Today was lining up to be a fairly unadventurous Saturday. I had a church basketball game in the morning – we got beat by a team who must’ve shot 85% from the field for the game. They were on. It was scary. Then we took the family to Hy-Vee for a late breakfast, and a few of our friends joined us. Finally, we headed home. My remaining task for the day was to install a new garage door opener. Our old one is probably 30 years old and has been slowly dying for a while now. We found a nice new one on clearance at Lowe’s last week and bought it. So, I was all set.
I got the new opener unpacked and assembled. Then I took down the old one. So far, so good. However, I noticed as I was taking down the old opener that the torsion spring for the garage door, normally attached by two lag bolts to the frame of the garage, had pulled out one bolt and was in the process of pulling out the other one. Here’s an example of a torsion spring:
No problem, I thought. A quick trip to Lowe’s procured two larger lag bolts, and I set about installing them. It was a bit tricky – I had to put some weight on the spring to hold it down into place, but I managed to get the first bolt in. Then I came back up to tighten it, and the whole thing let loose. I didn’t see exactly what happened, but my left hand was bleeding and swelling. So Becky called Janice who was a life saver and came over to stay with the girls, who were napping. Then we went to the urgent care clinic.
One hour and three x-rays later, the doctor decided that I had fractured the last bone in my thumb (the one at the end of my thumb). No stitches were necessary, they just used some pressure bandages on my thumb and index finger to get the bleeding to stop. And I’ll have to wear a splint on my thumb for 4-6 weeks until the bone heals. Here’s what it looks like now:
So, this will put a damper on a few activities. No more basketball for the rest of the season. I will probably be able to play the piano enough to lead worship at church next Sunday as planned, but I wouldn’t hold out much hope for the Bach fugue on the pipe organ for the talent show. It has been a bit of a challenge typing this post, too, but I’m starting to figure out how to type without my index finger and thumb on my left hand.
Mostly I’m thankful that it wasn’t any worse; it sure could’ve been. The Lord was watching over me, even in my poor judgment of what I could manage. I’ll be calling an overhead door company on Monday, and will gladly pay them to fix the torsion spring and finish the opener installation. Some things, I guess, are just better left to the professionals.
I wouldn’t have touched that with a 10 foot pole!! That spring has way to much tention on it to mess with it. As you say Chris some things are best left to those who are familiar with the matter.
OUCH! Take care of yourself, Chris.
yeah, the only thing i’d change out on my garage door opener is the wall control and the lightbulbs. the rest i’d probably call someone about. i figured as much before reading this, but now i have no doubt that would be the proper course of action.
at least they gave you a pretty bandaid for your middle finger.
Hehe. Actually, the bandaid came from home. I opened the closet door and found I had my choice of Clifford, Dora the Explorer, or Hello Kitty. I’ll be hitting the drug store today for some more generic bandages.
Ouch!! Sorry man… that’s a real bummer. At least it’s not worse, huh… anyway, take it easy and heal up fast!! Chalk up another entry in the Hubbs’ do-it-yourself lexicon… (anybody wanna change a belt on an ‘85 vw golf??? anybody???)
CHRIS!!!! Ow.. that makes my hand hurt just looking at it… Heh, if I would have known how to do it I would have tried too though. Must be a Hubbs-kid thing.
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[...] about another inch, reconnected everything, and it worked! So, 9 days, come very cold fingers, and one broken thumb later, we have a functional garage door and can park the vehicles in the garage [...]