PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Jesse Gonzalez and his right arm are going home from a Portland hospital, a little more than a week after a saw separated them.
The 40-year-old Gonzalez was working at a Philomath sawmill on Oct. 22 when the accident happened.
A co-worker applied a tourniquet, and someone else retrieved his arm for the flight to Portland, where surgeons at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center reattached it.
The Corvallis Gazette-Times reports (http://bit.ly/UfOJ8S ) the surgery took more than three hours. The Albany man and his surgeon talked about the procedure Tuesday at a news conference.
Dr. Steven Madey says it will take six months to a year for the nerves in his arm to regenerate. The surgeon is optimistic Gonzalez will eventually regain some sensation and the ability to use his fingers.
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Information from: Gazette-Times, http://www.gtconnect.com
