My Hand
by Barinder Johal

On Oct. the 9th my friends came from out of town. It was the Thanksgiving Holiday long weekend. We had so much fun on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. I went to work on Tuesday afternoon. We started working at three o'clock. We started work the way we usually do. I was working as a trimmer man. We worked there two hours with no problems. At half past five there was a twenty foot long piece I was supposed to cut. First I cut six feet from that twenty foot length. After that I was supposed to cut an eight foot long piece. I was moving the piece with my hand up to the eight foot length when the air pressure cylinder that pushed the saw out broke. The saw got free then came out by itself and cut my hand completely off. I didn't know what had happened. When I looked I saw it in the conveyor. I saw my hand sitting there and I started yelling, then other workers heard me crying and they were wondering what had happened to me. Then they saw me holding my arm with no hand on it.

It was bad luck because there was no one with a first aid kit. They didn't even have a foreman there. I didn't know what to do. Then I told my friend who was working with me to take me to the hospital. I told the other guy to get my hand.

I told him to get my hand because a few months before my accident a guy cut his two fingers off. They didn't take his fingers when they took him to the hospital. When they reached the hospital the doctors asked them where were the fingers. The doctors told them to get his fingers from the mill. Then they went back and it took them so long to come back in. By the time they came back it was too late. The doctors tried to put them back on, but it didn't work. This was the reason I told the guy to bring my hand.

Then I told my friend to get the car keys from my pocket. He got the keys and he told me to wait for a minute. I was thinking about what he was going to do. He brought on old shirt and told me to put it on my arm, otherwise he couldn't drive. He was very nervous. He started the car and put the emergency lights on. My friend was from Vancouver. He didn't know the way to Surrey Hospital, he told me. I showed him the way. We got there and we went to the emergency department. When the nurse saw my arm, she right away took me to the emergency room. Doctors put the bandage on my arm. I don't know what they did with my hand. I had so much pain. They told me they were going to take me to VGH and they put me in the ambulance. I was getting more pain. I asked the nurse if I could have some sleeping pills. She told me they were going to operate on my hand and they couldn't give me any medicine. At times I was thinking this was a bad dream, but I looked around and then I knew it was true. We reached the Vancouver Hospital.

Doctors came up to me and told me they were going to try to put my hand back on. They put me to sleep. After that I don't know what happened.

Two days afterwards when I woke up I was in the recovery room. I saw my hand. It was attached on my arm. I was a little happy. I asked the nurse if my hand would stay on my arm. She said the chances are fifty- fifty. The doctor came on the third day and I asked him about my hand. He said, "We are about seventy- percent sure". Nurses were checking the temperature every two hours and comparing it with my normal hand. Every time they came I asked them about my hand. After a few days the doctors opened my cast and they told me they were sure my hand would stay on my arm.

I have good movement in my hand, but I have no feeling in my hand. I am very happy with it. I am very, very thankful to the doctors who did this great job on my hand. Especially I am thankful to doctor Fitzpatrick and my physiotherapist, Grace.