[mmcgaha]

Last Wednesday night, I drove a torx bit right through the first knuckle on my left index finger. Since I type all day this seemed serious enough to go to the emergency room. When I see the doctor, I am sure I sounded like a fiend looking for a hit but in this case for antibiotics. He tells me that he does not want to give them to me because if I didn't really need them that it could make it so they don't work for me later in life when I have a real need. Instead he gave me an xray, a tetanus shot and sends me on my way. Since then the swelling has gone down and my finger looks nasty but healthy and I am so far glad that I did not get the antibiotics.

[jjcon]

Does it work that way? I didn’t think so. Or did he mean in the proverbial, if we overuse them we won’t have them for anyone in 30 years?

[mmcgaha]

I will not say that there is no possibility that I misunderstood him but if I understood him correctly the act of taking the antibiotic will make it less likely to work for me personally in the future.

In hindsight I wish I had ask him to clarify if he was talking about not working for me or in general. If he was talking about in general, I would have pushed harder for my drugs.

[ip26]

You drove a bit all the way through the finger? Through the joint/bone? And all you got was a tetanus shot?

[mmcgaha]

Yeah it went through the joint and I got a call the next day telling me it was broken. The PA told me to get splint and to give it a rest for a week.

[ip26]

Jesus. I hope it was significantly less destructive than it sounds.

[mmcgaha]

I think if it had been any other part of the finger it would have been real bad. I was working and typing with it until getting the call from the PA mid-morning the next day. Really it came at the perfect time with my Christmas break giving me time to heal up.

[owenmarshall]

I’ve received a ton of medical advice from people in the field, and it varies - some docs say “do X”, some say “no, do Y”. Probably the only unanimous medical advice I’ve received is this: if you live in a non-rural area you have one or more orthopedists nearby specializing on the hand. Call them for a hand emergency first.

The hand is a complicated appendage. There’s a ton that can go wrong treating it or things that can be missed. Early intervention from a hand surgeon could potentially make a significant difference in long-term outcomes.

Honestly, you might take your X-rays & get a second opinion. Don’t mess around with injuries to your hands, especially if you use them to make your living.