The Great Table Saw Episode

Mike has a lot of tools. They live in our basement (but only until we build a garage). Mike spends a lot of time down there creating things. It relaxes him & gives him a creative outlet. I think he is very good at what he does.

I like to tease him about a couple of things regarding his woodworking. For instance, there is always sawdust upstairs. I don't know if he sprinkles it around hoping that I will more frantically save money for the garage or if it rises up through the floor or if it just gets tracked around on the bottom of his shoes. It drives me crazy but I try to keep my sense of humor about it. I also like to tease him about escaping to the basement to get away from his obnoxious wife. He assures me that his obnoxious wife is not what drives him to his 'workshop'.

Up until August 6th, we also had another joke. That joke revolved around workshop accidents. I often used to remind Mike not to get hurt, not to cut off a finger or anything while I was home. You see, I'm not so good around blood. Not good at all. So I would tell him that he should wait to have an accident, to plan it for a time when there is someone else over visiting so they can be the hero & I can quietly shake in the corner. We don't joke like that anymore.

On Thursday, August 5th I headed out to PA to get together with some of my college friends. Mike decided to take a vacation day that Friday & stay home to work on his current project, a cabinet for the kitchen. I supported this decision wholeheartedly because I would not be home to make sure he woke up on time for work. That man can sleep, let me tell you! Anyway, he got up that morning, ate a bowl of cereal & immediately went down to his workshop. A little while later his left index finger got way too familiar with the table saw blade & got the smack down. I received news of his accident via this picture on my cell phone (warning: it's a little yucky):

At this point we were just thinking it was a bad cut. Mike had driven himself to the hospital & since both of his parents were tied up, I sent my Momma to take care of him. He sat in the Emergency Room for several hours thinking he was just going to get stitched up. He got some powerful pain meds & our phone conversations were hilarious. He said at one point, "See baby, you told me to wait until you weren't home to hurt myself! I waited until you were all the way in Pennsylvania!" The doctor decided that they needed to do an x-ray to make sure none of his bones were damaged. The x-ray yielded some unexpected results. Mike had de-boned his finger tip. The entire bone from the first knuckle up was gone. When they got this news they knew it wouldn't be a simple stitch up.

After several unsuccessful attempts to contact one of their hospital's hand surgeons they wrapped his hand up like this & sent him to the other hospital. The surgeon there was willing to add him on (his third add-on for a Friday evening). When it was confirmed that the bone was gone there was no other choice but to remove the tip of the finger. The surgeon amputated the finger from the first knuckle up.

It was a very *hard* day for everyone. I was sick that I was so far away. I had to field calls from the hospital regarding our insurance coverage, trying to find parents to be there since I couldn't be, & trying to encourage Mike & calm his fears a little bit. The poor guy - the only thing he was really worried about was whether or not they could do the surgery with local anesthetic. He really didn't want to be put "out". The Lord was really good to answer our prayers in that regard. And He provided an excellent surgeon who is also a Christian. My momma kept reminding me on the phone that we had so much to be grateful for - the accident could have been so much worse. She was right & we praise the Lord for the protection He gave.

So right now Mike is semi-enjoying some time off from work! He can't go back as long as he has any restrictions & the doctor doesn't want him to use his left hand. We go to see the doctor tomorrow & we will see how the healing is going. So far it has been progressing well. I still can't hardly look at it because it is covered with stitches. Silly squeamish stomach!