ER Visit #4

It could be #5, but I am going to give M the benefit of the doubt here. (And who's counting anyway?)

As planned, today was going to be a busy day for us.

1. First thing this morning I needed to return the minivan I rented for our team build yesterday. I drove to Boulder for the team build and my boss asked me to rent a minivan so we could carpool in two cars.
2. Next on the list was to go to the forest and cut some firewood. M has been wanting to do this and now that we have a firepit outside he had an excuse. He made a special trip to a hardware store this week to buy a new chainsaw for the adventure.
3. If time allowed, we were going to go to the tree nursery with our neighbors to see about buying some trees for our front yard. We have both been considering going and the delivery fee is by truck so we thought we could split that. The trees that were planted in our front yard last summer appear to be dead. So we would like to replace them soon.
4. I needed to get caught up on laundry and some other housework.
5. I needed to make brownies for the Sunday school bbq we were going to tonight.
6. Then we would pick up some friends and carpool to the party.

Those were our plans (or at least MY plans). Instead, we had a very crazy and partly terrifying day.

The beginning of the day went according to plan. We had a nice breakfast at home, I started a load of laundry, and then returned my rental car (after making a quick trip to PetSmart to replace a leash that Max destroyed this week). Next we loaded up everything to go to the forest. I was going to play with Max while M got his firewood. Neither of us wanted him to go alone since he is accident prone. He hates for people to label him this way, but it is entirely true. He will hate reading that sentence (if he does in fact read it). Believe me, I wish this was not the truth. We (as well as our good friends) could relate story after story that might be hard for you to believe that prove the truth to that statement. But I digress.

Things went well for the first part of our trip in the forest. I played with Max and he played some in the water again. M would chop some wood with his new chainsaw and load up the car. Then he would drive to another spot for more wood. We stayed close to him playing so we would be ready to go when he was ready to go.

After a while, I heard a yell. Then M yelled that he had cut his foot and I needed to take him to the hospital. He did not know how bad it was, but blood was squirting forcefully out of his workboot. This is when I flipped out. I did not handle this well at all. We were on a tiny jeep trail in this forest. I tried to back out, but I am terrible at backing out a long distance. So I tried to turn the car around. That was not going to happen so M made me switch seats with him so he could get us out of there. Before I go any further, I would like to clarify a couple of things. (A) You cannot get cell phone reception in the forest. That is why M did not want to be alone out there with his chainsaw. (B) He hurt his left foot so he could still drive with this right foot.

So M drove himself to the hospital while I sat next to him terrified and repeating "God, help us." All he told me was that he had cut his foot. It was wrapped in a towel that was getting more and more saturated with blood. I did not know (and later found out neither did he) how serious this was. Had something been cut completely off? Was he losing too much blood? We made record time to the hospital doing all kinds of illegal driving (passing on the shoulder, driving in the wrong lane, running a red light, etc).

This ER experience was unlike any other in several ways. First, we had to go through a metal detector before we could go in the ER. Then when M got to the desk, the man told him he would be with him in just a moment and then walked away. M then got his attention and asked, "Is there a particular place I should be for a chainsaw injury?" After that, he was taken back rather quickly.

He was cleaned up and x-rayed. He cut through several tendons and cut into the bone. He did not cut all the way through his big toe. The ER doctor sewed up the wound (which was amazing because at least half an inch of flesh was missing from his toe) and we will be visiting a surgeon early this week to see if he requires surgery. As they were cleaning up his wound, I had to leave the room because I was so squeamish.

I learned a couple of things today.

• While I was freaking out about the worst thing happening, M kept reminding me that it could have been worse. He did not lose any limbs. He was still breathing. And he said he wanted some new workboots anyway. I told him that was NOT funny!
• Even though I understand some of the rules that have to be followed at the hospital, I can get aggressive and confrontational when I think something that is necessary is not getting done.
• We should have driven to the close-by firestation instead of driving to the hospital. Even though we may have gotten to the hospital later, M would have had immediate medical care and the drive to the hospital would have been safer for both us and other drivers.
• I am thankful for those who are able to deal with other people's blood and guts because apparently I cannot do so.

Believe it or not, M still wanted to go to the Sunday school party tonight. He's a real trooper in my book. It was still a really busy day, but it was not busy how I had planned it. I would have rather stayed with my plan, but the day is ending the same way with us home together.

Here's a picture of M's boot. I didn't dare take one of his injury.

And here's a picture of the firewood we got before the accident.

M is worried about his foot healing well. The ER doctor said it will be a slow process because of the cut tendons and because part of the bone is missing. Please pray that it will heal correctly. Please also pray that the surgeon we meet with this week will know the best course of action and that we can get started on that soon. Also pray for me. I recognize after this accident that I want to lock M inside and not let him go out. Because he is accident prone, this just makes me worry about future incidents. However, he cannot live in my little box. And if he did, knowing him the ceiling fan would probably fall on him or something weird like that. I know this sounds silly, but I just need to trust that God is God and is in control of all things. In the large scheme, today was not life-altering or life ending for either of us. Even though it was really scary and painful, we are still hopeful for better days ahead.