Nor did Fox ever envision it when he chose biomechanical engineering as his major at Columbia University, New York City.

But more than 15 years later, wearing the white lab coat of an orthopedic hand surgeon, Fox found himself about to reattach the thumb of his former math teacher, who had accidentally severed it while doing yard work.

It was a chilly morning in early November when Palma, a teacher at Columbia High School in Columbia, decided to hurry through some quick, end-of-season lawn mowing at his Mendham home. He had fallen behind in yard maintenance because he and his wife, Linda, had spent a lot of time at their shore home over the summer.

The blades on his industrial-size lawnmower weren't moving properly and, without turning off the motor, Palma stuck his right hand between the pulley and blade to make an adjustment. The heavy rawhide glove he was wearing got caught in the mechanism, pulling his hand right along with it.

Big Mistake

Before Palma knew it, his thumb was sliced almost completely off and was hanging by a bit of tattered flesh. In retrospect, he admits he made a big mistake in not turning off the mower, which he's been using for more than 10 years.

"Like I've always said, haste makes waste. It was bitter cold, I was in a hurry and I did something foolish," Palma said.

His wife called 911 and helped him position the severed thumb against his hand and wrap it in a towel. The Mendham Borough Rescue Squad got him to Morristown Memorial Hospital around 11 a.m. and he was quickly whisked into the operating room.

"I recognized him immediately when I walked into the room," said Fox of his former teacher, "but I had to prove it to myself."

"Are you a math teacher?" Fox asked.

"Why? Did you like me?" Palma inquired, wanting to be sure he wasn't about to be operated on by a disgruntled former student.

As it turned out, there was mutual admiration between the two men. Palma remembered Fox as an extremely bright, conscientious student who earned an "A" in a very rigorous class.

Fox recalled that Palma was very demanding of his honors-level students, but everyone liked being in his class because they learned a lot.

"I remember he referred to tests as opportunities. He would say, "This is your chance to get an "A"," Fox said.

Today Palma would almost certainly give Fox an "A" for his surgical prowess. In addition to reattaching the soft tissues, there was some crushed bone between the two knuckles of the thumb that needed to be repaired. The young physician took bone chips from the wrist and used them to reconfigure the damaged bone, Palma said.

Although Fox called the surgery "pretty typical," he said it took an extra hour trying to get blood flowing through one of the arteries. He ultimately performed a vein graft, joining a vessel from the wrist directly to the thumb to bypass the normal flow of blood.

After about six hours of surgery, Palma's thumb was successfully reattached and the blood was circulating well, but regaining the use of it will take some time. Palma could move his thumb a little from left to right within a few days of the surgery, and he now has complete feeling on the outside of his thumb.

The pins that Fox inserted through the center of the thumb and into the hand will be removed after two to three weeks. Although Palma won't be able to drive until after Christmas, he plans to resume teaching after Thanksgiving break.

"I'm amazed and encouraged about how this is turning out," said Palma, who likes to build things and work on his cars and boats. "I'm feeling really positive,"

Fox, who said he's done about a dozen replantations of severed body parts, initially majored in biomechanical engineering in college. He later decided to become an orthopedic surgeon after discovering the orthopedic research lab on campus.

Orthopedics, he said, is a combination of math, engineering and medicine.

"Orthopedics uses a lot of bioengineering principles to understand fractures, and in the design of prosthetics, fracture fixing hardware and many other aspects. It's a natural mix," said Fox, who lives in Denville.

"These injuries happen every day," he added. "They usually happen when you're doing things you do all the time, every day. The most conscientious person still has accidents. Then we just have to deal with them."