He Fought The Saw...And The Saw Won!

On my way to a Super Saturday Relief Society with my mom, I received a call...very calm, mind you...from Dee. He said he had cut his thumb on the table saw, and asked where Urgent Care was. He was so calm, so collected, that I really didn't catch what exactly cut him. I said I would meet him there, and off I drove. I realized on the way that he said "cut" and "thumb" and "table saw". He has been woodworking for over 40 years. He is the safest person I know. He is always watching for dangers (and believe you me, he watches me with knives-he has had to tape me together on more than one occasion). At urgent care, he was very calm...even up to the time he and the doctor took the blue low tack painting tape and paper towels off the wound. He showed the cut...I barely saw from the side and gasped!!! It was jagged, and the side of his thumb was just a large flap of skin. (He even got a little light headed when he looked at it again. The doctor could not take care of a cut like that...and gave us the options of going to the nearby Thunderbird Hospital, or going downtown to Good Samaritan Hospital, which would have a hand surgeon, which he might need.

So, off we went. He was taken right in (a miracle due to the Swine Flu scare), though that hospital would not let us stay together. I was in the waiting room for hours. (Now, I become a basket case when he is in the hospital-I think I have some problems from my Dad being so ill during my childhood - very high blood pressure, stroke at 37 (I was 12), died of kidney disease - from hypertension - at 45 - we spent a lot of time, holidays, etc. at Barrow Neurological, Baptist Hospital, etc.)Dee was just wonderful, and would call me at every step of the process: doctor A said no hand surgeon was needed, doctor B agreed, but wanted x-rays-if the saw blade touched the bone, they would need to administer i.v. antibiotics, again called before x-ray, and then after with the good news of no bone touch, and then after he was draped for the sutures. Okay, great, a small cut, no time. Then, the time passed. People in after us left, what was going on? It had been 2 hours. My mind went crazy (especially since Good Sam tells the family NOTHING!!!) and I had him having a heart attack...I actually started to watch for a chaplain - thank goodness I texted Allison, talked to Cameo, and Danyel and Doran rescued Kayty (another story entirely...Kayty SLEPT through the cut, the blood, the incessant phone calls, the cell phone calls, the texts...I was worried she was in a diabetic coma!)and talked to my Mom and Dorrie...my "sanity team" came through like champs!! I finally got a call...they were almost done. Two and a half hours of sewing...over 50 stitches... and we could finally go home.

What a champ he is! He can't do so many things we take for granted: button his pants, wash his hair, open a jar...driving is very difficult now. And he is just the best patient! We are so thankful for doctors, for medicine, for family that is always there...at a moment's notice, to pick up, to wake up, to sit through football meetings, and to be such a support system. All in all, we are so very blessed!

WARNING: IMAGE TO FOLLOW IS GRAPHIC IN CONTENT