My whole huge last post got lost.

Tl;Dr version -

Sunday, my CZ P09 blew up in my hand. It bruised the nerve and the magazine release dug into my left hand. I still have all of my fingers and they work. I go to urgent care and they do x-rays and clean it out, and we call it good for the day. I texted a friend who's a hand surgeon and he says to come to the office on Tuesday.

Tuesday - I go, get more x-rays, and there's shrapnel in there but he's comfortable with leaving it in there. Fine with me. Nerve is bruised, ego is bruised. I'm supposed to text him and let him know about the healing process over the next few weeks. We have a quick laugh and I go to work.

I come home, start preparing soup stock for later this week (tonkotsu ramen broth, the thing I was making when I burned myself bad enough to get a hospital stay and 6 weeks of wound care in 2019). I stabbed myself IN THE SAME HAND somehow while chopping leeks, all the way down to the fat (seriously, I pushed adipose tissue back in). I can still feel so I didn't hit anything important so we cleaned it up, glued it back together, and put some steri strips on it for good measure.

It's Wednesday morning, I'm curious what the rest of the week has in store for me.

Overall the pistol is obviously toast but it could have easily been way worse and I'm aware. I'm still alive and have 10 working digits. The frame took a ton of the force away from my hand, and the slide and barrel effectively brazed themselves together with the case in between.

I believe it was a squib even though the round had normal enough recoil. A double charge is extremely unlikely with the level of attention I normally give my pistol rounds - there's a massive difference in case fill between 3.8gr and 7.6gr of WSF - I think the offender was probably done on my old Loadmaster with the auto disk (which we all know is AWFUL for easy powder dosage; I replaced it with a Pacific measure after 3 months) that got under charged, mixed in with the good stuff unbeknownst to me. Either way I've got a good 500+ rounds to tear down now.

Damn. I'm happy to hear your injury wasn't severe.

quote:

Damn. I'm happy to hear your injury wasn't severe.

What Mars said. Hope your week gets better.

Dude.

I have followed your "moving parts issues" for years.

You are one hell of a "moving forward, warrior", I gotta give you that.

I hope the best on your recovery and no permanent damage to your hand.

Adapt or die.

The neurologist's office just called. The quarterly IV infusion for my migraines we've been trying to get me on was approved by the insurance company provided we do a prior authorization. So that went well.

I'm going to finish the soup stock tonight. Hopefully it should last me a few weeks. Sweet redemption on that one, it just took 3 years to get it.

Glad you are not permanently injured.

Got any photos of the gun?

Sorry to hear of your injuries - hope you heal well.

But, I have to ask - please post the recipes. I love tonkatsu.

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:
Glad you are not permanently injured.

Got any photos of the gun?

I do have some on my phone, but I need to get it to the computer because the imgur app is giving me fits. I've also got photos of my hand if there's interest in that (it's pretty tame, to be honest). I'll try to get them up tonight.

quote:

Originally posted by SigSAC:
Sorry to hear of your injuries - hope you heal well.

But, I have to ask - please post the recipes. I love tonkatsu.

I've been having great luck using this recipe. I skipped the onion and ginger in the broth, and used hocks and feet last time for the bones (the very first time I used neck bones). This time I'm trying just hocks.

I also don't sous vide the chashu meat. I don't have a sous vide cooker. I just pan fried it last time (this is going to be the second time I've done it without burning myself).

Last time I also didn't have mirin or sake so I improvised using Chardonnay with some sugar and a German spätlese (respectively) to compensate. This time I've got both so I'm going to try it properly.

I know that hurts so I feel for you. But that reads like a movie I've seen before, not the specifics but one mishap after the other.

I hope you have a quick and full recovery. Just lay low for the rest of the week.

I think I know what you're referring to, and it's the story of my life. Life is always out to get me any way it can.

At any rate, here is an album with 3 images of the pistol (left side of frame, right side of frame, and the locked up slide), an image of my hand before cleanup/debridement in the urgent care, and after debridement (like I said, not too bad).

Yikes. It could have been worse but I hope you feel better soon. That is the shrapnel at base of thumb? Does doc think it will just migrate out on its own?

quote:

Originally posted by vulrath:...it's the story of my life. Life is always out to get me any way it can.
...

I started out life at five foot six inches below ground level, and been fighting my whole life to stay at anything > -6ft AGL.

Never give up, never surrender.

quote:

Originally posted by pedropcola:
Yikes. It could have been worse but I hope you feel better soon. That is the shrapnel at base of thumb? Does doc think it will just migrate out on its own?

Polymer can absorb a ton of energy. I'm really grateful it wasn't my P226, as not only does it have an aluminum frame, it's the first gun I ever bought. So, insult to injury.

My best guess is that's where the magazine release bit me (it had to be where the shrapnel went in as well, as there aren't any other wounds from this). I can't figure out where the shrapnel came from (seriously, all the pressure vented on the other side), but it showed up clear as day on the x rays. For all I know it's a piece of brass. He's okay leaving it alone - either it migrates up or my body walls it off and it stays in there for the rest of my life. As he pointed out, "we leave bullets in people all the time." We are both of the opinion that we're getting into diminishing returns by attempting to remove it. It's not really going to be much of an issue unless I get an MRI, and even then I'm not sure it'll be too much of an issue.

The monkey speaks the truth, as usual. Anything short of kicking and screaming is too quiet. Who here has got the quote in their signature line - "attack life, it's going to kill you anyway?"

Fuck death. I'm gonna live, if it kills me...

quote:

Originally posted by vulrath:

I do have some on my phone, but I need to get it to the computer because the imgur app is giving me fits. I've also got photos of my hand if there's interest in that (it's pretty tame, to be honest). I'll try to get them up tonight.

Yeah, the Imgur app for phones sucks. I can't tell how to get the various links to my pictures on the app.

That's not the issue I was having. The app decides to error out on upload (known Android bug), so I have to email the photos to myself and upload from a computer.

Good news: some sensation is coming back in my thumb. Bad news: That's primarily coming in as a very persistent (almost to the point of painful) itch.

That bad news is good news.

It is the nerves repairing the wiring and the tissue "calling in help" and the stimulation for scratching, rubbing and stretching from the "demands of the itch".


Ice, might help.

Aye, I knew from the moment I hurt myself that this was coming. I bruised the crap out of the base of my thumb, and thus as swelling went down I'd start feeling again. Right now it's static on the lines, so to speak.

It's annoying and I'd hoped my regular daily dose of Lyrica would help mitigate it. I'll deal with it because it beats the alternative for sure.

Update with more good news: my insurance company has approved the Botox treatment for my migraines. I'm waiting for the pain clinic to call me back so we can schedule it. This is fantastic.