He can teach children music again, because the surgeons of St. Luke’s Hospital of the First Medical Association of Lviv saved 29-year-old Yuriy’s fingers.
Yuriy is from the village of Khodorkivtsi in the Lviv region, works as a music teacher in two local schools and considers it his vocation. He teaches his pupils to play the piano, accordion, flute and guitar, and also accompanies children during dance performances.
Recently, an accident happened to a young man, which could “put an end” to his further teaching of children to play musical instruments. At home, while working with wood on a milling machine, Yuriy received a serious injury. His torn glove was tightened by the cutter.
“Everything happened suddenly, I didn’t even have time to come to my senses,” Yuriy recalls. The teacher was not confused. He put a pressure bandage on himself to stop the bleeding and called an ambulance.
Medics provided first aid and took the injured to Lviv, to St. Luke’s Hospital. Because it is here that the doctors of the hand surgery department have been dealing with similar cases for more than 30 years.
“The most frequent reason among appeals is an occupational injury. In such a situation, it is important to seek help in time,” says Roman Chepil, a surgeon at St. Luke’s Hospital.
The doctors began to operate on the boy. A complex reconstructive intervention was performed. The fingers were damaged at various levels: broken bones, torn tendons, nerves and blood vessels. Two hours of painstaking work by surgeons – and step by step they manage to restore the phalanges.
According to the doctor’s recommendation, Yuriy developed his hand at home. Performed rehabilitation exercises for fine motor skills. And the students supported their teacher with drawings and looked forward to his return to the music class.
Four months have passed since the operation. Today, music is heard in the walls of St. Luke’s Hospital. For the last examination, Yuri took an accordion with him to show the results to the doctors. He deftly presses the keys and thanks the doctors for the opportunity to do his life’s work again – teaching children music.