Time goes back to one night a year ago, when my wife and I were arguing over trivial matters, she grabbed the pillow on the bed and threw it at me, and I held out my hand to block it. After calming down, I was surprised to find that the ring finger of my right hand was bent backwards from the middle, in the shape of an "inverted right angle".
This frightens me, where have I seen this face! The first thing I realized was that it should be dislocated, and all I thought about was the scene I saw in the movie: the arm was dislocated, and after the manual reset, it was restored as before.
After hesitating for a few seconds, looking at the horrible shape of the fingers, I still gave up the idea of doing it myself. Before I could change my pajamas and put on a down jacket, I went out with my wife.
One night of horror
There is a secondary general hospital near my home that is a 5-minute walk away, and I often patronize with my children. After entering the emergency room, I shouted to the doctor on duty: "Doctor, my finger is broken!" See what to do! ”
There weren't many people in the hospital late at night, and my voice attracted four or five medical staff. The doctor said it might be a dislocation, but wasn't sure if there were any other bone injuries and recommended transferring to a more advanced hospital. The famous orthopedic hospital is about 10 minutes away by car. I immediately took a taxi and went straight with my daughter-in-law.
Unexpectedly, as soon as I entered the emergency room, I saw a "big scene", the scene with the god of death, and I as a bystander were thrilled to see. Glancing at the injured finger, I shook my head and secretly sighed to myself what this injury counted. The nurse guided me into the orthopedic emergency department, my daughter-in-law ran to register, and half an hour after the injury, I finally sat in front of the doctor.
The doctor asked about the cause of the injury and examined my finger carefully, and the initial judgment was that it was dislocated, but it was still necessary to take a film to determine. I immediately returned to the office after filming, and the doctor was already watching the film. Confirmed correctly, only the dislocation did not have a fracture, I was relieved. The doctor was ready to reset me, and before the operation, I talked about some risks - it may not be successful, or it may cause secondary injury.
I looked at the doctor in trust and said to him, "Come on! ”
The doctor took a bite out, finally adjusted the angle of the finger, and then took out a magic ice cream stick and made a simple fix for me. There was a small episode, when I went to take a film to confirm whether the reset was successful, the doctor also whispered to me: "Is it not domestic violence, do you need me to help you call the police?" ”
After watching the film, the doctor let the ice apply and instructed to buy a finger splint the next day for fixation, and recheck it a month later. When I got home and lay in bed, I was still in a bit of a trance, trying to move my injured fingers, I could move, and then I fell asleep in the fantasy of recovering quickly.
Waves again
The next day I changed the retainer and then entered a long "waiting period", during which I experienced the inconvenience of hand injury. First of all, driving, can only be operated with one hand; sometimes take something, will habitually extend the right hand, and then "ah" a sound to retract; when the work is often used to the computer, typing has become "one finger Zen"; there is a small problem, injured fingers and adjacent fingers because of the continuous friction of the fixer, the skin is cracked, very uncomfortable.
Finally survived a month and felt good recovery. I thought to myself, wouldn't it be better to fix it for a longer period of time? So I gritted my teeth and insisted on wearing the retainer for another week. A week later, the retainer was removed, and I couldn't shake hands at all. The injured finger was straight, holding the shape of a retainer, like an iron plate that could not move.
I panicked and rushed to the hospital. The doctor asked about the medical history and reviewed the film and told me: "The dislocation reduction is very good, but the fixator is a little late, and it should be removed around the week and start to resume training." "My self-assertion has caused trouble, and following the doctor's advice is really not a joke." Then I started a month of recovery training, doing 5 minutes of fist clenching positions in the morning, middle and evening.
Who ever thought that wave after wave, during this time I found that the nails appeared abnormal: there was some bruise at the end of the nails. I thought it was because I had been wearing the retainer for a long time, but I didn't care too much.
Another month has passed, and the recovery of the injured finger is still not ideal. When you clench your fist, you can only bend it halfway, and as long as you push harder, it will hurt. In desperation, I hung up the well-known expert number of the top three specialist hospitals. Experts believe that the current recovery situation is still within expectations, and the recovery of finger dislocation is a long-term process, and the heart can not eat hot tofu. The specialist developed a new training plan for me, focusing on a little more force each time I feel pain in my fist clench, with the aim of rebuilding joint function without causing secondary injuries. After eating this Reassuring Dan, I went home to continue my recovery training.
Nail Defense Battle
The recovery of the fingers gradually improved, and after another month, I could basically half-clench my fists, and at this time the abnormality of the nails finally caught my attention. The nails are not very long, and the bruises at the roots will slowly ooze out for several days. After observing for a while to make sure that I could not heal myself, I did not dare to make up my own mind, so I went to the hospital again.
Combined with the medical history and observation, the doctor gives two judgments: the first may be granuloma, which can be laser excised after liquid nitrogen freezing; the second may be some kind of dermatitis, which can be tried with drugs. Although there was some prejudgment, it was still difficult to accept the result that the nails might not be saved, so I decided to take medication for a few days.
After waiting for a few days at home, the situation became more and more serious. The nails and flesh could not fit together, and the gaps were constantly bleeding. Sometimes when you wake up, the blood does not flow out, and a "blood bag" will bulge under the nails, and a squeeze will spray blood. To make matters worse, my nails stopped growing completely.
The base of the nail is cratered and bleeding constantly. 丨 Courtesy of the author
Seeing that the situation was getting more and more out of control, I picked up my mobile phone to make an appointment and walked into the hospital again. This time it was the hand surgery specialist number. I began to report the condition to the experts from the dislocation of the fingers, the doctor diagnosed granulomas, and combined with my medical history to give three possible reasons: one is that the end of the finger trauma occurred at the time of dislocation, has not been treated and thus more serious; the second is that the end of the fixator is improperly used; third, after the fixator is removed, the finger end is damaged during the recovery period.
In short, I got the treatment plan: surgical removal of granulomas, and according to the situation, clean the nail bed, as far as possible to restore the nail function. I was still a little nervous about whether I could keep my nails, and the doctor said, "It's possible to recover," and comforted me: "This is a small operation, that is, do and go." ”
Minor surgery is not simple
In accordance with the requirements of epidemic prevention and control, I did nucleic acid, blood test and CT in advance. The appointed day had arrived, and I came to the hospital alone. There are still many people queuing outside the operating room, because it is the operating room of the hand and foot department, and the people waiting outside have large and small hand and foot injuries.
The surgery was scheduled for 9 o'clock in the morning, and I waited until about 2 p.m., and the doctor did not eat or rest, so he came to operate on me. The nurse called my name outside the operating room and gave me a list of medications, injections for anesthesia and some postoperative oral anti-inflammatory drugs.
After taking the medicine, I went back to the operating room, and after the nurse checked the identity information, asked my family if my family had come. I was shocked and replied, "I thought it was a minor operation that didn't let the family come together." The nurse listened back to "Okay," then changed me into a surgical gown and pushed me a operating table. I said I could go on my own, but the nurse motioned for me to lie down.
Entering the operating room, the doctor covered my whole body with a blue surgical cloth commonly found in the TV series, leaving only my hands on the outside, and then sterilized my entire hand over and over again. I was a little nervous about a meal. I thought it was a very simple small operation, but I didn't expect that preoperative preparation was not simple at all.
After a dozen anesthetics, the doctor took a scalpel and kept asking me if I felt, and after several attempts I replied that I had feelings. The doctor smiled: "What does it feel, it has been pulled away." "Listening to the doctor say this, I am not nervous anymore. While operating, the doctor communicated with his assistant and confirmed that it was a granuloma, and at the same time lamented that the nails were too fragile. The granuloma was cut down and stitched twice, and the operation was over. There was no pain in the process, just feeling the scalpel scraping several times on the nail bed.
After the operation, the doctor showed me the "small meat ball" that had been cut down for pathology testing, and told me that the nail bed was not injured and that the nails should still grow. The nurse asked me to leave the operating room after instructing me to change the dressing cycle.
The nails finally grew out
Wrapped in gauze after the operation, it is still very inconvenient. But thinking that I was finally going to heal, I was in a much more relaxed mood. The dressing was changed as required, and after a month, the sutures and gauze were removed, and the wound began to recover slowly. The nails finally re-grew after the ordeal, slowly knocking out the previously potholed nails. The dislocated knuckles also gradually regained their flexibility, and the defensive battle finally came to an end.
The right hand after recovery 丨 Author courtesy of the author
Doctor reviews
Gao Yang | Chief Physician of the Department of Trauma and Orthopedics, Second Affiliated Hospital of Shandong First Medical University
Hand trauma is more common in daily life, according to the statistics of Professor Wang Shuhuan, a hand surgery expert in mainland China, hand trauma is second only to lower limb trauma. After the occurrence of hand trauma, it is very important to correctly fix and bandage it at the first time, see and treat it in time, and review it regularly.
In view of the author's onset and medical experience, I would like to talk about a few points as advice from an orthopedic surgeon.
First of all, the author did not choose to reduce the dislocated joint on his own after an external finger injury is the right thing to do. For sports injuries or hand deformities caused by sprains, self-reduction should not be done. The correct approach is to apply local ice to the injured area, raise it, and immediately go to a specialist hospital after protection.
Secondly, for obviously deformed or swollen fingers, X-rays must be performed as soon as possible to rule out fractures or joint dislocations. If joint dislocation is clear, X-ray examination is usually performed after manual reduction to determine whether the reduction is successful. The author's ability to go to the hospital at the first time is a very recommended practice. In my daily diagnosis and treatment activities, I often encounter some patients who think that they are squeezing or accidentally bumping, treat themselves, and finally see a doctor due to joint dysfunction or local secondary infections and deformities. Therefore, for patients with hand trauma, the first time to the hospital for examination and clear diagnosis is the premise of correct treatment.
It is also important to review regularly and perform correct and appropriate rehabilitation exercises according to the doctor's recommendations. The author thinks that a longer fix will restore better, and it is this misplaced understanding that makes him miss the best time to restore the function of hand trauma.
The authors also recommend visiting a specialist hospital for nail diseases that occur in combination. The so-called "skin" under the nails is professionally called the nail bed. Once the nail bed is damaged, it often leads to deformed nail growth, which affects the appearance.
In summary, for readers who are unfortunate to suffer from hand trauma, early medical treatment, regular review, and correct and appropriate functional exercises are the guarantee of good treatment results.
Sharing personal experience does not constitute a diagnosis and treatment recommendation, can not replace the doctor's individual judgment of a specific patient, if you need to go to a regular hospital.
Author: Tiatis
Editors: Yuan Ye, Li Xiaoqiu
Caption: Movie "Nowhere to Go Home"