Corey and I were splitting wood out in the field north of our house. We cut down a rather large tree out in the field / cow pasture a month or two ago and have slowly been chopping and splitting wood from that tree. We've gotten about 4-5 truck loads of wood from the tree and expect to have about one more left. The pieces that were left on Sunday were huge chunks from the base of the tree and required splitting. As we have done for a couple years now, Corey would run the splitter and I would pull off the pieces and toss them into the back of the truck. Well, this time Corey and I were discussing something (I have no recollection what about anymore) and I was getting tired. Somehow I managed to place my hand on the butt of the splitter and my thumb slipped down on the splitter. Corey started moving the blade towards the piece of wood sitting on the splitter. The 22 tons of force from the splitter blade smashed my thumb between the piece of wood and the butt of the log splitter.
I immediately screamed out in pain for him to stop the splitter but by then it was too late (11:30 am). I whipped off my glove and was in shock from what I saw. I couldn't move until I saw Corey run. He ran to his toolbox in his truck to get some box paper towels and wrapped up my thumb. From there I ran to the passenger side of the truck and got in while Corey unhooked the splitter from the hitch and got max into the truck. We flew out of the field and back to the house as neither one of us had any ID's, insurance cards, or money. We got into Corey's new truck and from there we flew to the ER in West Des Moines. The ER was super busy and I paced in the waiting area for at least 20 minutes before they finally got me into a room, as I couldn't sit from the throbbing. From there the nurse asked me to strip down to a t-shirt layer. Well damn, I had on my Carhart coat, Carhart overalls, sweatshirt and finally my 2 t-shirt layers. I thought she was crazy asking me to remove the paper towel bandage and pull my hand through my coat. I had to remove the paper towels and saw the grossness again. I warned Corey not to look as I knew he was going to get fainty....
By 12:37 they took my BP in the room and I was off to get an x-ray of my hand to see if anything was broken. When I got back from the X-ray I made Corey take a picture of my thumb because I knew mom would love to see that (I'll spare you all)!! I think that might have done Corey in, as he decided that he might just lay down on the floor on my pile of carharts. By 1:30 the Doctor finally came into the room to assess the damage. He said that on first glance of the x-ray, that my thumb tip bone (distal phalanx) was broken, but the radiologist had not read the film and confirmed that it was broken. He was going to wait to hear from the radiologist before proceeding but he did inject lidocane in the base of my thumb which helped relieve a little pain (1:45 pm). Corey decided to lay down again but not for long as a lady walked in and was asking for insurance and payment details. She left about 2:00 pm and shortly there after the doctor walked in ready to work on my thumb. I couldn't watch but I knew he removed my nail and had started stitching up the laceration that was uncovered from removing my nail. There was a cut from the left side of the first knuckle to the right side of the nail edge. As the doc started to stitch up the cut the pain intensified greatly. He added more lidocane, but that wasn't cutting the mustard and I let him know. He seemed shocked that I could feel what was going on. I could tell he was super nervous at this point and he admitted that the cut was a little more than he could handle (half amputation) so he called in a hand surgeon (2:20 pm).
The hand surgeon finally showed up about 2:50 pm and took a look at my thumb and decided that indeed surgery tomorrow (Monday) would be the best option. From there I'm not quite sure what transpired as the pain continued to increase and the lidocane was wearing off meanwhile my thumb was just chilling out still slowly bleeding. Corey had called his parents to come into town to pick up Max as he was waiting in the truck because we brought him along. I didn't want Corey to take the time to go into the house and get his collar to keep him in the yard while we were gone...I just wanted treatment asap! Anywho, like I said I'm not sure what transpired but it was about 3:15 and the pain was OOC (out of control). Corey's parents walked in during my worst point and I am pretty sure the word got out that I was super uncomfortable because 6 people working at the hospital came in all at once. They finally hooked me up with an IV at 3:30, which had antibiotics and morphine. Thanks you generous man who shot me up with that first dose of narcs after being in pain for 3+ hours. By the time Corey left to get max into Darrell and Joyce's car and came back, I was a whole new person. Pain under control and heavy heavy heavy legs...wooohoo for morphine!!! The paramedic then wrapped up my entire right hand to stabilize the thumb for surgery the next day. I looked like lady liberty....just without a flame. Before I left they shot me up with another dose of morphine... THHHHHaaaaannnnkkkkk You! They also gave me prescriptions for antibiotics and percocet.
Lady Liberty sans the Flame
Soooo not only was I thinking about what my thumb would look like after all this, will I have a nail after all this, but is the surgery tomorrow (Monday) going to mess up my appointment at Mid-Iowa Fertility Clinic???? I wasn't completely sure as they would have to squeeze me into the surgery schedlue so anytime I got was the time I got. I was to wait until Monday to hear from the Ortho Surgery Center with an appointment time and go from there. Thankfully my appointment at the fertility clinic was at 10 am and the surgery appointment was at 11:45 am. I was able to go to both!!!The appointment at the clinic was basically just an initial meeting with Dr. Young but we do have another direction to go in. Unfortunately, Corey's results from the second semen analysis was worse than the first. Motility and count were significantly lower and still really low. Dr. said that there is two routes with C: blood test to check out his hormone levels which can affect the motility and count and / or a genetic test. If the hormones turn out low then they can do supplements to help raise the levels. The genetic testing looks at the chromosomes to see if you can actually reproduce or not (I wouldn't think the genetic side would be the issue considering his father had kids and so did his brother). Doc said that with the levels C has, not even looking at my issues that in vitro would be the only successful route.
I have a HSG test scheduled for Friday at 4:00 pm. Doc said this would be good as it is important to have unblocked fallopian tubes even if you go with the in vitro route. Doc said that with the in vitro, they would have to go in and do an egg retrieval process on me. From there they will grade the eggs based on their reproducibility. He said if they look good and with my age, then they would most likely do only one egg at a time. Less chance of having twins!! However, if the eggs are in question then obviously they would do two to increase the chance of success, but never more than two.
You'll have to excuse me for this post if it is choppy or has misspelled words as I only used my left hand and I may or may not be influenced by some pretty good narcotics! Again, we'll see how things are going after my test on Friday as well as the hormone test results we'll get back on Corey by next Thursday. I also have an appointment on the 31st for my thumb. So until then THUMBS UP!!
Love you all,ALJ
No comments:
Post a Comment