So loving and peaceful on Saturday night. Then came Sunday morning...
What would a vacation be if we didn't have to run to the emergency room for something right?
DON'T SCROLL DOWN IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH!
The girls slept in until about 9:30. They were pestering each other the second their feet hit the floor. I was doing laundry in the basement at Mom and Dad's house just before 10:00 when I heard screaming. Figuring it was no big deal, I headed upstairs to see what happened this time... boy was I in for a shock! Audrey was in the hallway screaming, left hand clenching her right wrist, blood all over. Not knowing what happened, I raced up the last few steps, scooped Audrey up, and headed into the bathroom to wash her off at the sink. The blood was coming from her right thumb. As I rinsed and rinsed, I saw that it was missing quite a large chunk from the tip. At this point, Eliza was hiding behind the chair in the playroom, I yelled for her to tell me how this happened. She kept telling me she didn't know and Audrey was too hysterical, almost to the point of throwing up, to communicate anything. Mom and Dad were at the Firestone Open, where cell phones are prohibited, so I called the neighbors down the street, knowing Danielle (a doctor) is in town. No answer. I called Amanda and Shawn's house next, and Shawn picked up. By now I am quite hysterical myself, so I yelled into the receiver that I needed help and Audrey was missing "half" her thumb - a big exaggeration (sorry). Amanda jumped in the car and raced over, we buckled Eliza in the backseat and I held Audrey as we headed up the road to the Children's Hospital. It was about 10:30 now, and of course they didn't open until 11, so we turned around and headed to the Akron General Health and Wellness Center that was also nearby, and has a 24hr ER.
Long story short, we were there well into the afternoon. They put some numbing gel on the wound and wrapped it up while we waited, and waited, and waited. They did some x-rays to make sure there were no bone fractures - thank God there were not. They asked us over and over, how this had happened, to which I had no response. I had looked around the playroom for blood and found nothing. Eventually, Audrey told us it was closed in the door, so we figured it had been the entertainment center door. We were sent home with the wound still open, since there was nothing there to stitch. We had been given a specialist to follow up with, and some extra gauze and bandages to re-dress the wound daily after 24 hours.
When we got back to the house, we again looked in the playroom and found nothing. Then Audrey pointed to the bathroom door. Amanda walked over, and stopped in her tracks...
DON'T SCROLL DOWN IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH!
The girls slept in until about 9:30. They were pestering each other the second their feet hit the floor. I was doing laundry in the basement at Mom and Dad's house just before 10:00 when I heard screaming. Figuring it was no big deal, I headed upstairs to see what happened this time... boy was I in for a shock! Audrey was in the hallway screaming, left hand clenching her right wrist, blood all over. Not knowing what happened, I raced up the last few steps, scooped Audrey up, and headed into the bathroom to wash her off at the sink. The blood was coming from her right thumb. As I rinsed and rinsed, I saw that it was missing quite a large chunk from the tip. At this point, Eliza was hiding behind the chair in the playroom, I yelled for her to tell me how this happened. She kept telling me she didn't know and Audrey was too hysterical, almost to the point of throwing up, to communicate anything. Mom and Dad were at the Firestone Open, where cell phones are prohibited, so I called the neighbors down the street, knowing Danielle (a doctor) is in town. No answer. I called Amanda and Shawn's house next, and Shawn picked up. By now I am quite hysterical myself, so I yelled into the receiver that I needed help and Audrey was missing "half" her thumb - a big exaggeration (sorry). Amanda jumped in the car and raced over, we buckled Eliza in the backseat and I held Audrey as we headed up the road to the Children's Hospital. It was about 10:30 now, and of course they didn't open until 11, so we turned around and headed to the Akron General Health and Wellness Center that was also nearby, and has a 24hr ER.
Long story short, we were there well into the afternoon. They put some numbing gel on the wound and wrapped it up while we waited, and waited, and waited. They did some x-rays to make sure there were no bone fractures - thank God there were not. They asked us over and over, how this had happened, to which I had no response. I had looked around the playroom for blood and found nothing. Eventually, Audrey told us it was closed in the door, so we figured it had been the entertainment center door. We were sent home with the wound still open, since there was nothing there to stitch. We had been given a specialist to follow up with, and some extra gauze and bandages to re-dress the wound daily after 24 hours.
When we got back to the house, we again looked in the playroom and found nothing. Then Audrey pointed to the bathroom door. Amanda walked over, and stopped in her tracks...
...there was the tip of Audrey's thumb. It was on the side of the door with the hinges. Eliza had been closing the door to go to the bathroom, not seeing Audrey's thumb there obviously. We had been telling her that she needs to close the door when she goes potty, so she blames us. Audrey has been telling everyone that "Eliza did it" though.
I didn't have the stomach to take any pictures on Sunday, so this is after 24 hours when we changed the bandage for the first time.
It really is improving... this is Saturday (8/13) when we were back home in San Diego.
We have been told it will grow back on its own, and shouldn't need any skin graphs. We will still be following up with a specialist and our pediatrician as it progresses. Audrey has been such a trooper through all of this! She cries less and less as we continue to change it every other day, at the suggestion of our pediatrician.
OMG!!!!! How scary!! Glad she made it through alright!
ReplyDeleteOh no! Poor baby!
ReplyDeleteI almost cried again looking at the pictures! But the pictures were honestly nothing compared to the screaming when dad changed the bandage!
ReplyDeleteHoly crap!!! Poor baby! :(
ReplyDeleteThank you everyone. She is doing so great, we go to the doc again in a few hours.
ReplyDeleteMatilda - the screaming that night was the worst of all since the bandage was stuck to the wound for some reason, usually it just slips off b/c of all the neosporin we put on there.
Reading your story brought back an all too similar accident we went through when our daughter (now 24) was somewhere in between Audrey and Eliza's ages. Heather caught her thumb in a folding chair at church where we were new and didn't know anyone. Her bloodcurling scream led me running up an unfamiliar stairway where a nurse (who just "happened" to be a greeter at the top of the stairs) ran into the sanctuary to retrieve an orthopedic surgeon (who just "happened" to be worshiping) and, after a quick inspection, they drove Donn and Heather to the emergency room where she was stitched up and returned to church in less than an hour. Today, she still has a small scar on her thumb but is otherwise none the worse for the wear!
ReplyDelete