how to traumatic injury?

Discussion in 'General Advice' started by Spindy, Jul 17, 2018.

  1. Spindy

    Spindy Trying Her Best

    How I got here: I lost a fight with a drill press yesterday (july 16th) and my index finger on my dominant hand is now Real Messed Up, but in a hopeful-prognosis kind of way. The optimism of the ER staff yesterday is helping to keep morale up, but I am still having a lot of pain and anxiety that I don't feel super well equipped to handle alone.

    What I hope to get out of this: tips for coping with this fun and exciting situation, and maybe some terrible puns?
     
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  2. Athol Magarac

    Athol Magarac I prefer reading posts without a lot of topics.

    Hope you feel better soon. Can you ask your doctor for drugs?

    Otherwise, distractions are good. Veg out with some cheesy movies, catch up on reading if you can do that without holding a book open, catch up with an old friend over the phone.

    Try not to look at your hand if you don't have to. Focus on how optimistic the ER staff were.
     
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  3. Spindy

    Spindy Trying Her Best

    Yeah, the ER folks sent me home with a script to last until the hand surgeon can get a look at it (tomorrow morning, luckily) but it just. It's hard to describe, but painkillers only do so much? It's less that it stops the pain and more that it knocks it down a notch in terms of priority.

    Steven Universe has been pretty good for distraction- it's the right combo of lightheartedness & short episodes to break through the anxious brainfog.

    My hand is just wrapped up in a little gauzy puffball rn, which is not too bad. Unfortunately, my brain likes to latch onto sensory memories & play them on repeat, and my brain is Fixated on a ~5 second clip of the injury happening. It's frustrating enough when that happens with like, a song or a phrase, but I'm getting real tired of rehashing that one :/
     
    • Witnessed x 3
  4. vuatson

    vuatson [delurks]

    Totally different scale of thing, but I always like listening to comedy podcasts (specifically McElroy podcasts) when I’m feeling nauseous or when I go to donate blood. Or any comedy-type thing works, really - may I recommend red vs. blue, if you haven’t already watched it? Or Monster Factory? Something about comedy specifically is just a really good distraction from pain, ime.
     
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  5. LadyNighteyes

    LadyNighteyes Wicked Witch of the Radiant Historia Fandom

    Oh man, I remember that from when I had appendicitis. That feeling where people ask you if it hurts less and you're like "Not really, but it hurts a little farther away."
     
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  6. Vierran

    Vierran small and sharp

    Some simple/low tech pain management options:

    Apply some kind of pressure stimulus to your hand or your wrist, not directly on the injury but nearby. This will redirect some of the neurological pain signals.

    Especially if you are having swelling, lightly rubbing the area, sort of directing the fluid up your arm toward your shoulder, should help. The swelling itself can actually make the tissue more sensitized to pain.

    Cold. I'm guessing you're aware of this one.

    Keep moving it. Caveat here: I am not a doctor and I have not seen your injury. If you receive medical advice to limit motion, obviously that takes precedence. That said, when we're injured, we tend to want to protect the area by not moving at all, but spending a little time just gently moving your finger through its range of motion should reduce pain and promote healing. Don't push it if it hurts more, but you probably don't need to keep it 100% still either.

    Best of luck. Hope the hand surgeon had useful things to say!
     
    • Like x 1
  7. Athol Magarac

    Athol Magarac I prefer reading posts without a lot of topics.

    I had hoped that they offered you something to help with the anxiety as well. Hopefully you figured out the best way to tune out the physical part.

    I'm not the best about trauma, but there is an attitude that might help. Kinda - yeah, fuck you cunt. A sorta dismissiveness.

    Okay, all your brain wants is for you not to do that again. If you focus on how to keep it from happening again and grayrock the actual results, that sounds pretty healthy.
     
  8. Spindy

    Spindy Trying Her Best

    @vuatson Monster Factory seems like a good time, but do I need to have any background knowledge to get into red vs. blue? I'm sorta worried about all of the injokes and references going over my head X')

    @Vierran it's funny how much I've forgotten to move that hand in the last ~48 hours! I keep finding myself surprised like Oh Right, the whole hand isn't immobilized, I can do little things with my not-hurt fingers. The gut reaction is absolutely to just isolate the hurt part as much as possible, even though it's not the best.
     
  9. Spindy

    Spindy Trying Her Best

    And as for today's news! It was really good!!

    I'm healing well, there's no sign of infection, the nerves tendons & bones are all intact, and I get to start physical therapy next week!

    I am just, incandescently happy and relieved. I'm certainly not out of the woods yet, but like, given the scope of the injury, I had very good reason to worry about losing the finger entirely.
     
    • Winner x 10
  10. Athol Magarac

    Athol Magarac I prefer reading posts without a lot of topics.

    This was why when I had teeth removed, I ignored the painkillers and asked my husband to just get me some sleeping pills. I was having trouble with consciousness anyway, so might as well just sack-out.
     
  11. vuatson

    vuatson [delurks]

    If you mean knowledge about Halo, definitely not. I knew nothing about the series when I first watched rvb and I still know basically nothing. There might be a reference or two, but the Halo models are basically action figures that they’re using to tell an unrelated story.

    Congratulations on the good news!!! :D
     
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