Taking your iron helps you keep your fingers!!!

Hi all, I haven't posted in ages, but I saw BroDiamond's post about weakness and thought I should share my summer adventure.  It's a little long.  Sorry. First the good news.  I'm two years out, I'm still off of all meds, feel great and had a great summer.  At the beginning of the summer, my son and I spent a week sailing in the Bahamas with our Boy Scout Troop.  Then my family spent 20 days traveling to Yellowstone and back.  We climbed Angels Landing at Zion National Park, hiked 6 miles through Bryce Canyon and hiked 8 miles through Yellowstone.  All things I would have never been able to do before. A week after we got back, I was off to a week of Boy Scout Camp where we did our best to keep 32 boys from destroying the forest and the camp.  Had a great time, but boy was I tired when I got back. Then it got a little rough.  I tried to give blood, but they wouldn't take it.  Said my blood count was to low.  I made an appointment to see the doctor the next week.  That weekend, my son and I went to my mother's house on a Sunday to continue working on her kitchen.  Something we had been doing throughout the summer.  Around noon, I was quite hungry and tired, so I asked my mom to go get us lunch.  Right after that, I was cutting a piece of paneling with a cordless circular saw, explaining to my son that you have to be very careful with these things (honest) and you guessed it.  I somehow figured out a way to get my left hand under the saw.  Blood everywhere.  I'm jumping all over the place and my son is staring at me in disbelief.  I look down, and luckily I have all of my fingers, but thee of them are not happy.  I look at my son and say, "Hospital". He drives me to the hospital and drops me off.  I tell him that he has to go back and clean up the blood.  Last thing a 75 year old woman needs is to come home and find blood all over her driveway. So... by the end of the day, they had diagnosed me as severely anemic and had spent 2 1/2 hours in the OR repairing my hand.  I had cut my index and middle fingers to the bone, severing the tendons, nerves, and arteries in both.  Luckily, I had a great surgeon and everything is healing well.  I'm now a month out and I'm just now to the point where I'm allowed to start wiggling my fingers. It will be another two months before I'm healed,and odds are, I'm going to have to have a second surgery to remove scar tissue that is hindering my flexability.  Conclusions....  1)  I've lost a lot of weight, but I'm still pretty inept.  This was really stupid on my part.  AND.................. 2)  TAKE YOUR IRON!!!!!!  Being anemic really sucks!!! And it can make someone dumber than they already are.  It did with me. But I'm healing and I have all my fingers, so I'm very blessed.  I truly hope everyone's weight loss journey is going great and we all make it through the bumps in the road fairly unscathed. All the best, Bill Meacham Arizona

Ouch! What a story--and a wake-up call not just about iron but about life in general. Many years ago, I cut my index finger to the bone with a small chainsaw while I was clearing brush in my backyard. Scared the bejeebers out me, blood everywhere, flaps of skin, and I was alone. I can't imagine how much worse your experience was. Glad your fingers are on the mend.

Ouch.  Hope your hand mended well.  How long ago was it? I met a guy yesterday who asked me what happened to my hand.  I told him and he held up his hand to show me his missing pinky.   Turns out that when he was a kid, they made a makeshift slide and when he tried it, a piece of sheet metal took off his finger.  Back then, there was nothing they could do.  One of the reasons I feel lucky. Bill

Bill, Long time no see! I’d ask- “How’s it Going?” But I can see you’ve had your share of Crap for the year. Hope all the dexterity returns. Yep, gotta keep your labwork up to date to make sure Iron, and such stays in the optimum range. So, still biking like a mad-man? Glad you’re on the mend! Best Wishes- Dx

 

Hey Dx, Good to hear from you.  Sorry I've been away. Not much riding the past few months,  To much else going on.  Here's a funny side story.  A friend of mine who also rides recumbents had bypass surgery a week before I cut my hand.  Before he had the surgery, we made a deal that we would both be ready to ride the Tour De Tucson in February.  I figured I would have a head start on getting in shape.  Well, he had his surgery July 19th and he's already riding 12 miles a day and I won't be allowed on a bike until the end of September.  Who would have thought. Bill

Glad ypu're recoverying well. Tremedous story and excellent point. Tthanks for taking the time put your post-op adventures out there for us and making it so darn entertaininting too!  You have really been  rockin and rollng since WLS.