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Just for fun: Here is one of the stupidest, yet successful/lucky things I've done in my life.
Before med school and before nursing school, a few months after I got my paramedic certificate (this happened nearly 10 yrs ago), I sliced close to 5mm off of the top of my left ring finger with a razor-sharp kitchen knife from Japan while quickly and carelessly preparing dinner. The tip was just hanging on by a thread of skin. At this time in my life, I only had a catastrophic, ultra-high deductible health insurance plan. So, instead of going to the emergency room, I decided to take matters into my own hands.
After direct pressure, raising the limb, and even instructing my roommate to apply arterial pressure, the bleeding just wouldn't stop. So here's what I did: I cleaned the wound, disinfected it, and reattached it (approximating the edges of the severed fingertip as closely as possible) with proxi-strips, which I had in my EMT crash bag. - Keep in mind, this was not an "amputation" technically, as no bone was cut -
So anyhow, the proxi-strips worked. Within a few short minutes the bleeding stopped, and after a little over a week I was able to soak the finger in sterile water and the proxi-strips came right off, revealing an intact ring finger. The nail was kind of short, but the wound had healed great and I still had sensation in the tip of my finger (thank God the nerves reconnected), and there was no paresthesia either.
So that is my dumb but lucky story.
Note: Had the steri-strips not stopped the bleeding I would have gone to the ER and just have tried to make a deal with the hospital to either lower my bill or call my insurance company and work out an installment plan or something.
Before med school and before nursing school, a few months after I got my paramedic certificate (this happened nearly 10 yrs ago), I sliced close to 5mm off of the top of my left ring finger with a razor-sharp kitchen knife from Japan while quickly and carelessly preparing dinner. The tip was just hanging on by a thread of skin. At this time in my life, I only had a catastrophic, ultra-high deductible health insurance plan. So, instead of going to the emergency room, I decided to take matters into my own hands.
After direct pressure, raising the limb, and even instructing my roommate to apply arterial pressure, the bleeding just wouldn't stop. So here's what I did: I cleaned the wound, disinfected it, and reattached it (approximating the edges of the severed fingertip as closely as possible) with proxi-strips, which I had in my EMT crash bag. - Keep in mind, this was not an "amputation" technically, as no bone was cut -
So anyhow, the proxi-strips worked. Within a few short minutes the bleeding stopped, and after a little over a week I was able to soak the finger in sterile water and the proxi-strips came right off, revealing an intact ring finger. The nail was kind of short, but the wound had healed great and I still had sensation in the tip of my finger (thank God the nerves reconnected), and there was no paresthesia either.
So that is my dumb but lucky story.
Note: Had the steri-strips not stopped the bleeding I would have gone to the ER and just have tried to make a deal with the hospital to either lower my bill or call my insurance company and work out an installment plan or something.
