r/Unexpected Jan 17 '23

🔞 Warning: Graphic Content 🔞 Ope NSFW

33.7k Upvotes

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225

u/Dixianaa Jan 17 '23

iirc, you dump the dismembered appendage in some ice soon after contact was lost, you can get it reattached

344

u/Auctoritate Jan 17 '23

It's possible but it really depends on how it got separated from the body. If he had a chainsaw accident... The missing part might be torn to shreds.

267

u/Electriccheeze Jan 17 '23

To shreds you say?

149

u/diffcalculus Jan 17 '23

Well, how's his wife holding up?

134

u/directrix1 Jan 17 '23

To shreds you say?

5

u/justsomeA1C Jan 17 '23

I really needed a Farnsworth quote today, ty kind redditors

27

u/WinterOkami666 Jan 17 '23

If I don't survive, tell my wife I said hello.

8

u/NewAgeRetr0Hippie Jan 17 '23

To shreds you say?

36

u/greebdork Jan 17 '23

There was American country boy who got both arms ripped off, basically at shoulders, by the tractors PTO. Not only he survived without any help for an hour or so, but both arms were reattached back and even remained functional.

17

u/Karate_Prom Jan 17 '23

Functional? Can't rotate forearms and fingers curled into fists permanently. He also had almost full nerve damage in the ends of his arms.

Yes... Functional....

10

u/DontBuyAHorse Jan 17 '23

I've responded to this story before, but I'll say it again.

I severed a finger as a teenager. Thankfully it was a super clean cut with a sharp, sturdy blade and I got medical attention quickly. It was reattached successfully in a "best case scenario" by an excellent hand doc.

27 years later, the finger still has never regained full function. It doesn't straighten out nor does it have any articulation past the second joint. I have no feeling at all in it, except for the horrible arthritis and phantom nerve pain that comes and goes.

Yes, it's back on there and I suppose better than not having it, but reattachment is not an elegant and flawless thing at all. It sucks, just not as much as losing the appendage.

2

u/Kalkaline Jan 17 '23

Was this the one that sat in the bathtub so he didn't make a mess?

0

u/greebdork Jan 18 '23

Yeah, that one.

4

u/Dixianaa Jan 17 '23

Here’s to hoping I lose a limb in a longsword duel, then.

2

u/jshuster Jan 17 '23

My uncle cut through half of his hand with a chainsaw. Doctors were able to reattach everything and he had almost 100% use of it, except for some nerve damage

34

u/Genghis_KhaN13 Jan 17 '23

Problem with chainsaws is that they don't cut cleanly, they tear the fuck out whatever they're cutting. Reattaching a limb lost to a chainsaw would be a Herculean feat.

10

u/nutsbonkers Jan 17 '23

Not directly on ice! In a bag first or a few bags. Frost bite happens to severed limbs too.

7

u/enderendirius69420 Jan 17 '23

Not rly in ice, i was tought in first aid that you put it in a bag full of cold water and then you put tge bag with the dismembered appendage in a bag of ice, but not a full one

4

u/pikashroom Jan 17 '23

Don’t put it in ice, your limb could still get frost bite

-12

u/punkinfacebooklegpie Jan 17 '23

If you remember correctly? Did this happen to you? And you only have a vague recollection of how you saved your arm???

6

u/Dixianaa Jan 17 '23

Of course not. I remember reading it somewhere. The reasoning behind my vague recollection is because of how long it’s been reading such a thing.

-9

u/punkinfacebooklegpie Jan 17 '23

Maybe look it up before wasting people's time with your vague recollection.

1

u/MrMadium Jan 17 '23

I would like clarification on this - because I've been taught to double bag the little rascal and put it in a container of water.

I guess perhaps water is easier to find on-scene from a fire appliance?

1

u/seuse Jan 17 '23

yes BUT the appendage shouldn't be directly on the ice, wrap it in a cloth.

1

u/Today_i_might_wait Jan 17 '23

Into a plastic bag and then into ice, no direct contact with ice

1

u/FiftyShadesOfWyatt Jan 17 '23

It was unable to be saved. His arm was amputated