~ Calvin's finger

we had some excitement in January.

not the good kind.

We'd had a long, full, busy day on Friday the 16th of January... including Jonathan and me going to the temple, and kids going to friends' homes. We had a late dinner, and as the kids were getting ready for bed

I heard the sound that makes every mother's heart stop.

and chorused along with it was Kizi's panicked pleas for Calvin to "come on!!" to come show me. 

I met them half way. 

and freaked.

Kizi had accidentally shut the bathroom door on Calvin's right index finger. Not where the door closes... 

on the hinge side, where there is absolutely NO GIVE. 

it almost completely severed his finger. 

the pad of his finger was still intact, but the nail was squished off and dangling and 

you could have literally flipped the tip of his finger over. 

I was overcome. Calvin was devastated and in shock and wailing in terrible pain. Poor Jonathan who had been on call (awake) the entire previous day and night as well as being up all day Friday (how does he do it??) leapt up and grabbed ice and started pressure on Calvin's finger to stop the bleeding while I quickly wiped up the blood that was on the floor all down the hall and rushed back to take over with Calvin. I just scooped him up and sat on the kitchen floor rocking him and trying to calm him down. I kept pressure on his finger and promised him that as soon as Dad got him to the hospital they would give him a tiny shot in his finger that would make it not hurt at all. 

I promised. We said a prayer. 

Shaking and stunned and in SO MUCH PAIN, he believed me, and Jonathan whisked him away to the ER. 

Kizi and Caleb were so freaked, they begged to sleep in Kizi's room together. We said a tearful prayer for Calvin and the doctor who would take care of him, and had a long goodnight snuggle. I heard them in there talking for a while.  After Jonathan called to let me know that everything was okay, I reassured them and sent Caleb off to his own bed. 

It turned out that Calvin had even broken the tip of the bone, poor little dude. But as I'd promised, as soon as he got that shot his finger numbed up nicely, and he returned to his normally inquisitive, chatty-cathy self and watched them stitch it up. Apparently he was pretty fascinated by the whole thing and talked the doc's ear off. He and Jonathan got home just shy of midnight (we'd let them stay up late, so it happened around 9:30pm) with a balloon and a stuffed dog, feeling great and full of things to tell me about his experience. 

I was wiped. 

For the strong of stomach and brave at heart, here are some photos... Jonathan took the first few, and I took the last couple. Even though Calvin's nail came clean off, the doc actually sewed it back on to act as a temporary splint. Jonathan had to change the bandages for the first week or so, it was just really gross. But now the stitches have dissolved and the nail went to school with Calvin in a ziplock bag for show and tell. Ewwwww... I guess it still looks pretty bad, but it's SO much better than it was. 

on this shot of the pad of his finger you can see how the stitches start on one side of his finger and wrap all the way around to the other side... 

and here are some now that the nail is gone and the stitches are out. we're still keeping it bandaged and a brace on it.