Emma's Broken Finger

WARNING: GRAPHIC FINGER PICTURES BELOW

Less than 24 hours after a trip of a lifetime, Emma found herself in the Emergency Room (ER) with her bone sticking out of her finger. My poor baby girl was so sleep deprived that she could hardly hold herself together. As if it wasn't bad enough to slam her finger in a car door but then to be riddled with uncontrollable sleeplessness, the emotions really took it to the next level.

Waiting Room

This picture doesn't adequately show the deformity of Emma's fingertip. Let's just say it was gross. The tip was pointed down and the bone was sticking out of the finger behind the finger nail.

4 Hours in the ER

Emma and Reagan were headed to Midtown Crossing for Tea when Em's seat belt got stuck in the door. Without a video it's hard to describe how she managed to shut her own finger in her car door but it happened. Before her brain told her how much pain she was in, she turned to Reagan and said, "Ouch look at my finger." Reagan looked at her in horror and ran in the house to get us. The poor thing couldn't even put a sentence together.
"Mom....Dad...Emma...Come...Hurt"
She has always has been a girl of few words. ;)

Right away I knew we were going to the ER. FYI: Sunday at 8pm isn't that bad of a time slot. No crazy drunks and the traffic wasn't bad at all. We got into triage fairly quickly. Over the span of four hours she was asked multiple times if how the accident happened and if she felt safe at home. She saw three different docs, had x-rays three times, had a minor surgery right there and the worst of it all for Emma was the IV antibiotic that they started at 11:15pm. This girl really doesn't like needles. It doesn't matter how old your baby gets, it's so hard to see them cry.

Here's the process in layman's terms for the Seymore Fracture. Click HERE for details.
1. clean it
2. deaden it
3. cut out the finger nail (the metal thing shoved under the nail made me pretty queasy)
4. separate the broke bone to clean tissue out
5. push it back together
6. sew the fingernail back on to keep the area open for a new nail to grow out.
7. last x-ray
AND Emma watched it all!

Sewing the fingernail back on

It was after this last x-ray that the ortho resident said we would need a pin because the bone did not line back up perfectly, as you can see in the picture below. Even though we didn't leave the ER until 12:30am I would say we had great care at Omaha's Children's Hospital.

X-ray AFTER repair shows a pin is needed.

We actually had surgery in Iowa just to get it done one day sooner. The location didn't matter as long as we had our hand surgeon, Dr Gaddie is pretty amazing. Interesting note about Iowa, Emma could sign her own forms there since she is an adult at 18 but in Nebraska she isn't an adult until 19 years old.

Surgery Prep

My tough girl didn't have a general or even go into twilight sleep for surgery, nope she had a local, made a playlist and listened to music along with the surgical team during the procedure. Her comment afterwards was, "it sure is bright in the OR, on Grey's Anatomy it's always so dark in the OR." Oh finding out life isn't the same as how TV depicts it.

Two weeks Post Op

Here she is two week post surgery and Dr Gaddie says it looks great. YUCK! She has a new splint and can finally get it wet in the shower. Two more weeks and the pin comes out.  Emma is back to work at the nursing home and nannying for two little boys five days a week. This finger thing slowed her down for a few days and has kept her out of the pool but certainly hasn't stopped her. Proud of you Em!

Pinned

Exciting times at the Raabe's but praising God for the perfect timing of this injury.
-After the Europe trip
-7 weeks before college
-mom and dad were home
-the HIGH deductible has been met
There's always a silver lining.

Happy July!