So yesterday after school one of the teachers down the hall comes to get me (I was talking with another teacher down a different hall.) She said Maddie needed me. I wasn't worried until I saw several teachers walking down the hall with her. Maddie's crying and holding her right hand up in the air. They said she had gotten her finger shut in the door to my classroom. These are solid oak doors, so they're pretty heavy. I took her to the school nurse to get it cleaned up. She looked at it and told me I should take her to the doctor. I was really thinking it was not a big deal but Nurse Mitzi said she was worried it might get infected.
Well, Dr. Nelson looked at it for less than 30 seconds and told me that she was going to need surgery to fix it and it was out of his area of expertise. So he referred us to a plastic surgeon. So we drove over the Dr. Lober's office and he scheduled surgery for the next afternoon (today.)
Apparently Maddie did an excellent job smashing her little right pinky finger. The top of the bone broke off and the nail matrix (the part of the nail that's under the skin that's attached to the bone POPPED OUT and was lying on top of the finger. It looks as bad as it sounds. And since this would be such a painful surgery, they were going to have to do it in the hospital and put her under general anesthesia. CRAZY, huh? I mean, it was a smashed finger. I was hesitant to even take her to the doctor. Thank goodness I did!
The surgery today went well. Maddie was great about not eating after midnight and waiting for 3 hours at the hospital. Post-surgery was a different matter. No one mentioned to me that children react very emotionally and almost violently to anesthesia. When I went back to the recovery room, Maddie was crying a little bit. But after a few minutes, she was almost hysterical. She was thrashing and kicking, screaming "I can't breathe." (Apparently the oxygen made her throat dry and her nose very stuffy.) She kept getting this wide-eyed, scared-to-death look in her eyes. She didn't know where she was and asked over and over, "When are they going to fix my finger?" It took a good 15 minutes to calm her down. I kept looking at the nurses and they said, "This is normal." NOT FUN!
Pre-surgery (and happy--even after 3 hours of waiting)
Not for the squeamish
Post-surgery
11 comments:
Holy freaking cow. You HAVE had quite the week, haven't you. I do have to say that although I'm so sad that Maddie had to go through this, I have quite enjoyed the three posts in one week!!
Maddie's finger is awful looking. Give her kisses from her Aunt Elizabeth!
She is such a cute girl!! I love that she poses for pictures!
I am so sorry that you guys had to go through this! Maddie looks so cute posing in her hospital gown. Looking at her finger, all I can say is OUCH!
Maddie was so cute when you came to pick up Wesley. She was still out of it, swaying on her feet. She will have quite the story to tell at school and church! I can just imagine her as she recounts the drama of the whole thing.
Poor Maddie :( I know what you mean about how kids act after surgery. Kobe did the same thing after his surgery in October, but it took MUCH longer than 15 minutes to calm him down. It was awful!
Her finger looks much better post-surgery...OUCH!!!
So sad! That's miserable (and expensive). Livi had a real hard time waking up from surgery too and she refused to drink anything which is a must after they take your tonsils and adnoids out. That was almost 2 years ago and Olivia still talks about it and seems to remember quite a bit from the ordeal. It's so hard to see our kids hurting!!!!! That finger sure looks PAINFUL!
Poor girl! But she is so brave! I bet the school will consider changing the doors! They should anyway:) I hope she feels better soon. I understand about the anesthesia, I remember Madelyn coming out of anesthesia one time kicking and punching the crap out of me (lucky for me, I was by myself, Danny had to work). But wish her well for us!
Never underestimate a smashed finger. The whole time I was driving to the doctor, all I could think was that I was going to spend $20 for him to tell me it was smashed and there was nothing to be done. I'm SO glad I listened to the nurse!!
As for Maddie, she is back to her normal, happy, feisty, sassy self. Everyone at school was very concerned about Maddie--the principal and a couple of other teachers even brought her little gifts yesterday. So needless to say, Maddie has enjoyed being the center of attention. :)
Daniel has the post-anesthesia hallucinations, too. REALLY REALLY BAD!!!! Like three hours! Once, at Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, the nurses were like, "We can't belie ve you have been here for three hours. Do you need a cigarette?" I was thinking something stronger ...
They also said coffee helps kids come out of it faster, but I declined. I still don't know if I did the right thing, though.
Maddie's finger looks GROSS!!! And that is a major compliment from our family!!! (You do remember Ben, right?) She is such a cutie! I am glad that she is okay!
Love, Tif
I think I might've contemplated coffee if I had known how crazy it would be. It was really scary! I felt badly for all the other people who were trying to recover from their surgeries! They should've put us in a little private room so the other patients could've had some peace and quiet!
I'm telling everyone I know about the anesthesia and kid thing! No one warned me that this would happen. It was more frightening than the surgery!
that is absolutely crazy! i hope she's doing well. what a trooper.
I just remembered the real name - they are called "emergence hallucinations". Daniel seriously acted possessed!!!
Poor thing. I can't believe I missed all of this.
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