Notice the tender "toe kiss" at the end.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
OK, Feel Sorry!
Got up at 4:30 AM again this Tue. morning, but it didn't hurt quite as bad because I "knew" we were going to get Ben's braces/cast off and have his stitches removed. To top it off, my parents had "big-boy-sat" again and were bringing them down to Charlottesville (where the hospital is) to meet us that afternoon to celebrate my wife's birthday. I might even get to eat at my favorite restaurant (Melting Pot).
Ye ... as dear old mom always said; "Wish in one hand and ...." (you get the idea). Well, we got the "other hand"!
First, the hand specialist who had done the original surgery was out of town, so he asked a colleague to "over see" (my words) stuff today and left his "competent, but lost" attending/fellow in charge, apparently--though she again didn't seem to have real "control" of anything yet. We asked to first try and remove the bandages and stitches without anesthesia (yes, they wanted to "put him under" to do this). This is a tough kid who besides being the youngest of 3 boys, has been genuinely interested in the process of caring for his injury, so is able to sit very still and seems to have a fairly high pain threshold. At first this seemed like a completely foreign idea, but as they allowed themselves (there seemed to be another attending/fellow that carried weight in decision making along for the ride) to think outside the box they realized that this would be easier on them--two extra hands, those of a trusted parent ... DUH! But unfortunately, the old routine kicked in and they claimed the need to be in the operating room where they had everything in case of an emergency--he needed pain meds. HELLO! He is a tough kid and a little discomfort is not going to kill him and if it starts to ... he has his mommy right there. Besides, what is it, like a 20 second walk around the corner to the OR? Many chefs ruin the stew! (Teaching hospital = 2 attending/resident/fellow surgeons, 3 anesthesiologists, 2+ nurses, and apparently somewhere a chief plastic surgeon--but we never saw nor heard from him)
Anyway, what was suppose to be a 15 minute thing, took about an hour, though they didn't end up intubating or giving him any pain meds ... AH, what did I tell you?!?!?!?
There was good news ... No more cast on his foot, yay! But we do now just have exposed stitches. Ye, a 2 year old is going to leave those alone for sure!
AND ... apparently, once a magician, always a magician. He was delivered back to us with both arms once again tied across his chest! When the "competent, but lost" attending/fellow told me she had strapped him up, I said, "That's not good!" To which she replied, "Why?" UHM, he is 2 freakin' years old and as already had his arms tied across his chest for a week. Have you ever had your arms tied across your chest for a week ... what about for 17 days?!?!?!?!
So in short, if you would like you may now begin to feel bad for Ben ... and us!
Ye ... as dear old mom always said; "Wish in one hand and ...." (you get the idea). Well, we got the "other hand"!
First, the hand specialist who had done the original surgery was out of town, so he asked a colleague to "over see" (my words) stuff today and left his "competent, but lost" attending/fellow in charge, apparently--though she again didn't seem to have real "control" of anything yet. We asked to first try and remove the bandages and stitches without anesthesia (yes, they wanted to "put him under" to do this). This is a tough kid who besides being the youngest of 3 boys, has been genuinely interested in the process of caring for his injury, so is able to sit very still and seems to have a fairly high pain threshold. At first this seemed like a completely foreign idea, but as they allowed themselves (there seemed to be another attending/fellow that carried weight in decision making along for the ride) to think outside the box they realized that this would be easier on them--two extra hands, those of a trusted parent ... DUH! But unfortunately, the old routine kicked in and they claimed the need to be in the operating room where they had everything in case of an emergency--he needed pain meds. HELLO! He is a tough kid and a little discomfort is not going to kill him and if it starts to ... he has his mommy right there. Besides, what is it, like a 20 second walk around the corner to the OR? Many chefs ruin the stew! (Teaching hospital = 2 attending/resident/fellow surgeons, 3 anesthesiologists, 2+ nurses, and apparently somewhere a chief plastic surgeon--but we never saw nor heard from him)
Anyway, what was suppose to be a 15 minute thing, took about an hour, though they didn't end up intubating or giving him any pain meds ... AH, what did I tell you?!?!?!?
There was good news ... No more cast on his foot, yay! But we do now just have exposed stitches. Ye, a 2 year old is going to leave those alone for sure!
AND ... apparently, once a magician, always a magician. He was delivered back to us with both arms once again tied across his chest! When the "competent, but lost" attending/fellow told me she had strapped him up, I said, "That's not good!" To which she replied, "Why?" UHM, he is 2 freakin' years old and as already had his arms tied across his chest for a week. Have you ever had your arms tied across your chest for a week ... what about for 17 days?!?!?!?!
So in short, if you would like you may now begin to feel bad for Ben ... and us!
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Uni-Ped
June 25, as the boys were dog-sitting for one of their uncle/aunt and awaiting the details of the unique birth circumstances of their newest cousin, they discovered their uncle's most awesome treadmill. While T & S took turns running up a sweat, Ben apparently discovered that the belt of the treadmill feels pretty cool as it LIGHTLY passes under your hand, and VERY HOT as it runs over your hands.
Somehow, he apparently got his hand caught under the treadmill belt--as one of his brothers was jogging. He began to scream at one incredible decibel level as his other brother started yelling to the first brother, "TURN IT OFF, TURN IT OFF!" to the response, "I'm trying." Realizing what had happened, I opted for "pulling" Ben's hands out, rather than trying to help the first brother figure out how to stop the machine. Despite the gruesome potential, there was nearly no blood due to what we later discovered was second and third degree burns to 7 or his 8 fingers. Luckily, the worse burns were on his right hand--he tends to favor his left.
(Warning: picture below)
We immediately called our ER doctor--who for some un-explainable reason had taking off from Maryland in an apparent attempt to deliver his second son on the New Jersey Turnpike. He told us that if we were to take the boy to the ER, they would likely just wrap up his hands and tell us to take him to his pediatrician after the weekend. So we (my wife) scavenged the car safety kit, found some anti-bacterial ointment with lidocaine, gauze wrap and bandaged him up as the big boys and I went to CVS to buy some children's Tylenol and more lidocaine ointment. We later returned looking for something to splint the fingers, but could only find actual Popsicles on the stick--turns out Ben preferred those anyway.
As sad and painful as this experience sounds, you need not feel too much pity for the poor child, who only needed "pain medicine" immediately following the accident. He is QUITE proud of his little mitts! He likes to show them off to everyone and anyone that will "listen" to him proudly "chirp" about them.
After visiting our ER doctor (new cousin/nephew) in New Jersey, we took his advice and returned home with Ben on Sunday evening and took Ben into the pediatrician first thing Mon. morning. Their response was that there didn't look like there was any infection, but that they would like him to see a hand specialist at UVA hospital in Charlottesville (about 45 minutes away), which they were able to set up for that afternoon. NOTE TO DOCTORS: When visiting with a parent and/or child after a traumatic experience, it is best to say more than; "Oh dear!" and walk out of the room! Yes, after taking off the bandages at the hand specialist office, that is exactly what happened. He did then return with I believe at least a resident and a few students (teaching hospital). Again, not comforting. The diagnosis; skin grafts on up to 8 fingers--to be taken from his feet--but the surgery couldn't be done in the next week, so we'd have to come back a week from Tue. So, they re-wrapped his hands (which he had undone in less then 15 minutes) and sent him home.
Have I mentioned that these two weeks were to be spent with his aunt, uncle & cousin on "furlough" from Africa and new cousin on "furlough" from New Jersey?
After VBS was completed on Thur. we all returned to Maryland for the weekend before we had to pack Ben up and head back down to check Ben into the hospital at 6AM for his surgery on Tue morning--which was made much easier by PopPop and GiGi "big-boy-sitting."
Within 5 minutes of checking in, they had a volunteer escort us all up to a room where Ben would get ready for his surgery. We meet 2 different nurses (both very pleasant), an attending doctor (though very competent, seemed a little lost), the resident anesthesiologist (talked kind of fast, but was very good), along with at least one intern/student for each before the chief plastic surgeon and head pediatric anesthesiologist stopped by (one with their car keys still in their hand). After some Verset, Ben was taken off to what we were told would probably be a 1.5 hr. surgery. We were able to track the progress of the surgery on a digital board in the waiting room and he was out in less then 61 minutes. The second nurse called down to let us know the good and bad news. Good: they only had to graft on 2 fingers. Bad: it was one finger on each hand. So, in the doctors words Ben would be "Houdini-ed" (ie. arms tied across his chest), he would at least have one foot "free" (was able to get both grafts from one foot, which then had to be splinted to keep the stitches from popping).
Recovery was not quite as quick. Apparently they had felt he was having some difficulty breathing and so they intubated him (put a breathing tube down his throat, but removed before he woke up) which upon waking up appeared to be slightly less disturbing for Ben than discovering he no longer had use of his arms. Although visibly annoying, he has begun to figure out how to use his one free foot to; point, pet his new cousin's head, pick up and even nearly put things in his mouth. So again, you don't need to feel too sorry for him.
We are ALL looking forward to having the cast/splints & stitches removed on Tue. morning!
Somehow, he apparently got his hand caught under the treadmill belt--as one of his brothers was jogging. He began to scream at one incredible decibel level as his other brother started yelling to the first brother, "TURN IT OFF, TURN IT OFF!" to the response, "I'm trying." Realizing what had happened, I opted for "pulling" Ben's hands out, rather than trying to help the first brother figure out how to stop the machine. Despite the gruesome potential, there was nearly no blood due to what we later discovered was second and third degree burns to 7 or his 8 fingers. Luckily, the worse burns were on his right hand--he tends to favor his left.
(Warning: picture below)
We immediately called our ER doctor--who for some un-explainable reason had taking off from Maryland in an apparent attempt to deliver his second son on the New Jersey Turnpike. He told us that if we were to take the boy to the ER, they would likely just wrap up his hands and tell us to take him to his pediatrician after the weekend. So we (my wife) scavenged the car safety kit, found some anti-bacterial ointment with lidocaine, gauze wrap and bandaged him up as the big boys and I went to CVS to buy some children's Tylenol and more lidocaine ointment. We later returned looking for something to splint the fingers, but could only find actual Popsicles on the stick--turns out Ben preferred those anyway.
As sad and painful as this experience sounds, you need not feel too much pity for the poor child, who only needed "pain medicine" immediately following the accident. He is QUITE proud of his little mitts! He likes to show them off to everyone and anyone that will "listen" to him proudly "chirp" about them.
After visiting our ER doctor (new cousin/nephew) in New Jersey, we took his advice and returned home with Ben on Sunday evening and took Ben into the pediatrician first thing Mon. morning. Their response was that there didn't look like there was any infection, but that they would like him to see a hand specialist at UVA hospital in Charlottesville (about 45 minutes away), which they were able to set up for that afternoon. NOTE TO DOCTORS: When visiting with a parent and/or child after a traumatic experience, it is best to say more than; "Oh dear!" and walk out of the room! Yes, after taking off the bandages at the hand specialist office, that is exactly what happened. He did then return with I believe at least a resident and a few students (teaching hospital). Again, not comforting. The diagnosis; skin grafts on up to 8 fingers--to be taken from his feet--but the surgery couldn't be done in the next week, so we'd have to come back a week from Tue. So, they re-wrapped his hands (which he had undone in less then 15 minutes) and sent him home.
Have I mentioned that these two weeks were to be spent with his aunt, uncle & cousin on "furlough" from Africa and new cousin on "furlough" from New Jersey?
After VBS was completed on Thur. we all returned to Maryland for the weekend before we had to pack Ben up and head back down to check Ben into the hospital at 6AM for his surgery on Tue morning--which was made much easier by PopPop and GiGi "big-boy-sitting."
Within 5 minutes of checking in, they had a volunteer escort us all up to a room where Ben would get ready for his surgery. We meet 2 different nurses (both very pleasant), an attending doctor (though very competent, seemed a little lost), the resident anesthesiologist (talked kind of fast, but was very good), along with at least one intern/student for each before the chief plastic surgeon and head pediatric anesthesiologist stopped by (one with their car keys still in their hand). After some Verset, Ben was taken off to what we were told would probably be a 1.5 hr. surgery. We were able to track the progress of the surgery on a digital board in the waiting room and he was out in less then 61 minutes. The second nurse called down to let us know the good and bad news. Good: they only had to graft on 2 fingers. Bad: it was one finger on each hand. So, in the doctors words Ben would be "Houdini-ed" (ie. arms tied across his chest), he would at least have one foot "free" (was able to get both grafts from one foot, which then had to be splinted to keep the stitches from popping).
Recovery was not quite as quick. Apparently they had felt he was having some difficulty breathing and so they intubated him (put a breathing tube down his throat, but removed before he woke up) which upon waking up appeared to be slightly less disturbing for Ben than discovering he no longer had use of his arms. Although visibly annoying, he has begun to figure out how to use his one free foot to; point, pet his new cousin's head, pick up and even nearly put things in his mouth. So again, you don't need to feel too sorry for him.
We are ALL looking forward to having the cast/splints & stitches removed on Tue. morning!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)