Monday, September 17, 2012

Connor's First Trip to the ER.

Well, it finally happened. After 3.5 years of being a boy mom, I found myself today in the ER with a bloody gory mess of a boy after a little incident at MDO. Who knew it would be my little Connor who would be my first trip there with a child??? I'll just go ahead and forewarn you that I'm including some pretty graphic pictures of the trauma. Not because I want to gross people out, but because this blog is my scrapbook, and I want to remember the details, even the gory ones, of today (I'll post pics at the end so that even the queasy stomachs can read the story with out seeing the gore). This will also be pretty wordy, because I want to remember the whole story.

Connor was at MDO this morning. He has the sweetest teachers there, and I should say that what happened today is not an indicator of the type of caretakers they are. This could have happened under my watch just as easily, and I still completely trust them with Connor.

I received a call this morning that Connor had hurt his finger and probably needed to go to the hospital. I rushed out of the door to get to the school (they had asked me if I wanted them to take him, but since we live so close I wanted to take him myself). What I had envisioned as a really bad cut, was in fact, worse than any cut I had seen. Somehow Connor had tipped the rocking chair back, it tipped too far, and he pinned his little finger in between the chair and the counter top. He severed the tip of his middle finger on his left hand, as well as ripped the entire nail off of the nail bed (the cut is at an angle, so there is more of the bottom of his finger missing than the top part, if that makes sense).

We made it to the ER and after a few hours we received good news: Connor barely missed the bone of his finger in the severing. This was REALLY good news because the fact that there wasn't bone damage meant that he didn't need surgery. Our big decision was if we would sew the tip of his finger back on. The doctor we initially saw wasn't too convincing on what we should do, which left us wavering if we should do it at all. Then a different doctor came in to check on us. She is an answer to prayer because she was clear and concise in direction and instruction. I felt confident that what she advised us to do was in the best interest of Connor. So we decided not to sew on the tip of his finger, but just sew on the nail. This would encourage new growth to form. The alternative of not sewing the nail back on meant that we ran a good chance of the nail not growing back at all, or growing back a little deformed. We decided we would give it the best chance it had at growing back normally.

The good news is that the doctors expect everything to heal really well, and for the finger tip to even grow back. My biggest struggle now is keeping him to stay calm, keep clean and dry and not hit anything. Telling that to a mom of a 22 month old is like telling a fisherman to go catch a small mouth bass with barehanded. Ha! So please pray that the wound will continue to heal correctly, that we wouldn't get any infections, and that somehow Connor will be laid back and easy going over the next couple of days.

A few thank-you's of the day go out to my Uncle Paul and Aunt Kelly, who took care of Brayden and came to the hospital to be with us throughout the day. It's so nice to have family nearby that we can call for help when we need it! Another big thank you to Drew's work team, who were so understanding in allowing him to stay at the hospital with me and Connor, and who were so sweet in checking on us and bringing Connor get well soon gifts! And a thank you to all of my friends and family who called or texted to make sure we were ok. And of course, my online community of friends... I love the age in which I live, where I can tweet a prayer request and instantly have hundreds of strangers praying for my family. If there is 1 single thing I can say positive about blogging, this would be it.

And now... for the pictures... only the first two are of the actual wound, and are the only ones that show blood. Skim quickly over those if you want to see the other pics of our brave boy.
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this was taken by Drew right when we got there
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when they called me, I had just finished cleaning my house, so I was in my grunge clothes and hadn't had a shower yet. Poor baby just wanted his momma
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sweet boy finally fell asleep on me for a few minutes
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Uncle Paul came to offer his support. Connor wouldn't let Uncle Paul put him down, and kept saying "Un Pa" (Uncle Paul). Then he would try to get Uncle Paul to kiss his finger.
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Has there ever been a sadder face?
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No one told me I couldn't feed Connor, so when it came time for the procedure, he could not be sedated because of him eating. Argghhhh. SOOO... they had to wrap him in a sheet like a mummy, and Uncle Paul, Drew, myself and one of the nurses held him down while the doctor bandaged him up. If you ever want to know what having your heart being ripped out feels like, try having to hold your baby down while a doctor sews his finger back on and he is screaming at you to get him out of there and go home. AWWWWWWW.FULLLLLLL.
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waiting to be discharged.
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when we got in the car I asked what kind of treat he wanted. His response was quick: FRENCH FRIES. A boy gets what a boy wants. We drove through Chick-Fil-A on the way home. He even stole Daddy's milkshake ;)
 

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