9.5 Will Do Too!

This is a great synopsis of our Thursday evening.... But for those who want the full story....

Jason calls about 4:30pm and casually says I need to take Colton to his baseball game, that he has "cut" his finger and his boss his taking him to get it looked at.  I had a conference call I has scheduled to attend that he knew about so this was an odd request.  I totally thought he was joking because the way he said it sounded like I already knew about the said "cut".  I decided to go ahead and make other arrangements for the kids and meet them at the clinic, which turned out to be an ER room.  Again, I'm still oblivious to the "cut" and just thinking we're in for some stitches.  I'm not sure when I realize that this isn't just a cut but a self-amputated finger. Maybe it was either the finger sitting in a cup of ice across from me or the fact that they were transferring him to Parkland to see a hand surgeon, I can't really remember which happened first.  They get him all situated for the transfer.  It was quite an exciting moment - Jason's first trip in an ambulance AND he performed his trick where he holds his left pointer finger in his right hand!

To say I was not impressed with Parkland is an understatement.  Let me rephrase... To say I was not impressed with the PEOPLE at Parkland is an understatement.  Speechless.  We get there and Jason sits for hours in a chair in the hallway back in the ER in front of the nurses station.  Not I know this isn't an emergency per say, but after a few hours and he finally walked out to come get me and bring me back to sit with him.  This time away from him really had my anxiety kicked in gear.  I still haven't seen my husbands hand or the detached finger and was told at the previous hospital that he was going to have attachment surgery, so I really have no idea what the situation looks like.  I was told at Parkland that Jason would have to tell his nurse that he has family in the waiting room for them to bring us to a different location.  We wait for HOURS.  So by the time Jason walks out with his IV pole and holding his finger in his cup, I'm relieved to at least see him and talk to him.  I go back there with him and they take another look at it and confirm it is not in any condition to be reattached.  Jason is ghost white and shaking and neither of us really care at this point.  Jason wants someone to stop the pain and I want someone to do something before he passes out and we have a bigger problem.

The "cleaning up" procedure lasted 30 minutes and was not done in the OR.  They numbed his finger, Jason quickly regained his color, and they began this procedure with Jason wide awake.  We aimed to leave the ER with 10 fingers but were content with only 9.5.

The pain level has been pretty fierce but meds and ice have helped. This wasn't exactly how we intended to spend our Memorial Day weekend but glad he is okay and the tip of the finger is all that he's missing :)

Oh yeah.... kids did great and he did it on a drill press.

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Nasty pics below!