I hacked off about a quarter-inch of my thumb the other day with a butcher knife. My cutting board slipped while chopping some veggies.

THWACK.

I gots no health insurance, so inbetween changing out the paper towels corking up my gushing wound I visited my nextdoor neighbor, who used to be a nurse (aka poor man's ER). She told me there was prob not enough finger to sew back on anyway, so to forget the hospital and just bandage it up good. I sadly threw my orphaned chunk of meat into the kitchen trash.

So its been about three days now, and everything looks like it's healing up good. The problem is, what's left of my thumb is beginning to stink. I could be a sign of infection, but shouldn't there be some visual sign too? I'm thinking that it's just the bandages getting too wet and stank before I change them, but it smells kind of rotten.

Should I be worried here?

I'm going to have nightmares.

Dude, you play music. You call up everyone you know, you find a doctor to sew that shit up, you don't just THROW YOUR FUCKING THUMB AWAY!

Go to the doctor before you get blood poisoning and die.

this reminds me of a horror movie. and phil's right. you threw your thumb away man? you at least donate it to science and put it on some formadelhyde.

Are you serious!

If it smells rotten you could have gangrene. Yes, you should be worried.

Get yourself to the doctor, right now!

i'd like to just have this reiterated.

you say it smells kind of rotten? like the way your leg smells rotten when it's been in a cast or like almonds?

Just stinking is not necessarily a sign of infection. I would rely on visual signs (actively oozing pus and blodd, swelling, severe redness) and physical signs (throbbing, pain, fever)...but with that said, I still think you should go to the doctor. An ER will just bill you later, you know. Small price to pay for keeping your thumb. Of course, they likely will not be able to sew it, but can at least advise you on infection.

at least go to a pharmacy and ask a pharmacist

I'm going to puke. A smelly thumb. Gangrene. My hand hurts.

This man is a doctor. Listen to him.

Ohmygod. I can't stop rubbing my thumb now.

ARE YOU INSANE?!!!!!!!!!!! Go to the doctor!

Artist: Roger Alan Wade
Song: If You're Gonna Be Dumb

If your gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough
When you get knocked down you gotta get back up,
I ain't the sharpest knife in the drawer but I know enough, to know,
If your gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough

Well, I lit my brain with Rot-Gut whiskey
'Till all my pain was chicken fried
And I had dudes with badges frisk me
Teach me how to swallow pride
I took advice no fool would take
I got some habits I cant't shake
I ain't the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I know enough to know
If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough

If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough
When you get knocked down, you gotta get back up
That's the way it is in life and love
If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough

I've been up and down and down and out
I've been left and right and wrong
Yeah, I've walked the walk and I've run my mouth
I've been on the short end for too long
But if they gave medals for honky tonk wars
Hell, I'd put mine in my chest of drawers
With my irs bills and divorce papers and all that stuff
If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough

If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough
When you get knocked down, you gotta get back up
I ain't the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I know enough to know
If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough


But seriously, get your ass to a doctor.

emergency room visits aren't as expensive as you might imagine. when i was hit by a car two years ago, my expenses (visit and x-rays) came to around $250 altogether. they will bill you and if you make an honest attempt to pay, they'll put you on a sweet payment plan.

A stinky thumb could mean that there's something nasty under the bandage. Wash your thumb with anti-bacterial soap, pour some hydrogen peroxide on it and let it sit in the open air, but don't use it (don't pick anything up with that hand, etc.) I don't heal well from any cuts or burns, so I've gotten pretty good at warding off infections.

Smell's one thing, does it still taste fresh?

Seriously, get that funk checked out.

Damn B. I hope whatever you were cooking was worth it.

DNTPSTPIXPLSKTHX.

"chaaahhlie, dey took my tumbs!'
anybody?

pope of greenwich village

Hmm. Well I cut my thumb about 1.5 centimeters, required no stitches, and my total bill was 700.

i so knew you'd come through.

Jesus. I don't know the reason for the price difference. I've never had an er bill over $500 and even that one was for a broken foot (no cast). Guess I've been lucky.

I am pretty qual.

On a note related to this thread:
If you cut yourself, and you need medical attention, sell your goddamn car for the money before you just throw an appendage in the trash.

This thread give me the willies.

Two possibilities:

1) Result of an OPA! reach-around whilst giving him the oral.
2) Signs of a serious need to see a qualified medical person. Stat.

ask for a cognitive evaluation as well.

Seems like it's way too late for all this doctor nonsense. Can you just cut a strip off the other thumb so they're even?

Dude, I only wish I had gotten a good pic. I would be posting post-haste, and you know you would all be looking.

Ironically, I was making a salad (vegetarian). And yes, I ate it after said thumb disposal.

My main fear of the ER comes from about a year ago when the lady had some bad stomach pain in the middle of the night. It wouldn't go away so we thought there might be an appendix issue and got her to the hospital.

It was FOUR DAYS before her insurance kicked in with her new job. They never found out what was causing the pain but drew blood, did a sonagram, gave her a shot of a GI cocktail, and let her see a doctor for like 2 mins.

The total bill was over $5000, and we're still paying it off.

So yeah, I should learn my lesson and get health ins. I should prob have renter's ins. too, since I've been robbed before, and better car ins., since I've wrecked some shit in my day. It's just been one of those things, though, that's been pushed to the back of the priority pile in some tight financial times (i.e., moving to $an Diego and becoming a student again is a double-whammy to the wallet).

As for the stinking piece of meat on my hand, I will at least get a 2nd opinion from a pharmacist.

BTW- it smeels like your arm after you take off a cast, and not almonds. That's good, eh?