Dog bit my right hand last night

[Dave Muscato]

Can't type that well, sorry. Stupidly tried to get a dog running loose out of the street while I waited for Animal Control to come pick him up and he got my right hand pretty bad.

Had to go to ER, doc anesthetized, then irrigated (shot 30 cc of water straight into the bite in about 1 second, 5 times, NEVER felt pain like that before when the stream of water hit the nerve... I almost vomited from it), then dressed it and gave me tetanus shot. Dog is in Animal Control custody under quarantine for 10 days to ensure that he doesn't show signs of a rabies infection (although his tags show he has been vaccinated, it's state law).

Can't do much with my right hand (grasp anything, carry any weight at all), can't even shift gears to drive, dressing myself takes 1/2 hour, let alone play bass... had to cancel two sessions this week; that is how I pay my bills! Doc says I can't play for at least a week, I estimate it to be longer than that based on (lack of) improvement in last 27 hours.

Fortunately dog owner is paying all medical expenses; by bizarre coincidence, he happens to own a recording studio here in town, so I might actually get some free time for my own band out of this.

Bottom line: be careful with your hands!! If you depend on your hands to make your living, do not risk them: with animals, while cooking, be careful with shopping carts, car doors... you only get one body; be careful with it!

[MoD_Scotty]

Amen. That's why I wear gloves whenever I work on cars, and I'm really careful around ANYTHING sharp, in general.

Hope it heals up fast.

[Foxworthy925]

That sounds horrible. Hope your hand heals enough to play SOON. What kind of dog was it btw?

[Asa Samuel]

I'm surprised you didnt do what every other american on TB does:

Proper Application of Super Glue on Cuts?

[daofktr]

wow, man...heal quickly!
i've had hand injuries before...they suck like a crack whore and scare me more than most anything.
good luck, and squeeeeeeeeeeeeeze that studio dude for at least one CD...

[Johnny Crab]

Originally Posted by Dave Muscato

Bottom line: be careful with your hands!! If you depend on your hands to make your living, do not risk them: with animals, while cooking, be careful with shopping carts, car doors... you only get one body; be careful with it!

+10000

Another reason I gave up motorcycles.
The first thing you do WHEN you go down is to try to catch yourself with your hands.

Gloves when using power tools or mowing is a must also. I've had a glove flying around a drill bit on more than one occasion.

Since we live in the boonies and have about 13 outdoor cats for varmit control. There is one that is on strike 2. TWICE the dumb thing has grabbed my right hand claws first when I go out at night to feed them. One more time and we'll be short one cat.

[Dave Muscato]

Originally Posted by Johnny Crab

+10000

Another reason I gave up motorcycles.
The first thing you do WHEN you go down is to try to catch yourself with your hands.

Gloves when using power tools or mowing is a must also. I've had a glove flying around a drill bit on more than one occasion.

Since we live in the boonies and have about 13 outdoor cats for varmit control. There is one that is on strike 2. TWICE the dumb thing has grabbed my right hand claws first when I go out at night to feed them. One more time and we'll be short one cat.

My old shop teacher in high school made it abundantly clear that we should *NEVER* wear gloves when working with drills, etc, because if the glove gets caught and we can't get our hand out of the glove, the hand could get sucked into the tool. Don't know if this is a rule of thumb or just his advice.

On the bright side, my hand is much better than it was two days ago. Still a *long* way from slapping with my thumb, but I can type a lot more easily now. Still can't grasp anything, make a fist or anything even close to that, but I can move my fingers (not my thumb yet) enough to do some simple things if the pain doesn't bother me too much. Getting dressed (belt, watch, pants zipper) are still beyond my reach (har har); it takes me about 30 min to do it. Apparently the bite got the tendons that run from my fingers to my forearm, so lifting anything with my right hand *really* hurts, in addition to not being able to do anything with my thumb. grrr....

I think the doctor's estimate of 1 week is about right for some simple things and playing fingersyle bass. Slapping with my thumb is another story altogether - I'm not going to be able to work (gig/sessions) for at least two weeks if not longer if I can't slap, although I intend to work on sight-reading etc (without slapping) just to keep my chops up over the next few weeks.

This could have been a lot worse, and there seems to be no permanent damage... Lesson learned, and boy am I lucky! Now you all be careful, too, so only one of us had to learn the hard way

[SirCanealot]

Ouch!!!! Hope you feel better soon!!

I cut my left hand little finger cooking a while back (and, yes, I moaned about it on here :P) and I still can't bloody play on it! Could be a lot worse, eh?

Good luck with that! :/

[rockstarbassist]

"My dog bit me on the leg last night, my cat clawed my eye!"

[Phalex]

There's a song in there somewhere Dave! While you're laid up, you may as well start brainstorming for that studio session.

[flakeh]

pics or shens.