The Healing Hand

Pilot's hand was released from the surgery bandages this afternoon.  He said it felt good to have the pressure of the splint and bandages removed.  But then it felt unsupported and not so great after a while.  The xray they took looked good and I did not get a very good photo off the computer screen.  We forgot to ask for a photocopy for ourselves.  So this is what we have.

 

Pilot's middle finger is healing really well. The xray shows that the bones are mending together smoothly.  The ring finger bone is also doing well, however because it was the worst fracture it still has a ways to go.  PA Dave said that the ring finger had a lot of small chips and the bone was in pretty bad shape.  The ring finger needs a couple of more weeks of complete immobilization.  

Pilot asked for a hard cast and the nurse said that they do not usually hard cast hands.  So when PA Dave came in Pilot asked again for the hard cast and he said that he could probably do that.  He said normally they would not, but because he just had surgery 10 days ago, he wants to give the bones a little more time to heal before they begin the next phase of his treatment.  

So they casted his hand and in 2 and a half weeks he should be able to go to a brace and physical therapy.  Pilot's hand will be quite stiff because of the hard cast, and that will make his recovery a bit more difficult for him, but it will be fine.  I guess they do things different these days.  All I remember is hard casting everything and then having to strengthen the muscles after the cast was removed.  Not from personal experiencel, mind you, but from family and friends.  

Here is Pilot's splint and bandage that Angel colored up last night.  It is beautiful.  

 

  

Here is when the elastic bandage was removed. And just the padding was left.

Now we get down to the part Pilot and the rest of us have been waiting for..... The Scar!  Wow doesn't it look great ?!  Thank goodness it looks clean and no infection.  His hand looks very well and the bruising and swelling are nearly gone.  Happy Day!!!

  

 

The stitches are out and the PA said everything looks great.  Albeit, he needs more initial healing time.

 

Here is Pilot in the first stage of being casted.  He has his 'socks' on.  One that fits his arm and one that fits his thumb.

 

Now he has a beautiful red cast that he can keep until February 11th. 

 

 

Pilot is all done and now we are home.  He is not sure if he likes his new cast.  He wants it off because it is in the way.  But knowing that he can not do anything with his left hand yet, the cast is a good reminder for him to take it easy and let it continue to heal. 

Thanks

Thanks for all your prayers on Pilot's hand.  It doesn't bother him too much.  It is healing well, we believe.  He is having a hard time with his restrictions because it doesn't hurt too much, but that can be a good thing.

He goes to the Doctor on Monday afternoon to have the incision checked and probably have the stitches removed.  If all is going well, he should get a hard cast at that time.  I hope to have some new photos then.

Well it is raining again, it has been wet on and off for a couple of days now.  But we still have a good amount of snow.  It is being watered and compacted though.  It is supposed to start changing to snow tonight or tomorrow and the Monday commute is supposed to be fun.  Ha, Haaaaa.

Usually when we have rain in January, it melts all the snow.  But this year our snow base is deeper and the rain can't melt it all.  That is kind of fun, not to be out in though.  But it is nice to still have snow around.

Going to go for now.  Love to all.

A Pain in the Vein

Updated with photos at 5pm

Pilot may look like he is in pain, but he is just upset (just faking it for the camera) because "his diaper is wet"! They used a diaper with very warm water to warm his wrist prior to putting in his IV.

You can see the Doctor's mark done in Chinese characters indicating that this is the correct hand for surgery. Not that he could mistake the bruising you can see on the knuckles and finger joints. They also had Pilot write YES himself and he being the funny kid he is wrote the 'e' backwards for fun.

Here is the "pain in the vein" that Pilot did not want to have. I do have to brag about Pilot being so very brave and letting the nurse do her job. He was very scared about getting the IV, but he was so amazing and kept still. He usually hates anything to do with needles and we usually have struggles, but this time he was so cooperative.

Here is Pilot after surgery. He was beginning to come out of the pain meds and it was time to med him up. He has a nice huge club and lots of screws! Hope none of his screws come loose!!!!

Here is an after surgery x-ray showing his bones back in place and in the proper alignment. 5 screws are all that is holding his hand together. I told the doctor that he probably should have used 10 times as many because Pilot is a hands on guy and will probably work them loose! He just laughed.

Here is the side view of his screws. His grandpa told him since he is already screwed up, he can't screw up any more.

Here is Pilot still wearing the 'diaper'. The nurse brought him a teddy bear to keep him company throughout the morning. His name is Geez, as in Geez Louise.

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So Pilot arrived at the Out Patient Surgery building early this morning. He was supposed to be here by 7:45am, but we walked through the doors before 7:15am. Traffic was smooth and on time. We all could have used the extra 30 minutes sleep, but one never can out guess the traffic from Saratoga to Provo.

The facility is brand new, it opened during the early part of December and it is just marvelous!

Pilot felt quite comfortable before the surgery.

The doctor just came in and told us Pilot did very well. However, the injury was much more severe than the x-ray shows.

His middle finger bone is pinned or screwed with two screws. The bone had twisted and they had to pry it and finnangle it back into the correct position. He said that if they had not done that, that Pilot's middle finger would not bend correctly and it would cause trouble forever. Then the ring finger was also worse than the x-rays showed. It was in three main fragments and it took 3 screws to put it back in alignment. Pilot's hand should be immobilized for 2 to 3 weeks, where he should not be moving his fingers at all. Man, this is going to be tough for him!!

It is a good thing they have wrapped him with a club hand so that he can not use his fingers.
Photos will be coming when we get home and can get that done.

Thanks for all your continued prayers.
We love you and thank you very much.
Pilot is doing excellent and still says this Scout trip was the best one ever!!

(ps. I am not spell checking or grammar checking yet.)

Pilot's Next Step

Actually saying Pilot's next step leads one to believe that his foot is stepping forward. It is the next chapter in his broken hand saga that I want to update everyone on.

He went to see an Ortho doctor, one from his dad's work, on Monday. The Ortho took new xrays and found that one of the bones is being pulled apart by a tendon and so Pilot gets to have surgery on his hand and screw or bolt the bones together!

So on Thursday (we don't know what time yet) he will be having surgery on his hand bones to get them back into and kept in place as he heals. Please add Pilot and his doctor, Dr. Johnston, to your prayers. I know that our Heavenly Father will guide the doctor/s and others to do their best, but it is always wonderful to have more prayers than we think we need. Thanks everyone.

Pilot is not really in pain, every once in a while he gets a twinge of pain, but nothing he can't handle. He must have a high tolerance for pain, which can be a good thing, sometimes.

Thanks for all your concern. He is doing great and it is just one of life's challenges and trophy experiences. The way he is handling this obstacle is making me very proud of him. He is growing up so well. Definitely not perfect, but he is a good kid.

Love you all,

Shari

Brave in the Cave

So Pilot went on his Scout Camp this weekend and had a blast! They went to the Lava Tubes, he went there last year with the Scouts and was hoping they would go again. So off they went Friday afternoon. It was very cold, windy and snowy but inside the tubes, (the caves) it was not windy. It was a balmy 27 degrees at night, when they went to bed.

They had trouble keeping their water for their hot chocolate from freezing, but hey, what a wonderful experience learning about survival in the harsh winter weather.

The guys went hiking in the snow, snow boarding and sledding down the volcano sides, cave and tube exploring and soaking in the hot springs. They always have a great time.

On Saturday morning, while most of the camp was still sleeping, Pilot, another Scout and an adult leader went snowboarding and sledding. Pilot had a wonderful first sled ride down the Volcano, it was so fun he went up for another ride. This time he sat in the sled and held on to the sides with his hands. However the ride was not as fun, this big squarish boulder hid itself under the snow right under Pilot's path. The sled and Pilot's right hand hit the rock and pushed it out from under the snow out of their way. Unfortunately Pilot's hand took the brunt of the impact and hurt like heck. His decided to let his hand rest. He knew he had bruised it.

So he said he was done for the day and went back to camp. He descended into the lava tube and packed up his stuff. Thank heavens he had a buddy who could help stuff his pack and sleeping bag. He did most of the work himself and asked for help when he needed it. Then he and a buddy took their stuff upside and packed it in their vehicles. Then it was clean up time. Pilot and another Scout cleaned and packed up the kitchen that was upside. Downstairs in the cave, the others were cleaning up their sleeping campsite. I'm glad he was able to stay upstairs and not have to descend into the cave with his sore hand.

When Pilot got home, at nearly 5pm he was pretty sure he had sprained it. So because it was very swollen, we decided to have it checked. So off he went with his dad and sister to Insta Care. After a check of an Xray, they found that Pilot did indeed injure his hand. He had two broken bones! He truely was my Brave in the Cave son. Here are photos of his x-rays, I will doctor them up after church.

To be completed later....................

Well it is later. However, I can not get the printer program to load on my new laptop, so I am not able to edit the photos yet. I don't have another program I know to do so. If paint can do it, I just don't know how to use paint. But I used it enough to label a photo, not crop it. So here is the one photo I labeled. Click on the photo to enlarge it and to read the notes.

The guys at church were all surprised to see that Pilot with his arm in a sling and his hand bandaged up. The leaders were all amazed that it was really broken because he did not complain much at all and did not even try to get out of any of the work. They all figured he was bruised and going to be fine. A couple of the leaders asked him if he had a good time, Pilot said Yes! Then I asked him what was his favorite Scout trip and he said this one! He was able to bring home a reminder of his trip. So this trip will be in his present memory for several weeks. He came home with a trophy, another friend said.

Hopefully he will get into see Dr. Mitch Larsen tomorrow or when Mitch thinks the swelling should be low enough for his hand to be wrapped in a cast.

A New Home For My Handmade Nativity Set

If any of you have been watching my Etsy Shoppe, you may have noticed that an item is no longer there. As of yesterday, my Nativity Set was adopted by someone in Illinois. I am happy to send them to her. I hope that she enjoys my handwork. I will miss them, but I am certain that they are going to a nice home. Thanks Miss Illinois.

Happy New Year

Well here we are in 2009! Unbelievable. Time really flies as one gets older. So other than being tired from staying up all night and partying with my kids I am fine today. Hubby was smart and went to bed with the New Yorkers. Now I wish I had joined him!

This Year will be a great year for our family. We are going to make it the best. So watch out world!

We wish everyone a

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!












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