Our Five Ring Circus: The Story in which Lily Cuts Off Her Fingertip

Friday, October 13, 2017

The Story in which Lily Cuts Off Her Fingertip

The Story In Which Lily Cuts Off Her Fingertip

There's not enough time these days. Not enough time to write, not enough time to read, not enough time to exercise, not enough time to clean, not enough time for ANYTHING... An entire season passes by in a blur, and I'm left whirling from constant busyness. Before I know it, months have gone by, and I haven't had the chance to blog about an event or story, so I just give up. But I don't want all those stories to just go by unwritten. That's why I started this blog in the first place - to chronicle life with my family! 


I decided I'm going to play a little bit of catch-up. One story each week until I'm caught up. Today, I'm taking it back to July 12th, when Lily had an unfortunate accident. Thankfully, we can laugh about it now!

Most kids are naturally accident-prone. And when you have four of them, those accidents just seem to happen ALL the time! This doesn't bode well for a mom who gets queasy and light-headed at the mere sight of blood!

This story begins on a hot, sunny Summer day. As you know from reading this blog, the kids and I work on a lot of crafts and activities together. On this particular day, we decided to go outside to work on a project. All four kids gathered up the supplies, sat together on a big picnic blanket, and got to work. I sat with them to supervise. Everybody was getting along and working together.


As every parent knows, everything can change in literally an instant. That instant happened when Liam stood up suddenly, lost his balance, and fell directly onto Lily, despite my efforts to steady him...and Lily just happened to be cutting with scissors at the time.  I'm sure you can imagine what happened next.

All I remember is the unified, blood-curdling screams from three kids, blood spurting everywhere, and cars slowing down to see what was wrong. I immediately went into emergency mom mode, and was able to solely focus on fixing the situation.

I raced inside with Liam so he stayed safe, and grabbed a few towels. I raced back outside and wrapped a towel around Lily's hand, trying my hardest to avoid looking at the large amount of blood that surrounded her. Everybody was still screaming, and the only time I almost lost it was when I spotted the unusually large chunk of skin on the blanket.

In a matter of just a few minutes, Lily was strapped into her car seat with Lexie at her side, and we quickly made the drive to our local hospital. Thankfully, I had rush hour traffic to keep my mind off the blood and the current state of Lily's finger. Grant, unfortunately, was still at his office, which was 45 minutes away, but my parents were on their way to my house to stay with the boys.

By the time we arrived at the emergency room, Lexie had managed to calm Lily down. The staff got us back to a room quickly, and the nurses assessed the damage. Thankfully, Lily had just "amputated her fingertip and part of her fingernail" without causing much damage. And to our astonishment, we learned that fingertips grow back!


Fingertip amputation

The worst part of the ordeal was when they had to clean the wound. Lily started crying again, and I finally got a glimpse of her injured finger. I did NOT take a picture of that, but let me just say that it looked like a finger with a big chunk missing out of it. Instead of a rounded fingertip, it was flat and noticeably shorter than the rest, and the towel was soaked with Lily's blood. The adrenaline that had kept me going came to a crashing halt, and I had to fight against the nausea and dizziness that threatened to make me faint.

To add to the gross factor, Dylan texted me a picture of Lily's fingertip in a sandwich bag, and asked if the hospital needed to sew it back on. (They did not.) Some things can never be unseen. Trust me. I told him to toss it into the garbage, but I did save the photo for some odd reason. I mean, who actually cuts off their fingertip with a pair of scissors?!?

With the worst part finally over, the doctor came in to take a look. He did confirm that no stitching would be needed, and the fingertip would grow back. The only concern was possible infection and probable nerve damage which would just cause certain areas of her fingertips to feel numb. He wrapped up her finger and put a splint on it to keep it protected, and sent us on our way home with instructions on how to care for a fingertip amputation. (Yes, that is exactly what the medical term for her injury was!)

Motherhood


Lily's finger healed really well and surprisingly quick. The pain went away after a few days, and within a few weeks the fingertip really had grown back! Three months later, only a tiny scar remains. Although she doesn't have much feeling in that fingertip, it doesn't even look like anything ever happened to it!


Lily declared she would never use another pair of scissors as long as she lives, but of course, was back to crafting with scissors the following day. And when she returned to school and was asked what she did over the Summer, she told everyone that she cut off her fingertip! I guess it really is a memorable story! (A story I hope I never have to relive again.)

Fingertip amputation

14 comments:

  1. That's about the scariest thing ever. I don't think I would have remained calm in that situation!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh my goodness, that would be so scary! Way to keep it together mom!

    ReplyDelete
  3. oh my gosh, I would have been dying. You did great Mama! And good to know that a finger tip grows back. So does it grow back for adults too, or just kids...??? hmmm....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have a few friends who said theirs grew back when they were adults!

      Delete
  4. I can definitely relate to the season of busy and not having time for all the things! Whoa! Poor Lily. That sounds so painful. But, I am glad to know that fingertips grow back. Amputation sounds so major! Yikes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There's definitely never going to be enough time. I just need to accept that and move on! I had to laugh when they handed me the paper about how to care for a fingertip amputation!

      Delete
  5. Ahhhh!! So glad she was OK!! I never knew fingertips just grow back, thank goodness!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh my gosh! I can't even imagine how scary this must have been for all of you. Who would have known that fingertips just magically grow back? So glad that this is a story that all of you can chuckle at now. Whew!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And now you know! Hopefully you will never experience it. Haha!

      Delete

I love hearing from you! Let's chat!!!