Man's Arms Reattached After Accident -- 18-Year-Old Had To Use Teeth To Open Door, Phone For Help

ST. PAUL, Minn. - An 18-year-old North Dakota man whose arms were severed in a farm accident sat in a bathtub so he wouldn't bleed on his mother's carpet. He is recovering this week after surgeons reattached his limbs.

If everything continues to improve for John Thompson, whose surgery at North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale, Minn., took place Saturday, his will be only the fifth or sixth successful double-arm reattachment in U.S. history.

Infection will be a major concern for five to 10 more days, hospital spokeswoman Maggie Drury said. But circulation in both arms is good, and Thompson was upgraded from critical to serious condition yesterday, she added.

The accident happened when Thompson was home alone grinding feed on the family farm near Hurdsfield, about 90 miles southeast of Minot, N.D. He became entangled in the tractor's power takeoff shaft, Drury said.

Although the spinning shaft tore off one arm at the shoulder and the other near the elbow, Thompson managed to walk uphill about 400 yards to the family's farm home. But once there, he couldn't open the door, so he walked into the garage and used his teeth to open another door, according to his uncle, Lynn Thompson.

Inside the house, he kicked open the door to the den, knocked the telephone receiver off the hook, picked up a pencil with his teeth and punched his cousin's number on the telephone.

After notifying his cousin, Drury said, Thompson walked into the

bathroom and sat in the bathtub so he wouldn't bleed on his mother's carpet, Drury said.

An ambulance from nearby Bowdon was sent to the scene. While loading Thompson into the ambulance, a paramedic realized that the ambulance crew didn't have the severed arms. The ambulance driver found them in the barnyard and packed them for the trip to St. Aloisius Medical Center in Harvey, N.D. "On the way to the hospital, he asked the ambulance crew to please call his grandmother so she wouldn't worry about him," Drury said.

While a trauma team got him ready, an air ambulance crew was called from St. Alexius Hospital in Bismarck to transport Thompson and his arms to the Twin Cities.

He was taken into surgery about 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Drury said. Drs. Allen Van Beek and J. Bart Muldowney, both plastic surgeons, headed the microvascular surgical team, each working on a separate arm. They were assisted by Dr. Joseph Bocklage.

North Memorial surgeons credited the care Thompson received at St. Aloisius Medical Center and from the air transport crew for keeping Thompson and his severed arms in excellent condition.