Jock Elliott
Hall of Famer
- Location
- Troy, NY
As you might know, electric garage door openers have a fail-safe feedback mechanism that causes the door to reverse direction if it is closing and something is in the way. To my knowledge, electric car windows do not . . . and herein lies a tale.
On July 19, 2020, at around 3 pm, my wife and I were leaving the parking lot of a diner. It was very hot (in the 90s, if I recall correctly), my wife was driving, and the car windows were down about 4 inches. I stuck my hand out the passenger’s window to see if the air felt cooler outside the car than in. My wife, watching the road and detecting that the air conditioner was beginning to produce cold air, hit the switches to run the windows up.
The back of my right hand (my dominant hand) was hit by the ascending glass of the car window. Instinctively, I yanked my hand out of the window. I saw small red mark on the back of my hand. My wife was very upset and wanted to know if I was okay. I think I said something like, “I’ll probably be sore tomorrow, but it’s no big deal.”
Within five minutes, my hand began to blow up like a balloon. My wife pulled into a convenience store where a kind young man dashed into the back, put some ice in a plastic bag, and gave it to me. The ice, I’m sure helped, but my hand – thanks to the blood thinners I take – was swelling with blood. By 7 pm, it seemed wise to visit urgent care. X-rays revealed no fracture. An ace bandage was applied, and I was advised to keep icing the hand, to take the ring off my right hand, and to visit my regular doctor if there was no improvement in a couple of days. There wasn’t.
Two days later, I visit my regular doc, and he says there isn’t really a great deal he can do; he advises me to keep icing the hand. By July 24, my hand looks like a gross caricature of a hand; the back of the hand, the palm, and the fingers are all swollen. There is an area of “extra swelling” – like a volcanic cone – on the back of my hand. See pictures below.
Six days after the accident, the entire back of the hand is very red, very angry-looking, and painful. There are two sensations. The skin, because of the stretching, often feels like it is on fire. Running the back of the hand under cool water helps; oddly, the icing not so much. The other sensation deep in the hand is that of being stabbed with an icicle . . . a cold pain probably from a deep bruise of bones, tendons, etc. It hurts to do almost anything: turn a door knob or a water faucet, move the shift lever on the car. I can’t make a fist and gripping a pen is impossible. The back of the hand feels like it has been immobilized with fiberglass strapping tape, but I can wiggle my fingers.
So I go see OrthoNY urgent care. They put me on a course of antibiotics. Almost all of the angry redness disappears within a week. My wife suggests we soothe the skin on the back of the hand with vitamin E oil. She slathers the back of the hand with it, and we slide a stretchy plastic glove (like a surgical glove) over it. The next morning, not only is the skin better, but the Big Bump has reduced in size! We theorize that the compression of the elastic glove is helping to force the fluid out of the bump. We are continuing the Vit E and glove treatment at night as of this writing.
As of Aug. 14, 2020, things are much improved. Most of the swelling has gone but the Big Bump, now much reduced in size, remains. I’m back to playing guitar (one of my buddies offers that the reason this happened is that I play Classic Gas in the house one too many times!). Handwriting is difficult, but typing is not. Parts of the back of the hand still feel stiff, and a section of the skin is numb. Follow up with hand doctors to come. In all, I am grateful that most of my hand function has returned.
Still, the question remains: why don’t car electric windows have a safety feedback mechanism?
Cheers, Jock
On July 19, 2020, at around 3 pm, my wife and I were leaving the parking lot of a diner. It was very hot (in the 90s, if I recall correctly), my wife was driving, and the car windows were down about 4 inches. I stuck my hand out the passenger’s window to see if the air felt cooler outside the car than in. My wife, watching the road and detecting that the air conditioner was beginning to produce cold air, hit the switches to run the windows up.
The back of my right hand (my dominant hand) was hit by the ascending glass of the car window. Instinctively, I yanked my hand out of the window. I saw small red mark on the back of my hand. My wife was very upset and wanted to know if I was okay. I think I said something like, “I’ll probably be sore tomorrow, but it’s no big deal.”
Within five minutes, my hand began to blow up like a balloon. My wife pulled into a convenience store where a kind young man dashed into the back, put some ice in a plastic bag, and gave it to me. The ice, I’m sure helped, but my hand – thanks to the blood thinners I take – was swelling with blood. By 7 pm, it seemed wise to visit urgent care. X-rays revealed no fracture. An ace bandage was applied, and I was advised to keep icing the hand, to take the ring off my right hand, and to visit my regular doctor if there was no improvement in a couple of days. There wasn’t.
Two days later, I visit my regular doc, and he says there isn’t really a great deal he can do; he advises me to keep icing the hand. By July 24, my hand looks like a gross caricature of a hand; the back of the hand, the palm, and the fingers are all swollen. There is an area of “extra swelling” – like a volcanic cone – on the back of my hand. See pictures below.
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Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
Join to see EXIF info for this image (if available)
Six days after the accident, the entire back of the hand is very red, very angry-looking, and painful. There are two sensations. The skin, because of the stretching, often feels like it is on fire. Running the back of the hand under cool water helps; oddly, the icing not so much. The other sensation deep in the hand is that of being stabbed with an icicle . . . a cold pain probably from a deep bruise of bones, tendons, etc. It hurts to do almost anything: turn a door knob or a water faucet, move the shift lever on the car. I can’t make a fist and gripping a pen is impossible. The back of the hand feels like it has been immobilized with fiberglass strapping tape, but I can wiggle my fingers.
So I go see OrthoNY urgent care. They put me on a course of antibiotics. Almost all of the angry redness disappears within a week. My wife suggests we soothe the skin on the back of the hand with vitamin E oil. She slathers the back of the hand with it, and we slide a stretchy plastic glove (like a surgical glove) over it. The next morning, not only is the skin better, but the Big Bump has reduced in size! We theorize that the compression of the elastic glove is helping to force the fluid out of the bump. We are continuing the Vit E and glove treatment at night as of this writing.
As of Aug. 14, 2020, things are much improved. Most of the swelling has gone but the Big Bump, now much reduced in size, remains. I’m back to playing guitar (one of my buddies offers that the reason this happened is that I play Classic Gas in the house one too many times!). Handwriting is difficult, but typing is not. Parts of the back of the hand still feel stiff, and a section of the skin is numb. Follow up with hand doctors to come. In all, I am grateful that most of my hand function has returned.
Still, the question remains: why don’t car electric windows have a safety feedback mechanism?
Cheers, Jock