Injury update w/pics

One week ago I was shooting the bow and had a arrow shatter on release. The font of the arrow continued on and the tail shafted proceeded to shoot itself into my left hand between my index finger anf thumb. I then pulled the arrow out(I know a mistake)...blood then was everywhere. Jamie rushed me to the ER where later that night I had surgey. I niched the artery and they had to tie it off. She also pulled out three big pieces of arrow along with "a ton" of small pieces. Just got back from the doctor and all looks pretty good...still really swollen....I am definetly going to have some nerve damage. But I am confident that I will regain my strength and mobility back....gonna be pinful recovery.
Here are some pics.
At the ER..not the best pic......
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/GooseHunter/Apr03_002.jpg" alt="" />
The arrow....
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/GooseHunter/101_0385.jpg" alt="" />
The part of the arrow that was in my hand....about 1.5" of it in my hand..
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/GooseHunter/101_0386.jpg" alt="" />
My club.......
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/GooseHunter/101_0381.jpg" alt="" />
Hand pictures..wound does look too bad...but you can see some bruising and swelling.....
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/GooseHunter/101_0384.jpg" alt="" />
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/GooseHunter/101_0383.jpg" alt="" />
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v331/GooseHunter/101_0382.jpg" alt="" />


All I cay to all bow shooters..is make sure those carbon arrows are great shape before shooting.....I may be switching to aluminum.[/b]
9,187
bowhunter 616
Happy to hear you are going to be ok,that has always been a fear of mine and the reason that i will never shoot anything but aluminum.
Again glad your ok,good luck,keep us informed :thumb
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MuleyMadness
Holy Crap! That SUCKS, and now I'm a nervous about shooting mine. Not cool, may have to switch to aluminum myself.

Thanks for the update, God bless and speedy and full recovery!
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ABert
Wish you a speedy recovery and hope there is no permanent damage. Never heard of that happening before. I use carbon arrows myself, when I get a chance to, that is. Got me thinking now.
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bigbuck92
ouch. that looks like it hurt. wishin ya a speedy recovery
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killerbee
wow! sorry to hear about it and hope you have a fulol recovery!
I had a good buddy of mine have the same thing happen to him with carbon arrows and later after thinking back on what could have caused the arrow to shatter like that he remembered that he was shooting fish with his bow then his dog would go retreive the arrow, she's known for chewing things as she carries them, so we figured she must have cracked the arrow before and when he shot it later it shattered into his hand. it looked pretty much identicle to yours. Do you recall anything that might have happened previosly that could have cracked this arrow? Good luck on getting your hand better!
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a_bow_nut
Wow! That's going to leave a mark. (???)

Get well soon. Hunting season is creaping up on us faster thay we know it is.
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Default Avatar
Hate to ask but was the arrow shaft spine correct? Wish you the best.
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DeadI
Glad your okay, that sucks. I have never heard of anyone having this kind of thing happen.
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BOHNTR
Glad you're okay......that's definately a bummer. It's rare, but I've seen two similar incidents over the years.......one of which involved a cracked aluminum shaft that came apart and entered the hand of the shooter. Periodically inspect your arrows for safety.....both carbon AND aluminum.

Hope your recovery is quick!
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kadejones2
wow i am glad you are okay
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Default Avatar
all I have to say is OUCH!!. hope you have a quick recovery.

I had a buddy put an arrow through his hand a couple years back while he was at elk camp. he had to do physical therapy for quite a while afterwards. hopefully you wont have to endure that.
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Default Avatar
Ouch.... that looks painful

It's a more common injury than I knew about
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Heads or Tails
I have seen this happen on a couple of occasions myself while at 3D shoots. The arrow can lose it's spine after hitting something hard or afetr multiple hits, or occasionally you may just get a bad arrow, but as mentioned before: if you inspect them periodically you be able to see which ones have a gone bad or weakened.

Good luck with the recovery. 4c
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Default Avatar
I had the same thing happen with an aluminum arrow. A buddy was watching me to help correct my form. He said he had looked at the arrow while I was at full draw and did not see anything wrong.

Get Well!!!
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chet
I saw some shafts at the store the other day that said "FLEX BEFORE SHOOTING"
I think I'll switch to alluminum too
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HighLander
I am switching to aluminum......not say I will never go back to carbon but for know I will be shooting aluminum.
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