You read correctly, imagine that, you have your hand severed. Not so
pretty, but in order to re attach the hand you have to wait until your arm is
healed. But how to keep your hand alive for a month or more while your arm is
healing ? This question was answered by doctors at a medical facility in south
central china, "why not attach it to his foot ?"
Xiao Wei was at work one day,
when during a work site accident his right hand was severed. His colleagues
acted quickly to recover the severed appendage, and then to rush him to a local
hospital in Changde Xiao, China. Upon arrival Xiao was told by doctors, nothing
could be done to re attach his hand, however if he were to go to the larger
regional hospital, there just may be something that can be done, but time was
of the essence. Hearing this Xiao's friend rushed him by car, to the closest
regional hospital based in Changsha, where they hoped his hand could be
re-attached.
Arriving 7 hours after the
accident, the doctors at Changsha regional were hopeful that re-attaching the
hand was most definitely a possibility, however, it could not be done right
away. According to one medic associated
to the case, “His injury was severe.
Besides ripping injuries, his arm was also flattened. ". Given this the
arm needed to be treated, and reconstructed before any re attachment could be
attempted. This is where the question of how to keep the hand alive until then
arose, and led to a simple but ingenious idea. Why not attach the hand to the
patients foot !? Xiao's hand was then attached above his ankle, in order to tap
into a sufficient blood supply, in order to keep the hand's tissues alive.
It took roughly a month
before Xiao's arm had recovered enough for the initial re-attachment surgery to
be attempted, but the initial surgery has been a success. Doctors have said,
Xiao will require a number of follow up surgeries to fully re-attach the hand
to a state where it will fully function, but they are hopeful for the long term
success of this surgical endeavour.
Xiao was quoted as saying,
"I am still young, and I couldn't imagine life without a right hand."
An amazing story, with a very strange solution. You have to give it to
medical science, and their ability to think on the ball, of interesting and
creative ways to deal with medical emergencies. This most definitely was a
story of the strange, the weird, and the amazing.
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