Cindy Schmidt’s hand accident happened on April Fools’ Day – no kidding.
“I was cutting my girlfriend's hair and I set the scissors down and I accidentally stabbed myself with the scissors in the palm of my hand,” says Schmidt, who lives in Kaukauna. “Yeah, I pulled out the scissors and instantly had pain up to my elbow and it went numb. So, I knew I did damage to my hand.”
Schmidt’s husband rushed her to Aurora BayCare Health Center in Kaukauna.
“Believe it or not, it was April Fools’ Day and my husband always played jokes on the kids … so he sent a picture of me from the emergency room and didn’t say anything so everybody thought, oh, he’s probably just at a doctor’s appointment,” Schmidt says.
There was nothing to joke about on this occasion. Schmidt’s injury was serious. Serious enough to require the attention of a specialist.
Dr. Brian J. Klika, a fellowship-trained hand surgeon with Orthopedics & Sports Medicine BayCare Clinic, was between surgeries when he was informed of Schmidt’s injury.
Schmidt had hand surgery with Klika the following day at Aurora BayCare Medical Center in Green Bay.
“He came in and very, very friendly, told me what to expect and what the outcome would probably be. He never sugar-coated anything either,” Schmidt says.
Klika performed a repair of a digital nerve to the hand.
The procedure removed foreign debris to reduce the infection risk and to aid healing. The digital nerve repair procedure reconnected a severed nerve in the hand.
Recovery and therapy was expected to take several months. During that time Schmidt had limited mobility and found it challenging to perform some of her daily activities.
“You can’t use a knife. You can’t cut. You can’t do your hair. You know, you can’t go to the bathroom,” Schmidt says. “And it had to be my right hand but you know, I got along … our kids all live by us, and they came over and helped me.”
Today, Schmidt has full use of her surgically-repaired hand. She’s even back to cutting hair.
“The palm of my hand doesn’t hurt anymore. Only my pinky is numb,” she says. “And it’s probably halfway up, you know … I can use it. I can bend it. I can do everything I did before with it. Everything.”
Schmidt praised Klika for his care.
“I was truly impressed with his friendly staff and his professional care he gave me and the experience with him was amazing,” Schmidt says. “I would recommend him to anybody.”