Thursday, August 13, 2009

And we're off to the Emergency Room Again!

And it begins...
Yesterday, around 5:00, I was talking to my sister Sammie in the living room and Ryan was playing in the basement. All of a sudden I hear Ryan crying so I start walking to the stairs, then I hear the screaming and start running down the stairs. I enter the basement to find the treadmill on and Ryan behind it screaming. At first he looked fine and so I took the key out (how did he know where the key was? How to put the key in? How to turn it on???). I look at his hand and wanted to puke! The three middle fingers on his left hand were burned, badly, from the treadmill. I don't know exactly how it happened, but it happened. So, I immediately grab Ryan, without his shoes, and throw him in the car. Luckily Sammie was at my house and could help me with Ellie. So we finally get to the docs office in Draper, after 30 minutes of waiting with traffic...argh. As soon as the doctor looked at it, he said we need to go to Primary Childrens because the burn is way too deep (you could see the bone). So, we get up to Primary's, luckily Eric was waiting for us by this point. We get into the Emergency Dept and everybody is super surprised when they actually see the burn. Poor Ryan just screamed in the car, I can't imagine the PAIN that poor kid was in. We called Eric's parents to see if his Dad could help Eric give Ryan a blessing (my parents are out of town at Girls Camp), so they came up, gave him a blessing, and took Ellie (who had already had a blowout in the Emergency Room, so she was pantless ((I am sure the hospital was very impressed.)))
So after doctor after doctor came in. They took Ryan to get some x-rays done of his fingers, just to make sure none of them were broken. Thank goodness none of them were. The x-rays did show that the burn, burned all of the skin down to the bone and part of the joint. So, next we know there is a hand surgeon in the room. They came and looked at his fingers, looking concerned. They said that we could either follow up with them or the burn unit, but we decided if there was a problem while they were in surgery we would prefer to have a hand specialist in on it. They were so so so friendly and got us in early this morning (we need to be to the hospital at 6:30), They bumped some other patients because they want to small ones done first, so they don't need to go all day without food. So, more than likely Ryan will have a skin graft in a couple of hours. They will try to close it up, but don't think there is enough skin to do so. I'm just nervous about the anesthesia. They will, obviously, be putting him under and I am super scared to give him away. The surgery should only take 30-60 minutes. I can't believe how fast this is all happening. Poor Ryan looks like he has a boxing glove on because they wrapped it so big in the Emergency Room.
It kills me how much of a trooper Ryan is. When the hand surgeon came in the room last night, Ryan just put his hand out there for him to look at. He even pointed to where his owie was. He was happy to have so many batman stickers and be able to watch Cinderella and Ariel in the emergency room. What a day, and it has barely begun. So...if any of Haley's med friends are reading this and have some knowledge in hand, ortho, surgery, what am I looking at here???
I am very hopeful that things will go well tomorrow. The hard thing is the uncertainty and the recovery!
Hopefully, next time I write it will be with better news. But this could have been so much worse and we are so lucky that he is going to be just fine. It was his left hand, not his right (that he is prominent with), and it isn't going to be super noticeable. I just need to be done and try to sleep for an hour of so before we leave!

11 comments:

Leslie said...

oh dearie, Everything will be fine they are troopers. He will bounce back really quick. Hope it all goes good.

Christina said...

Ryan is a trooper!!! We are so sad to hear about this and hope all goes well today!!!

Ashlee said...

You poor guys. It's amazing the things that that kid does/ get's into!! So sorry and good luck

Jake and Roz said...

holy crud. I can't imagine how much of a mess I would be. That said, when I was 16, my little brother (8 years old at the time) burned himself (with actual fire) and had to have skin grafts and all of that. I have to say, we are so lucky because the burn unit up here and all of Primary/UofU are really phenomenal. I'm sure they will take great care of your little boy. I know I would be frantic though, myself - there's nothing you don't worry about when it comes to your kids!

Brooke said...

Oh my goodness! I'm so sorry. That's so sad. Good luck with everything. I'm sure it will all turn out fine.

Steve and Kirsten said...

Not fun at all...I'm so sorry such a little guy has to go through something like that! I've worked with hand ortho a little and it can be very difficult depending on the extent of the damage, but he's young and hopefully they will fix him up perfect. good luck!

Shari said...

wow ali! that is crazy...I am so glad that he didn't lose a finger!!!!

we'll pray for him to heal fast!

Anonymous said...

Ali -
We have been there... Please, please if you have any questions or concerns let me know. Call any time!!

He is in our prayers.
Cindy

Lindsay said...

What a sad, sad thing to go through! We'll keep him in our prayers. The doctors up there are amazing, for sure. Good luck today!

Tobi said...

A friend of mine had a similar thing happen to her three-year-old son. He got stuck between the wall and the running treadmill and got burns on his hand. They had a graft surgery and then another surgery several months later to release some of the scar tissue. He had to wear one of those pressure gloves for about a year. I think one of the hardest parts was doing stretching with his hand to make sure he kept full function of his hand. (I guess the new skin can get pretty tight.)
The good news is, he has fully recovered. I'm sure your doctors will do a great job. I think this might be harder on you than him. Hang in there!

Jen said...

I am so sorry that happened. I hope that everything goes well with his recovery!