Oh boy!! I would have freaked the hell out. Good that you don't need your hands to make a living- right away.... Have to say 'daring you'. BTW, how was the white water rafting- long time desire- but need some disney kind to get started, kind of fearful of water...

Not really all that daring. First off all, I do appreciate the use of my hands and was not willing to gamble away one of them. Even though this was the left on and I'm not a lefty, I used it today without any protection repotting and some construction, no problem, total healing has taken place.

My point really is that our bodies are quite capable of healing them selves given half a chance. I'm a retired physician, my son in law and the neighbor at the campsite both are orthopedic surgeons so we had enough talent there, just no instruments like sutures and needles etc. The Jack Daniels and the beer made up for that deficit.

My daughter, also a physician represents the opposite end of the spectrum. She freaked out and would have me admitted to an ICU and the wound sutured in an OR, damn the expense. Their 4 little boys are the most protected yuppie larva you can imagine. Them eating an apple is an experience worth watching. First the apple is washed, then sprayed with Veggie Spray, rubbed in this and then washed again. Then it is polished with a paper towel and cored with a gadget she has that eliminates the center and makes little apple wedges. These go on a plate which is carried to the table where they are eaten. To just grab an apple and start munching on it is unheard off.

She had nightmares about my hand and wanted me to start heavy duty antibiotics. As long as there was no pain, no red swelling and no fever, these were absolutely unnecessary. She is amazed at the results and can't believe that modern medicine is not really needed to get good results.

Nick

Forgot about your white water question. These trips are rated from 2 to 5. 2 is a float down a river with little waves reserved for families with very small children, 3 gets you soaked and into a few real rapids. 3 is what you start with, do it twice and then move on if you like it. 4 is for experienced rafters only, 5 is considered unraftable. Forget about Disneyland, do a class 3 in West Virginia which has some of the best river rafting in America. If you like it let the 3rd trip be a class 4, you won't regret it.

It's like any other tourist activity. It has to be thrilling, other wise why would people do it and they can't kill too many tourists so it won't get a bad reputation. If you go with a reputable rafting company, you will be totally safe and have an experience you will never forget.

Go for it, Nick

Thnaks for the rafting tip. Almost tried at Costa Rica and back peddled the last minute. I thought the waters looked a little rough.
I am a germ freak like your daughter- not as intense though, but I do take 'cut' bodyparts serioulsy. Now that you have gotten over your wound- how bout necrotizing fasciits aka flesh eating bacteria and all that good stuff...

You missed the experience of a life time. The best river rafting adventure in my life was in Costa Rica. We had 23 back to back class 4 rapids, at one point my entire family and myself got catapulted out leaving the guide as the only occupant of the boat. None of us will ever forget that trip.

Flesh eating bacteria or necrotizing fasciitis as some people call it, is about as rare as being abducted into a UFO. It is not really related to the extend of the injury or the level of contamination of the wound but probably has more to do with the immune resistance of the host. Anybody can get it from the smallest scratches on up but it is most commonly seen in immune-compromised individuals. We thoroughly irrigated the wound with bottled water and then flushed it out with Hydrogen Peroxide, about all one can do. Whether the skin is nicely closed with sutures or held together by positioning the edges so they touch each other will have no bearing on the incidence of necrotizing fasciitis.

I'm still waiting for little green men to abduct me into a space ship for reproductive experimentation. I'm ready, but that hasn't happened either. I'll just sit tight and water my orchids, prepared for the worst but expecting the best.

Nick.