Ellie's finger saga :(

Last Friday night, Rowan and I were in my bedroom and Rowan went over to close the door. He pushed it closed, but neither of us realized that Ellie's finger was in the hinge side of the door (she was in the hallway just outside the room) until she started screaming. I whipped open the door, and she held her hand out to me, still screaming. To make a long story short, we took her in to urgent care Saturday morning because she wouldn't move her finger or use that hand, and it was bruised and swollen.



The doctor there doubted that it was broken, since it was a one-year-old that closed the door, and obviously one-year-olds can't cause that much trouble. I don't think he has kids :) He sent us to x-ray just to check, and after looking at the x-rays, it was definitely broken. He put Ellie's finger in a splint, and told us to make an appt. with an orthopedic doctor on Monday.



So, after another LONG story, we finally saw a pediatric orthopedic surgeon on Monday, who said that Ellie needed surgery on her finger. Surgery! For getting her finger shut in the door! It wasn't lined up to heal right, so they needed to get it fixed before it started to heal. So, on Wednesday morning we went into the hospital for outpatient surgery. Ellie was in fine spirits, and actually enjoyed being there, since she was able to watch t.v. to her heart's content :) I went in with her as they put her under anesthesia, and she did wonderful, so they escorted me out. About 45 minutes later, everything was finished. They ended up being able to push it back into place, but it wouldn't stay that way, so they inserted a pin into the bone that they'll take out in about 4 weeks. They brought us back to recovery to be there as she woke up. That was horrible! She was just flailing around and inconsolable for a good half hour. And for the next hour, until she was ready to go home, she was just miserable and would scream at anything the nurses tried to do :( But, no worries, as soon as we left her room to go home, she was her normal, happy self. When we arrived home, instead of crashing in her bed as I was sure she would do, she ran around showing all her neighbors her new hot pink cast.


So, for now, the ordeal is over. We begin driving to Pennsylvania tonight to see all our sisters. And in two weeks we'll take her in to have another x-ray done, to make sure it is healing properly. I believe her cast can come off in 4 weeks, but maybe a little longer. Wish us luck trying to explain to her why she cannot go swimming until then!!!