"I just wanted to get into the water..."

[gonetobaja]

Here is some saftey info for you guys.

I got to the base camp at about 9:00am with my customers, 3 kids from SDSU. We had gotten a bad time at the border the night before and had arrived at the Beach house very late the night before. With everybody standing around I began my boat check before we launched. I noticed a broken bracket on the trailer had been rubbing the bottom of the boat. In my haste to get the boat in the water I asked my helper to jack the back of the boat up using a 2x8 on edge. Instead of blocking the boat up and being safe, I foolishly ran my hand under the boat to quickly check for any hull damage. This is the point in which the 2x8 kicks sideways and drops the whole boat on my hand and chops the end off of my middle finger.

We never even touched the water....

We put a tournequite on and drove north to a clinic just south of San Felipe where a nice doctor gave me a liberal dose of lydacaine and I was able to drive back to the US. The college kids took it all in stride and are going out with me again this spring.

The moral of the story is that making shure your safe starts when you leave the house. If I had taken a few more seconds to think about being "safe" instead of huge yellowtail in fighter formation heading towards the front of my gun, I might still have the end of my finger.

I was lucky and learned this lesson with a small price, here are some pics to remember that just cause your not in the water dosent mean your not going to get hurt.

I began running tours as soon as I could load my gun again, I still go to the same spots, only now I take it just a little slower.

Life is only the risks you take
GTB:o
www.gonetobaja.com

[f94gator]

Oh man, that is f*cking gross. Tough way to learn that lesson.

[PaulR]

Holy shit. Thats a hell of a f'd up finger!

[Reel Cracker]

Damn man. Hope it goes back to normal.

[Spear One]

I really didn't need to see that. I work with saws all the time and I really never want to go there. Hope that wasn't your trigger finger!

[KJNDIVER]

Man, that hurts like a mutha just lookin at it. I bet ya sounded like Howard Dean, YEEEEOOOOOOWWWWWAAAGGGHHHHH!!!!!!

[biggsy]

Looks like you still got the trigger finger...hope it healed up nicely for you....reminds me of when my dad grabbed a router with his left index finger. Man that was a mess too.

Get well.

biggsy

[Slay Ride]

That picture HAD to have been taken AFTER the lydocain, correct? Post an "after" picture once it's healed. Maybe I'll keep my breakfast down on that picture. Good post and sound advice.

[Marcus]

PHOTOSHOP!



just kidding.... :)

[Geoff Apthorp]

Man you're a tough hombre. Thanks for the post. The little details can make or break the trip.

GEoff

[gonetobaja]

Hey guys,

Just got back from south. Actually Slay Ride, that pic was taken just as I arrived to the clinic. As you can see the tournequte is still on my finger. To be honest I was kinda in shock and was trying to play the "im the guide its no big deal" role. The whole thing happend so fast that my only reaction was man this sucks. The lidocane shot(s) is what got me to the border, thats for shure.

Sorry for the gross pic guys but I hope it freaks you out into being extra carefull, and then you never have to do a 4 finger band streach.

Everything healed fine, its been about 4 months now and I can load every gun I have.

Here is a pic of my new finger, its not good for much without the end but it coulda been way worse.

coulda had the boat come down on my new Riffe mid handle......

[Red Tide]

What a nightmare.
Well look at the bright side..... you now have a new play toy for the ladies.

[fernandezh]

I bet you your girlfriend was upset. Come on, we all were thinking it :D Gotta stay positive man. You have nine more. :D

[gonetobaja]

Ill be honest....It was the only way I knew to get a few more inches......

[ckhb]

Damn a tournequite that's harsh. Should have just put the cigarette lighter from the car on it to stop the bleeding or the old gun powder trick like a real man and have gone into the water. You may have attracted more fish that way and maybe even some big ones too :thumps: . Oh well, from what I have learned only use a tournequite in life or death situations because you end up loosing more of the limb or whatever you place it on. Also if you apply a tournequite mark the time it was applied, and don't remove it until a doctor sees it becuase a clot can form at the wound and when you remove the tournequite it can travel from the injury site to somewhere else. But glad to hear everything is fine now.

[stickitfishy]

I did something similar, but not nearly as bad to one of my fingers. I was lowering the boat trailer onto the hitch fast. This can be a real bitch as it has to be in just the right spot or it won't go on. I often have to put a finger up in the trailer ball receiver area and pull one of the couplers out a little. Well, we were running late and I wasn't paying attention. I did this and I already had the weight of the trailer on the ball but it wasn't going on right. The trailer slipped down on the ball 2 inches and ripped off a chunk of the end of my finger. Trip was over at that point. My wife, mother and father all became queasy and faint when they saw my finger. So did the pharmacist at Walgreens. I could have gone to the ER and spent an arm and a leg for stitches, but I fixed it as good as they could myself. Anyways, it is almost always when we are in a hurry that accidents happen, so slow down and be safe.

[WonderBoy]

I could have gone to the ER and spent an arm and a leg for stitches, but I fixed it as good as they could myself.

Not to sound like I'm starting shit or anything, but what exactly is your medical training? I doubt that anyone in pain and bleeding from an injury like that could do as good a job on THEMSELVES as doctors/surgeons who do it everyday and are not suffering from the injury itself. Just curious...

[Marcus]

Not to sound like I'm starting shit or anything, but what exactly is your medical training? I doubt that anyone in pain and bleeding from an injury like that could do as good a job on THEMSELVES as doctors/surgeons who do it everyday and are not suffering from the injury itself. Just curious...

I think he's exaggerating as I'm sure he isn't a doctor/nurse, i.e. someone who does stitch someone up everyday. That being said, given the right materials I could stitch myself up with a little assistance...preferably from a topless nurse. :D
Trauma numbs the area, usually pain really isn't a factor. I know enough to fully clean the area and keep everything sterile whilst doing it. It's not rocket science.

[stickitfishy]

Did you not read the " I did something similar but not nearly as bad" part of my post? Here is what I did, I cut off an area about 2/3 the size of a dime on the end of my index finger. It took every layer of skin and my finger was flat there. Stitches would not have worked unless they grafted on some new skin. I cleaned it with hydrogen peroxide, bandaged it and cleaned it with ionic/colloidal silver daily. The scar tissue area is now the size of a pencil eraser. If I hurt my finger like gonetobaja did I would have seen a doctor. If you think doctors are going to cure you of anything, think again. They are trained to manage symptoms, when is the last time they cured anything? Oh and there are cures to many things, many. Next time u put your health in the hands of someone who is monetarily motivated to keep u coming back, think about what u are doing. U will never know true health until you research it yourself. And u will probably never understand that your health is the most important thing u have until u are at death's door. I've been there, with my wife, I fixed us. Doctors just provided confusion!

[WonderBoy]

They are trained to manage symptoms, when is the last time they cured anything?

We aren't talking about diseases here, we're talking about trama to a body part. I've been in many hospitals myself for lots of things and never once did they "add confusion". When my collarbone was sticking out of my skin, they didn't add any confusion. They fixed the damn thing! When I split my chin open on a bathtub, they didn't prolong any treatment or try to add unnecessary testing. They sewed the damn thing up and I was outta there in an hour or so. Obviously, this dude's finger got cleaned up and sewed up and it's all good.
I understand what you're saying about your injury. In your case, all that was required was cleaning and dressing the wound. But I think your "I can do it better than a hospital" attitude could be dangerous...

[ROBERTO REYES]

Oh man, what a nightmare.

[Queer for Spear]

Not to sound like I'm starting shit or anything, but what exactly is your medical training? I doubt that anyone in pain and bleeding from an injury like that could do as good a job on THEMSELVES as doctors/surgeons who do it everyday and are not suffering from the injury itself. Just curious...

Relax....you'de be surprised what you can do when it counts.....I damned near sliced off my pointer finger last summer with a BRAND NEW (of course!) razor knife trying to foolishly cutoff a 1/2" plastic hose...yup, I knew the second it hit my bone I was in for some expense. Anyway, after lunch with my friends, doing my best to act tough, I decided to go to the ER and see what they could do for me and as I walked thru the double sliding automatic glass doors to the ER, I was almost floored by the stench of 250 or more 3rd worlders in there for FREE medical help for god knows what. Im not making any accusations here or veiled racial slurs, but it was worse than a cattle yard...screaming young kids sick or hurt, people with bandana's wrapped around their hands from god knows what kind of horrific injuries.....I did a 180 turn and walked right the F*** out of there. I have good insurance, but I was SURE I would have gotten sicker than a dog sittin in there for an hour or THREE waiting for some intern to try and patch me up.

I stopped at Longs (where doctors shop I guess!) and picked up around 30 dollars worth of field dressings, hydrogen peroxide, stabilizing stints, tape and other accoutremonts, went home and became the "Good Doctor" myself.... It turned out fine ! in fact, BETTER than fine with only a hairline scar that wraps almost completely around my finger now, of course I had to take pictures for my bro's, but I dont know how to load them up here, but use your imaginations, it was a worthy injury, im sure you've all done something similar at one time or another.

The next day, I was going to a hot rod show in Del Mar and lo and behold ! Here was this dude selling some kind of SUPER super glue at his little booth! I walked right up and listened to his spiel and about it being "medical grade" and some other stuff, so I bought a small tube of it, unwrapped my finger, liberally poured some of it on the edges of the wound, twisted the finger to help close the wound and VOILA !!! ....WORKED like a champ !! My wife and one of my friends almost fainted and had to sit down pronto, the dude selling it to me was REALLY impressed ! He smiled and said: :did it hurt?" ...I said no more than it would have had I just poured gasoline on it !!!.....He ROARED !! But it stopped stinging in about 20 minutes and I NEVER had another problem with it again ! Changed dressing 2-3 times per day and rocked on !

I was rather proud of myself. My old gunny would have been proud of me and my improvising technique !

Semper Fi

[Im1chunkymunky]

glad its better now

reminds me of the time i got my finger stuck in a bench grinder when i was 15. i had a similar pic, it wasnt as bad as that, but i just had a huge chunk of meat missing to the bone. i didnt see a doctor about it...ever. i probably should have, but oh well

[gonetobaja]

Damn a tournequite that's harsh. Should have just put the cigarette lighter from the car on it to stop the bleeding or the old gun powder trick like a real man and have gone into the water. You may have attracted more fish that way and maybe even some big ones too :thumps: . Oh well, from what I have learned only use a tournequite in life or death situations because you end up loosing more of the limb or whatever you place it on. Also if you apply a tournequite mark the time it was applied, and don't remove it until a doctor sees it becuase a clot can form at the wound and when you remove the tournequite it can travel from the injury site to somewhere else. But glad to hear everything is fine now.


Yea, I agree on the tournequite. The problem was that my finger was draining a large amount of red stuff all over. One of the college kids started to practice his first aid on my arm by trying to tie one above my elbow between my shoulder. When you are hurt, there is not many things more annoying than a person trying to practice on you. I took the matter in my own hands. I took the hat band off of one of my helpers and used a stick to twist it around till the flow stopped. Then I gathered myself and had a friend drive me to a local private doctor I know down here. He gave me a major nerve block and then I had to drive back to the USA. Yes you heard it right, "I" had to drive back. The problem with being a guide is that you are the only one who knows the way back. I had to drive so we could get there fast, the doctor at the clinic in Baja told me that the air was getting in the bone and the longer I stayed from the usa the more finger they would be cutting off when I got back.

I held my hand in the air the whole way home and drove with the other. People thought I was waving....

Quite a gnarly day, I still hit my stump on things all of the time and get the phantom finger thing...

aims still good though.... :thumps: