WARNING! Not for the Squeamish!

 

WARNING…this post is full of graphic photos so don’t look if your squeamish.  Please consider yourself warned!

Teele was cutting/butchering steers, 14 of them, for the Muslim’s who were celebrating their Holiday.  He was using a ban saw and pushing some very bony ribs threw the blade.  He said that he was concentrating on the front blade and wasn’t watching the back blade when he pushed his right index finger through the back blade.  “Tow Truck Bill” found the end of his finger on the ground and gave it to my brother Mike.  They came into the house and I had the severed finger put in a ziploc baggy on ice.  I drove him to Mountain Vista Medical Center and took these pictures in the ER parking lot before we went in…

I put the finger in my purse and put the purse in the back seat.  It tipped over during the trip and the finger fell out.  I dropped Teele off at the ER entrance and I parked the car.  It felt very “strange” to say the least when I realized I was looking around in the back seat for my husband’s finger.  Teele just laughed when I told him his finger fell out of my purse.

We got to the ER and they gave him a distal block for the pain.  Then called around the valley for a hand surgeon.  After locating one they transported him to Tempe St. Lukes by ambulance.

 

All bandaged up and ready for transport.  The admitting nurse came back to chat with us after she saw our last name.  She wanted to know if we were from Show Low area.  We said yes and then learned that she know’s many of our family, especially Taralee and Danica Reidhead.  Her name is  Melanie Gleeson.  She told us that yesterday they were all sitting around talking about their most “historical Gross Moment”.  She said she has seen everything and they had all agreed that horrible nosebleeds were the worst but that today she officially has a new most gross moment.  She said, “I had my head down just looking through my paper work and I realized someone was standing there.  I looked up and here is this cowboy guy just calmly standing there holding his finger in the air.”  She said he never said a word and that most patients get all graphic but “He just stood there”.    Teele just looked at her and said, “Yea I cut it off.”  Then he turned and sat down.  She again told us that is was her grossest moment…beating out disembowelment.  I thought “Really?!! It’s THAT gross?”  She say’s hello to Tara and Danica.

There was a lot of blood loss…my house…and the entire back porch and patio were covered.

 

Transporting him to St. Lukes

 Crystal and I followed him to St. Lukes

His hand surgeon Dr. Burt Faibisoff .  We learned that he spent a lot of time in Iraq starting with Desert Storm sewing our soldiers parts back on.  We really liked him!

They stitched up the finger first

Wonderful sense of humor

He is scraping the fat, bone and fingernail out of the severed part preparing it for a skin graft.

Preparing the Severed part

The white part is the skin from the severed finger.

Sewing it on

All Done

 

He has an appointment on Wednesday.  That is when we will know if the skin graft worked.  If it doesn’t then they will discuss amputating.  Teele has diabetes so heeling is difficult.  Please keep him in your prayers.

Keeping his sense of humor…he was explaining to the surgeon that he just wants to have enough to pick nose.  But really he is hoping this doesn’t effect his roping.