Degloving

I had a new donor in my health screening booth this evening and as I was going through her form she had to disclose any operations she'd ever had....well, when she mentioned one I quizzed her further. We are supposed to work within a pretty tight time schedule, but she had a fascinating story to tell and we ended up having quite a chat. Don't read on if you are squeamish!!

The operation was finger replanting. The lady had been for a physio appointment and as she left the building she had to go down a couple of steps, but as she did she slipped. She grabbed out to steady herself and her ring caught on the door hinge. She went down with a bump and sat there for a second or two as you do when you are shocked after a fall.

The lady then picked up her phone, her purse and then....her finger! It is a very common accident to have apparently, it is known as degloving. The ring literally strips the finger, But in her case it ripped the finger off. Adrenalin must have kicked in and she felt no pain at all, neither did she see any blood...even though it was bleeding. Our brains play all sorts of tricks on us.

She calmly knocked on the door of the physio and said she thought she might need a bit of help, well, they had the shock of their lives as she opened her hand and held her finger out to them. She was rushed off to hospital where they saved the finger and replanted it. It was a brilliant piece of surgery, there was a slightly visible scar on her palm and she had reasonable movement in it. In fact, when medical students have exams they call people in who have had certain surgeries and they have to examine their 'patient' and work out what was wrong with them....the surgery is so good that none of them have ever spotted it. 

Well, I asked if I could tell my colleagues and she was very happy to share her story with them too. As she lay on the chair during the donation they all went over to have a look. She has promised to bring the photos in next time to show me, she has photos from the surgeon of different stages of the operation and recovery. 

She was definitely my donor of the day....what a lucky lady with an amazing story!