Friday, October 07, 2011

(nearly) Fingerless Fritz


I'm not sure what it is with Fritz and fingers, but it appears that he is determined to lose some.   And I guess being the last of five boys, he considered being the first to visit the ER a worthy contribution to a rather dull (:-o) family life.


So while investigating the extreme limits of a rocking chair's "rock",  he actually found that vital tipping point... to the detriment of a fingertip that bore the brunt of the impact and thus burst open(!) Skip the next 2 sentences if you have a vivid imagination and are sensitive to graphic descriptions. Devan described it afterwards as resembling a pull-tab soup can - half opened with the  contents spilling out. To me it resembled a weeping 3-petal tulip, and all I wanted was for those leaves to close back up and be bulb-like again!


If indeed angels are assigned to individual human beings, I suspect that boys need at least 2 of them at all times.  Our friend Chris chuckled with Scott and me (after the dust had settled and the blood had dried) as we imagined the possible conversation between Fritz' winged guardians yesterday morning: 


 "Angel Alert!  He’s going down! Every wing in position to buffer fall!"
Crash!!!!!!!!!!
"...Uh-o… who was supposed to cover the hands?!!"
"You were!"
"No, you were!"
"No I wasn’t – I secured his feet!"
"Not my fault, I held his head." 
"Oh dear... we better head on over to the ER and make up for this or we might just have our wings clipped!"

But despite our musings about imaginary heavenly panic, we vividly experienced the Lord going before us and holding everything together - specifically the finger and especially the mom:

We unknowingly ran to the wrong ER door, (it actually was the ambulance door), but as we realized our mistake and changed course, an EMT took pity on us and ushered us right into the heart of the ER, bypassing the waiting room.(!)

Dr. Bryon Frost (a friend) attended to Fritz. Our nurse (mother of 4 with a little boy Fritz' age) was a great comfort to this guilt-ridden mom. Dottie was available to comfort and care for the other boys at home. 

A mere 4 hours later we returned home with 12 stitches and a boy who... still acts very much like a boy.  He lost neither a beat nor a finger.  It is his mother who is still missing a few beats... and she sincerely hopes that The Fritz will not find life-as-the-caboose too dull too often...


Update (one week after incident): We found out today that the distal phalange (very end- bone) of the afflicted finger is actually broken... "crushed and kind of split down the middle" our hand surgeon friend informed us. There is also a slight possibility of sensory nerve damage. The good news is that The Fritz' age puts him in the "close-enough-to-creation-to-self-correct" category and the best treatment is to just let it be.  The bad news is that The Mom is shaken all over again!

3 comments:

  1. ugh. i hate this for all of you. So thankful it wasn't that bad. Impressive it was the first visit. You are an amazing mama.

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  2. I am so sorry! I hope the little rocker is not in pain this evening. I am amazed that you did not have to wait!! He definitely went before you. And, very thankful he can still count to 10 on his fingers :-) -Lia

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  3. so you guys spend a whole lot of time in the emergency room - no wonder you need this blog :) just kidding, being the mom of a bunch of active boys - well, i guess it keeps you on your toes :)
    ~ laughing with you, not at you ~

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