Our member DOLSO

**Room 217 Caretaker** · 09-25-2010 03:55 PM

Our good friend and case builder Dick Olson (Dolso) severely cut his arm September 17th. This is the info I have as of right now (will update it as Dick and I talk):

Last Friday AM (?17th?) I was cutting the French cleats for the last four of the Knowing Darkness cases on the table saw.... the blade had to be raised about 3 inches in order to cut through the bases... as I was cutting, the wood "bound up" & 'kicked back' (basically instead of cutting smoothly, the blade got turned cock-eyed & the saw threw the chunk of wood back at me) which drew my left forearm into the blade..I didn't immediately know that it had gone into the saw blade, I thought the wood had just hit my arm (I actually had the thought "Wow, THAT was close!) until I looked at it.......pretty much hamburger over 2/3 of my arm. Luckily, there was another guy working at his shop fairly close by & he called 911 while holding a tourniquet on my upper arm. The emerg room dr determined that the local doc's couldn't help enough so they found a specialist in Denver willing to take me (no insurance & all). They put me & my wife on a "flight for life" to Denver. At that point, they were just trying to save my hand. I cut the arm about 9:30 and by noon I was in the ER in Denver. Went into 4 1/2 hour surgery about 2:30 & got into a room about 9:00 that eve. Turns out I shattered the ulna (smaller of the 2 long bones in the forearm), shredded the artery, muscles, ligaments and nerves. I guess there's 3 arteries in the arm & I got 2 of them in the saw...if I would have gotten the 3rd they would have just amputated it. The dr took a portion of the vein from my leg & used it to patch the one in my arm,,,screwed a piece if metal to the ends of the arm bone to hold it solid while healing,,,& did what he could (I'm not sure what that was) for the nerves & ligaments

The way it stands now, I can slightly move my thumb & 1st finger, have some feeling in the middle & ring finger & can't tell if my little finger is on my hand or not (it is, just can't tell it by feeling) Dr says it'll be 3 months before we know if the bone will regrow or not & the use of the fingers is also a wait & see situation.

Mulleins
Cumberland VA

**jhanic** · 09-25-2010 05:01 PM

Just let him know that he's in my prayers. I hope there's not too much permanent damage!

John

**e_taylor** · 09-25-2010 05:06 PM

Very sorry to hear that. Send my regards next time you talk to him. Heres hoping he makes a full recovering and can continue to make his cases.

**Sam** · 09-25-2010 06:39 PM

Oh dear god. My father is a woodworker as well, and while he has had accidents before (one being running over his thumb with a router and chewing it into chop steak). I completely understand what happened and what the results are and can be from this accident. Dolso, you are in my prayers for a complete and speedy recovery, with more emphasis on the complete part than the speedy one.

**Patrick** · 09-25-2010 07:09 PM

Oh dear Lord. I am so sorry to hear of this. Ralph, please pass along to Dick my best wishes for a full recovery.

**frik** · 09-25-2010 08:53 PM

This is just awful!
All my best to you, Dick, and I do hope you will make a full recovery!

Siep

**shnnrc01** · 09-25-2010 11:53 PM

dick,hope you make a full recovery,im a carpenter by trade and its definately the top fear of the job.safe recovery.

**George at C-Springs** · 09-26-2010 03:07 AM

Too late now I realize, but I was just watching a program the other day (Time Warp maybe?) showing a "new" (couple of years old already) table saw that has "flesh sensor technology" built into the blades. If they come into contact with skin, they stop immediately. Literally, the blade can be spinning at full speed and if you put your finger into it, it stops without so much as scratching you. I'm sure they're expensive, but also sure they're worth it (for all you woodworkers out there).

I just googled it, got a website called www.sawstop.com if you're interested. After seeing the program, both my wife and I thought "What a great idea" and decided to get one one of these days when we had "our house" and a place to use it.

George

**lophophoras** · 09-26-2010 03:48 AM

Sending goodmind and hopes for a speedy recovery!

**biomieg** · 09-26-2010 04:15 AM

Dick, I hope you will recover 100%. Good luck my man!!!

**John Blaze** · 09-26-2010 04:27 AM

That's just horrible. Goodmind to him, I hope he gets his arm back.

**herbertwest** · 09-26-2010 04:59 AM

Hope he will get a total recovery soon!
Best wishes!

**Ricky** · 09-26-2010 06:46 AM

Sounds like a scary situation for sure. Wishing you a full recovery, Dick!

**agrabin** · 09-26-2010 09:00 AM

This sounds very, very nasty...I wish him all the best and just hope things work out ok

**turtlex** · 09-26-2010 11:11 AM

Oh my gosh, Dick. Sending :goodmind: your way.

**Tito_Villa** · 09-26-2010 11:33 AM

Jesus Dick, i hope everything turns out ok! Your in my thoughts buddy!

**Dolso** · 09-26-2010 02:55 PM

Thanks for the good wishes everyone. They truly are appreciated! You brought a tear to my wifes eye (& to mine).

George at Ramstein -- I also got a "see, I told you so" from her on your info.

and no matter what the cost of the 'flesh sensor' it would be worth it!!! I'm sure that Sam's Dad would agree with me.

Sam -- I'm not sure of the whole story with Margaret Catoe, but from the looks of it, you need some good wishes also....mine are included here.

shnnrc01 -- that carpenter's "three fingered hand-shake" to you (no that's NOT an insult). I think he knows what I mean.

I'm headed back to Denver tomorrow for a follow-up with the doc. I'm pretty sure everything will work out but will just take time. I think I've arranged for a helper to come in & lend me one of his hands until I get the use of both mine so can possibly continue with the cases

Once again, thank you all for the good wishes........

Dick