My bloody elbow
I played hockey on Sunday night for the first time in over a month. At some point I must have fallen and landed on my elbow (don’t remember) because it was a bloody mess when I removed my elbow pad.
When I checked my bruised elbow at home it was still bleeding. The part that really bothered me was the 2 cm worm-like piece of flesh that was hanging out of my elbow. I tried pulling it out but the pain put an end to that. I slapped a band-aid on and went to bed.
This worm-like piece of flesh, that nobody in my family wanted to look at, was going to be a problem. I could barely bend my elbow and I was running out of band-aids. Time to go to a walk-in clinic.
Two hours later I finally got to see the doctor. I asked him how a piece of your insides could squirt out of your arm and just hang there. He had no idea. He seemed amused and described the worm-like extension of my elbow as ‘a miniature tongue’.
“Do you want to just lop it off?” he asked. I gave him the go ahead. He froze my elbow with a needle, grabbed some tweezers and with the surgical scissors he snipped off the worm. It started to bleed like crazy. He grabbed my hand and told me to press on the wound with some cotton balls. He ran into the next room to get some stitches and close up the hole.
My elbow still hurts like Hezbollah but at least the worm is gone. Any doctors out there with some ideas as to what was hanging out of my elbow?
Stumble It!Posted in Personal at 3:00 PM
Comments
Ugh. You need a graphic content warning at the top of that post.
Posted by: Rya on October 3, 2006 3:58 PM
You’re giving me flashbacks. Reminds me of Nam.
G
Posted by: G on October 3, 2006 9:08 PM
a mini tongue? that’s the best he could do? where’d he get his license to practice?! He had no idea? He actually said “do you want me to just - LOP IT OFF?”? Holy Moly - you are a brave man to have allowed him to even look at that thing yet alone cut it off.
Standards are getting lower all the time…
Hope you’re ok. I’da thought not knowing what he was cutting off was a bad thing - what if you need that part?
Posted by: david on October 4, 2006 10:41 AM
Please tell me you have picures???
Posted by: Dave on October 4, 2006 11:53 AM
Sorry. No pictures. I thought about it and should have taken a few but even I was grossed out every time I looked at my elbow.
Posted by: Jay Kerr on October 4, 2006 11:57 AM
After reading this email from ‘my friend Paul R.’ I felt a little nervous. Have a read.
I am no doctor but I’ve read enough reports to know your doctor did not do the right thing man!
The radialotomy is the worst thing he could have done. That “worm” is actually the central bilateral radian vein that supplies blood to the radial head nerve which then connects and supplies blood to the phalanges. Cutting off (or perhaps you severed it)that supply does not cause immediate problems but within several days to a week you will start to fell numbness at the site and down the arm.
I hope it is not your right hand because following that is loss of sensation and hand corordination; it may start to look like its bruising but that is actually nerve necroinfarction and that’s bad. Better give me a call I can get you a referral to a specialist and get you in asap to have that fixed!
Your friend, Paul R.
Posted by: Jay Kerr on October 4, 2006 12:00 PM
On the bright side there are all those malpractise dollars to be had. Bling bling.
Posted by: Ryan on October 4, 2006 12:07 PM
Take it from me, no doctor in his right mind should cut off the blood flow to a man’s phalanges.
Posted by: Hugh Laurie on October 5, 2006 2:29 AM
