Polski
Time 0
What a nightmare What a mess A large vinegar jar cracked in my hands and a sizable chunk cut off two of my fingertips.
Instead of meeting with a nice gentleman, who was on his way with a nice machine for testing, I was looking at the growing puddle of blood and the two pieces of skin hanging by a thread and wondering what to do next.
I didn’t know it yet but I had unwittingly classified myself in the ‘transplant’ category.
I called the nice gentleman to postpone the meeting for later, then I called my Husband and asked him to clean the mess,and finally I called 911 to hear that the ambulance paramedics would only wrap my hand. I wrapped it myself in boiled dishcloths and with my hand raised under the headliner, slightly trembling, I set off to the nearest ER.
I parked using only my left hand on the lawn, hoping my car wouldn’t get towed right away.
Because I was bleeding profusely while standing against the wall in the queue and my face looked grim and scared, they admitted me very quickly and were very nice.
The general consensus was reached promptly – the hanging pieces of skin will fall off, there is no point in sewing it on, at best they can make a transplant from another part of the body but not before consulting the surgeon who is currently operating and will be available who knows when.
In the meantime, they started cutting my wedding ring, which heated up to such a temperature that the only thing that saved me was a freeze spray. All in all it was pretty fun.
I also learned that hydrogen peroxide is great for dissolving dried blood. The rescuers generously poured it over every piece of unwrapped wound dressing (and someone always came to look at it), for which I was deeply grateful. For the pouring. For looking at it too.
After 2.5 hours of unwrapping and wrapping the bandages, a very nice surgeon appeared, who told me that it would heal nicely and we are going to sew it.
The staff was surprised but apparently they had the specialist in high regard because no one protested.
I breathed a sigh of relief because I would take anything over a transplant.
The surgeon started sewing, and I immediately discovered how many nerves there are in the tips of my fingers. A very, very large amount. The surgeon sewed and anesthetized, I screamed and kicked, he kept apologizing, I writhed, he anesthetized subsequent points, I kept shouting and demanding to know how much of a psychopath he was. You know… A typical afternoon at the ER. We all had a good time and after half an hour the surgeon finished and was pleased with himself.
He also didn’t blame me for kicking because he told me to lie down and sat right next to me. Not my fault!
Since about 90% of both fingertips were cut off, we could not be sure that such a laced autograft would be accepted. The surgeon (a really wonderful person) told me to go home and return in a few hours, when he would decide whether the skin is turning pink or I am undergoing surgery at night.
What if I don’t want a transplant? He said the regrowth of the fingertips would be a long, painful, potentially festering process and not worth the trouble in his opinion.
OK, so I rushed home and immediately started doing everything I could think of to help the blood flow and the acceptance of my own skin asap!
I immediately gobbled a few tablespoons of Anna Bee C MSM, plus a glass of our homemade colloidal silver (about 10 ppm) and directly afterwards started a tissue regeneration program on the cold laser mode of the Rife Spooky2 machine, which I had just bought for a completely different purpose.
In the evening I returned to the ER and the surgeon smiled (didn’t I say he was wonderful?) – he said it looked very nice (although in my opinion it looked like the fingers of a dying Frankenstein) and gave me 2 more days of hope for a non-transplant.
So for the next 2 days I took the following in excess:
– Anna Bee C MSM (for collagen reconstruction, oxygenation and infection prevention) – probably a glass a day without symptoms of saturation in the form of stomach ailments,
– our handmade ionic silver approx. 10 ppm – 3-4 glasses a day,
– iodine, selenium, Concentrace complex of full-spectrum minerals – as usual, only more, especially more Lugol,
– fermented cod liver oil in capsules,
– evening primrose oil (my BFF for faster skin renewal and reduced inflammation),
– my very strong Bigbanger syrup with propolis, pine extract, garlic, cloves and a whole lot of anti-inflammatory ingredients.
So, in short, I focused on preventing infection and providing the body with materials to rebuild tissue.
In addition, I soaked my fingers in silver with 3 drops of my 10% Lugol’s liquid, lavender essential oil and Concentrace (because oils dissolve nicely in salt water) and continued various tissue regeneration programs using the Spooky2 cold laser.
On my way out from the ER I got a prescription for two antibiotics. I bought a meds, but I decided to postpone the decision to take them until I saw the first symptoms of a possible infection. I’m not a gambler, but with my planned doses of silver, vitamin C, Lugol’s, propolis, there should be no infection.
I’ll keep watch like a hawk and if need by, I’ve got everything at my fingertips.
And this is where our picture series begins (let the weak in spirit close their eyes while reading).
Day 2
During the check-up at the clinic, another surgeon says that everything is going in the right direction, but it’s too early to decide about the transplant. He tells to wait another week and prescribes wound dressings with silver and by saying this he immediately wins my heart. He recommends changing them every 2 days, but I use laser therapy and soaking at least 2 times a day, so I weave the ritual of changing the wound dressing into my daily schedule.
At this stage, I take high doses of what I described above and for faster regeneration of nerve connections, I also add a decent B-complex, lecithin and choline.
I also wonder if a sterile silver dressing that I dropped onto the floor is still usable. Cowardly, I decide not to risk it 😀
Day 4
Friendly souls arrive to help write labels for vinegars, because without my right hand I have trouble writing.
Everything is still healing beautifully.
Day 7
A right-handed person who suddenly becomes left-handed discovers some obvious things that previously went unnoticed. A single hand not only can’t clap, but also can’t cut a bandage, spread butter on bread, paint the eyelashes…
But it can drink a good coffee in a good cafe! 🙂
Day 8
I discover that obeying surgeons does not always pay off.
Because of laser therapy and soaking in silver, I have so far changed the wound dressings 1-2 times a day, while the recommendation was to change it once every 2 days. Thus far everything has been healing so beautifully that I decided to let it go for one day, I unwrap the bandage and I see that the stitches are covered in green! This meant a quick return to the methods of disinfection known to me for their effectiveness, i.e. soaking the wound in silver and such an amount of Lugol’s solution 10% (about 20 drops per small glass of silver) that my fingers turned black 🙂
No matter.
The next day, there was no trace of the pus.
Since that incident, I no longer listen to recommendations, I change dressings – silver or non-silver – at least once a day.
In addition to having to use my left hand, another difficulty are new scabs that are constantly forming, so I am reluctant to unwrap the dressings, because I do not like to re-injure the wounds and tear the sewn-in skin. In this case, however, the knowledge acquired in the ER comes to my aid, where I learned that it’s easiest to unwrap wound dressings after soaking them in hydrogen peroxide, which is perfect for dissolving blood. The paramedics at the ER pour bucketfuls of it and it does dissolve blood beautifully, even the dried blood on the floor (oh yes, I left quite an impression there
🙂 ).
What previously looked like Frankenstein’s work is now really starting to resemble the skin of a human that did not rise from the grave.
Day 12
After the typical indelicate removal of the old dressing performed by the nurse, who clearly hates her work and has made it a point of honor to prove to surgical patients that they are wimps, the surgeon in the clinic whistled with delight and ordered the stitches to be removed. It was supposed to be after a month, but not even two weeks have passed. As far as I know, removing stitches does not hurt so it’ll be over soon. I feel happy until the nurse starts tugging at each thread and (really!) trying to saw it off with a scalpel. Each. Single. Thread. And there are 14 of them on an area of several cm. I complain to her that she could be more gentle but then I just grit my teeth waiting for it to end. Mistake! When she takes off the last one, I suddenly feel like I’m about to pass out, and I’m not the fainting type. Well done, lady! Given the fact that she sat me in front of a huge window through which solar heat was entering and I came straight from a funeral with an empty stomach, it was a perfect combo. I mutter under my breath that I’m about to collapse and the staff suddenly shows a human face. I am escorted to a hospital bed, I am not supposed to get up, but I can have a drink of water. Like in America.
Somehow I got home, but then after a few days I discovered that the nurse had missed one more stitch and I knew that I would sooner bite it out with my third molars than put my life into her tender hands again. I started pulling it out with tweezers, but it wouldn’t budge. There was more and more blood until finally I felt faint again and gave up. I decided that the lady was right after all – I am a wimp. I soaked my hand in silver and resignedly wrapped it in dressing.
Thank God the next day I had an appointment with a gynecologist. I thought – he’s a human being who likes to operate, so he can probably remove stitches as well.
He said he would.
My hand was shaking so much that I turned my head so as not to disturb him. The doctor struggled for a few minutes, and then suddenly it was all over. I DIDN’T FEEL A THING! And as it turned out, this stitch was very deep and tied twice, so the more I tried to pull it out at home, the more I was ripping it out.
So you can remove a difficult stitch without causing pain and you can also make a person’s life miserable with fourteen simple stitches.
I am describing this in such detail for educational purposes and as a warning:
- count the stitches that they put on or ask the surgeon to count them – this may be important when removing them,
- protest if you think that the procedure of removing them is sadistic,
- If the procedure is sadistic, get up and leave – you can go to any private clinic, nurse, gynecologist (sic!) and do it in a humane way, even if you have to pay 100 PLN.
If I had known this earlier, I probably wouldn’t have allowed anyone to torment me.
Day 13
According to the recommendation of the surgeon from the clinic, I incorporate lubrication in my daily wound hygiene to make the scars more elastic.
I prepare a mixture based on cold-pressed, organic hemp and evening primrose oil, with the addition of Copaiba balm, frankincense and lavender oils, which accelerate healing and reduce scars. I keep it in the fridge and lubricate my fingers before each laser therapy (still 2-3 times a day).
In a fit of madness, I also decide to dip my fingers in Anna Bee C syrup: honey is great for wounds (it disinfects and promotes healing), raspberries are used to make face masks, and vitamin C and MSM speak for themselves. The idea turns out to be a home run because after washing off (not licking off!) the syrup, the skin becomes very soft and well moisturized. Then I put on it my hemp mixture, which today I would enrich by adding CBD drops, do a round of laser therapy and wrap it in impressively large band-aids.
Since that moment I wear white puppets on my fingers 🙂
Day 31
Whether it’s because of the large amounts of iodine or just the healing process, the sewn-in fingertip patches begin to turn into a crust and slowly, painlessly come off, revealing brand-new, healed skin underneath.
I still soak in Anna Bee C syrup, silver, Lugol’s (which turns my fingers yellow and my scabs black 🙂 ) and treat with a lubricating mixture comprising essential oils. It’s fine.
Day 39
The crust is gone, most of the scabs have also fallen off.
The remaining skin is clean, but very swollen.
Fingers are hypersensitive, they hurt when pressed, so most of the tasks of everyday life are still out of the question for now.
Day 50
The swelling does not go down.
The surgeon in the clinic says that it’s fine and tells me to come back in 3 months.
He says that if the swelling does not go down by then, ‘we will see’.
I decide not to ‘see’, but start looking for information on the Internet. I find an American clinic that aids in accepting grafts after burns by using pressure dressings and I start (without much success) to look for suitable band-aids. Every day I wrap my puppets with what I managed to buy and the swelling actually decreases, but shortly after unwrapping it returns to its enormous size.
I keep searching.
Day 57
On the recommendation of my Wise Friends, I go to a Wise Angiologist.
Thewise Angiologist, says that these are severed lymphatic vessels and he highly recommends pressure bandages and for the first time in his life he would recommend leeches. Straight from his office, I go to order compression finger sleeves, for which I wait about two weeks, and then my life becomes much easier.
The sleeves compress everything properly, I can function normally with them on, even swim in the sea, and they look extremely impressive when I put on a blue dress :))))
I’m still considering leeches, maybe I’ll finally give in because it’s supposedly a very good idea.
I also expect that they are more effective earlier after the injury, but this is knowledge for a potential non-future.
The sleeves do work and after 5 months the fingertips are clearly smaller, but the contracture of the fingers does not decrease. An osteopath explains to me that such skin patches are no different from badly sewn patches in clothing – they pull unevenly in strange directions. To complicate matters, it’s no not only the skin that pulls, but also the stitched parts underneath – nerves, muscles, vessels, etc. He recommends buying a super-soft brush and brushing the skin of my fingers in all directions so as to stimulate the reconstruction of collagen connections that form a mesh (hence brushing in different directions). My dentist confirmed that she used this method for her c- section scar and that after a month it looked as if it was already six months old and even became concave.
Okay, I buy the softest toothbrush there is and start caressing.
The first impression is tingling in the distant parts of the hand, actually up to the shoulder. I caress from every side in every direction, also in places where it tingles and goes numb. It turns out to be a very good strategy, because day by day the tingling is less distant, and after a week or so I manage to stretch my fingers without difficulty and pain.
By then, however, I’m so bored with having to use such a small area of bristles that I reach for a baby head brush. And? Bingo! There is probably nothing softer and more effective for surfaces and at the same time reasonably priced. 🙂
And all this because this brush stimulation is best when performed often. In real life – if it is to be often, it must be short. And to keep it short, it has to cover everything at once. And there it is. And it works spectacularly.
It’s just been 7 months and I’m still considering leeches 🙂
I had to send the sleeves back to the manufacturer because they stretched, but the company is German, decent, so they should send me new ones soon.
I still have trouble carrying heavy things due to the over-sensitivity of two fingers.
I should keep brushing them, but I forget because my fingers stretch fully and I rarely remember.
As for new discoveries – I lubricate my fingertips with 10% CBD oil (and sometimes 30% CBD paste) to accelerate the regeneration of nerve connections. The general feeling when touching the skin patches resembles touching a huge blister caused by the rubbing of the skin on your foot, but I am starting to feel the skin on the surface slightly, which is an unexpected change.
I’ll also try:
- normobaric chamber (it has excellent reviews in terms of accelerating regeneration processes),
- Chinese acupuncture,
- and those scary leeches 🙂
I will keep you updated!
And when I was trying on the new, smaller finger pressure sleeves (https://www.medi-polska.pl/), the nurse couldn’t stop admiring how beautifully it all healed and how beautifully the swelling shrinks. I also have the impression that I am slowly starting to regain feeling in my skin patches. So it seems that my crazy treatments are not entirely pointless 🙂 after all 🙂
Click here to buy vitami C i MSM, which I happily tested on myself-
Anna's Bee C
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Anna's Bee C MSM
89,00 zł – 151,00 zł
