Living in South Dakota, we’re no stranger to cold weather. That’s why when heading outside in those subzero temperatures, you want to make sure you’re bundled up to help prevent cold-related injuries. Frostbite is caused by prolonged exposure to cold. In this Avera Medical Minute, learn how one man is making progress in healing his frostbitten fingers with hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
Ice fishing is a popular hobby for outdoor enthusiasts this time of year. That’s the case for John Eimers. But on a recent trip out on the ice in December, the unexpected happened.
“When I went to leave, I basically got disoriented and didn’t know where I was at and the front of my pickup dropped through the ice. I went to open my door and it wouldn’t open up so I grabbed my phone and bailed out the window,” said Eimers.
After about an hour waiting for help, a friend located John and was able to bring him home.
“I got home and told my wife that my fingers were cold and she looked at them and thought we should get them under warm water, so we put them under warm water and then we noticed they started turning black,” he said..
“I said we have to get you checked out, and he said ‘no I am going to go back and get my pickup out,’ and I said ‘you’re not going anywhere,’” said John’s wife, Heidi Eimers.
They arrived at the emergency room at Avera St. Luke’s Hospital in Aberdeen. Doctors determined he had frostbite in his fingers.
“Frostbite is deeper into the tissue and that does destroy cells. The other bigger problem is the inflammation that blocks the blood vessels and causes blood clots from all the inflammation so that’s what turns those fingers purple or black in his case,” said Avera emergency physician, Russell Pietz, MD.
“When we got in there he was pretty shook up, and Dr. Pietz said this might be a permanent thing, and for someone who works with their hands every day, that was a big hit, for both of us,” said Heidi Eimers.
He was given a medication to help improve blood flow. “I basically walked in there thinking I was going to get medicine and go back home and it wouldn’t be a big deal,” said John Eimers.
But that wasn’t the case; more would need to be done to help prevent tissue loss on his fingers.
“The next morning they came and got me and said they wanted to try this HBO treatment,” said John Eimers.
HBO, or hyperbaric oxygen therapy, is a treatment that increases the amount of oxygen delivered to your blood using a hyperbaric chamber.
We were able to do the hyperbaric oxygen to increase the efficiency of the blood that was getting there to try and keep those tissues as perfused or oxygenated as possible to prevent tissue loss,” said physician assistant, Lucas Keahey.
John started doing the therapy treatments daily.
“Basically the whole body goes into the chamber and we increase the pressure to two and a half times the normal amount,” said Keahey. “What that does is it forces oxygen into concentration in the blood stream and that allows us to get a whole lot more oxygen to the organ tissues and to the distal areas and in this case to the distal of his fingers to try to save and prevent any or as much tissue loss as possible.”
“Takes 20 minutes to build pressure, then you’re in there for two hours, and another 20 minutes to decompress, so almost three hours,” said John Eimers. “It more or less feels like you’re in an airplane, your ears will pop when you go down and come back up they pop, but as far as when you’re down on pressure you can’t tell the difference.”
And he’s seeing results. “They took a picture of my hands before they went in there and they did it again when I got out and you could really tell the difference,” said Eimers.
While it was a scary situation, it was essential he went to the hospital when he did.
“I’m super grateful we got here when we did because if we didn’t we probably wouldn’t have the outcome that we do,” said Heidi Eimers.
John will have to continue with rehab and therapy to help with restoring movement in his hands.
