow bank until they get here." I was wearing plenty of warm clothes and just wanted to get somewhere low and comfortable as quickly as possible.

That night was our annual Blue & Gold dinner for Cub Scouts. I'm the Cubmaster so I was supposed to be emcee and my wife was the one in charge of planning, setup, and running the dinner. We both spent that afternoon in the ER. All the people in the pack pulled together and the dinner came off smooth and as planned. My wife was able to go but I needed to stay home and rest.