Entries from "My Thumb is Wrecked" UPSB Forum topic

5/31/08

We just finished UPSB podcast#6,check out my interview.

Had a third surgery on my thumb February 14th. They had to take some of the bone out that was not healing and the joint fused together after the cartilage was destroyed by the infection. here is a picture of my new mod'd thumb.

My mod'd Axis pen with metal bolts that I mentioned in the podcast.

5/31/08

1/22/08

Still hoping to save my thumb. The bone still hasn't healed and there is still some exposed bone that the skin hasn't grown over. There is considerable atrophy and the joint doesn't work at all after being in a splint for 3 months. After/if the bone heals I can start therapy and hopefully get some motion back. I'm done with antibiotics as of yesterday when the pick line was removed from my arm. I'm now using Medihoney to protect the wound and promote skin growth. The hand surgeon doesn't think a nail matrix graft will be successful. So for now I'm hoping for the skin to grow over the bone and hoping for the bone to heal.

1/22/08

11/28/07

Good news, the IV antibiotics are working, the bone is healing. After a couple more weeks of IV and wound vac treatment I'll have surgery to graft nail matrix from one of my big toes so I can grow a toe nail on my thumb...

11/21/07

Next Wednesday I should find out if the bone infection is decreasing.
Also, the doctors are saying that, best case, if all the bone is saved, I'll probably still need a nail matrix tissue graph from one of my toes so I can grow a nail and probably another surgery after that when all the tissue is healed to put a pin in because its been 5+ weeks and I still have a non-union (unhealed break). I told the doctors that I don't care how many surgeries or how long it takes, I want it as good as we can get it.

11/14/07

I'm now on at home IV antibiotics and have a wound vac machine sucking on my thumb like a leach. I'll be doing these treatments for the next 4-6 weeks. These new treatments are doing well, and the doctor thinks there is a better than 50/50 chance that the thumb can be saved, I have confidence in this new doctor, he seems to really understand the problem well and isn't afraid to take the necessary actions.

11/10/07

Recovery not going as well as I hoped, had a second surgery last night to remove more dead tissue, the infection is in the bone now.
The doctors are now saying things like, "we'll save as much as we can."
There is a chance I can beat the infection and not loss any bone, but I've been researching bone infections on the internet and its not looking too promising. I'll keep posting updates.

10/30/07

I had planned to meet up with, Kam and NHK9 a couple of weeks ago when they were both near Austin in Dallas for a few days. Unfortunately, the day before leaving, I fell off my bike and broke my thumb badly. I called Kam to let him know what happened, and I wasn't going to make it. Initially, I wasn't too concerned about my thumb, I had the break set and I figured it would stop hurting and be fine in a few weeks. But instead, it continued to hurt worse and worse and swell up more and more. I had gotten a bad infection and a week later I was in the hospital hooked up to an IV of various antibiotics. The thumbnail was removed and four cuts were made to help remove the infection. It looks like it will be a bit longer before I get some new videos posted.

12/01/07

Someone posted a compilation of my vidoes on youtube.com a year or two ago and I just stumbled onto them the other day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JO-hu1u8nM

5/14/2005

'BookofCool' is now available. There is a small trailer section that shows a few tricks on their site, most notably, consecutive sonic rise to Neo-Backaround34s. Check out the last paragraph of this review of 'Book of Cool', its pretty funny. <www.bookofcool.com/knowledge.htm>

Here's an interview from a couple of years ago: www.geocities.com/penspinning3k/dw.html

Since I never got around to creating a higher quality bakflip combo video, I am putting this one back up from a couple of years ago.

For more spinning, visit my original site: pencilspinning.davidweis.com