Sunday, January 11, 2009

If it ain't one thing it's t'uther.

If it ain't one thing it's t'uther.

Gus thought he needed to cut me some little chunks of wood.

The Skil Saw didn't agree.

It slipped, he cut his left thumb 3/4 the way off.

We're back home after breaking speed limits, 8 hours of all sorts of fun, and a surgery.

Yes yes.

Pics to come.

Some gory, some xrays.

More details as I can get it typed, and coffee kicks in.

Later -------------------------

Good news first. He *may* have some movement in the thumb, if all heals as it should. That was in doubt before they put it back together.
It has 2 pins, and is in a cast.
At 2:30 on a Saturday afternoon, it's always a good idea to start a scary project. A cold and windy day, despite the sun. I wasn't about to get layered up and do a major firewood cutting. He wanted to just do a few chunks for my woodstove.
But I was listening. Yes I was.
Roowwwrrrr zngzngzngzng !
@#$%#@! Scream.
Up from the couch, look out the window, run and grab towels, meet him at the back door.
WHAT???
I cut my blankety blank thumb off!!

Stand there. Wait! Let me get a ziploc and ice...paper towel...dammit dammit dammit, okay...
New speed record for getting dressed, things gathered, grab a change of tshirt and shorts, he swallows pain pills, GET IN THE TRUCK! make sure house doors are locked, beat on hood of truck (sorry kitties, if you're in there this time you are toast) and away we went.
There are 3 ways off this mountain to where we were going. None are good. Finally agreed on the interstate after we hit the flats. Had lights and flashers going. Not that any other drivers paid attention to that.
Should we have gone to local hospital and saved a few minutes? Maybe, but I don't trust that they would have enough staff on weekends, so probably would have been sent on anyway.
We have Life Flight, but he wasn't spurting blood, and we would have had to driven to meet them. Lag time for them to lift off and get here.
Fortunately, Saturday afternoon is a good time for this traffic on interstate. And 85 mph top speed is all I want to go in that truck, less for some of the miles.
Not. One. Single. Cop. Seen.
Whether that is good or bad, I don't know.
We had a friend call ahead, Gus is in their computer system. Heh. Didn't matter, as far as filling out paperwork.
But they did send us directly to Triage. Having his hand in a bag of red colored ice might have helped.
Hurry up and wait. All staff attentive, helpful, doing as they should. Still, seemed like forever, the halls are a mile long, and there were several every which a way.
The ride home was much slower.
I had already gotten his prescription filled.
He has drugs and a sling.
Gus says "While getting my cut hand out of my torn glove, I thought to myself, this will be a good Photo Op...
And I was trying to hold my hand above my heart, in the position causing the least pain.
Colleen says "I may have to Kill him."