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.)