Our first trip to the ER

Well... the holiday started out well and went down hill fast. We reschedule our 4th plans for the 3rd (like many others). Thad, Bobbi, and the kids came over for some great food and fireworks fun. That was the end of the nice holiday.

Saturday, along with the rain, came sickness for David. He was achy all over and could hardly move. We still have no idea what he has. Although, he says he'll go to the doctor tomorrow if it's still bad.

Sunday was the worst. David was still really stiff and achy, and to add to the misery, the kids seemed accident prone all day. First, Jack busted his lip on a cabinet door. We've cleaned out two cabinets for them to play in and store their books. Jack was being Jack and tried to eat the knob... then came a scream and blood. He hit his lip. While David and I were calming him down and checking out the damage, Ella decides to make a break for the stairs and had pushed the gate away. I look up and see Ella about 5 steps up, and David makes a lunge for her as she turns and tumbles to the ground. Exasperated, we check out both kids for damage... luckily, it was all minor.

Ok, here's the grand finale of this awful day. After dinner, I send David to the couch to lie down (he cooked even though he was not feeling well), and I was cleaning up the kitchen. The kids were standing in the breakfast nook looking out the door. The next thing I know, the Japanese style (5ft tall) screen in the corner is crashing down on top of the kids.

Screaming ensued as David and I sprinted to the scene. There was blood coming from Ella's hand. I grabbed her and immediately saw that her pinkie was badly cut. We wrapped it the best we could, grabbed Jack and headed for the car. We raced to St.Vincent's care center off of Olio and 69. Thankfully, they have an emergency room. David and I were basically in our PJs, the kids in theirs, no socks on anyone... we were quite a sight.

The doctor took a look at her finger, did x-rays, and called the hand surgeon. Meanwhile, David took Jack home (it was 7:15pm) to change his diaper and put him to bed. Thankfully, Thad was able to come to our house and stay with Jack while he came back to the ER.

After getting an IV in Ella's arm and wrapping both hands/arms in gauze, David and I were off to the OR at St. Vincent's Carmel. The hand surgeon was waiting on us. He had looked at her x-rays and gave us the news. Ella had almost completely severed her pinkie... it was holding on by a tendon and some skin. He was very confident in her recovery, as little kids tend to rebound very well (much better then wimpy adults).

David and I sat in a deserted waiting room (it was now 10pm) while Ella had surgery. The procedure lasted about 1 1/2 hours. We were called back to the recovery room about 11:45pm. She was still asleep. The doctor went over the results of the surgery (all good) and showed us an x-ray of the newly placed pins in her finger.

We left the hospital around 12:15pm to head to CVS for her meds. Finally, around 12:45pm, we made it home. Poor Thad was on the couch, probably thinking we had taken off for good.

Today, besides the cast, you would never know that Ella almost lost her pinkie - permanently.