Leila's First Trip to the Hospital

Tuesday May 6, 2014 was a day to remember....Here is the run down...

Grandma picked Leila up from the babysitter around 1:30.  Leila likes to climb through grandma's door and get herself to the back seat and buckle herself in while grandma puts Sinave in his car seat.  On this particular day, as Leila climbed through the front car door, her hand was still in the way when grandma opened the back door and Leila's middle finger on her right hand was more or less "hole punched" with the hinges from the door.

Grandma grabbed Sinave in one arm and grabbed Leila's finger with the other and ran back to the babysitter's house.  The babysitter who speaks better English was sick that day and was in the back room, so Grandma had to try and communicate in a panicked state to the Grandma at the babysitter who speaks primarily Samoan with decent conversational English and the deaf uncle who speaks bits and pieces of Samoan, English, New Zealand Sign Language, and American Sign Language.  After a failed attempt to contact me (the mom) at work, Grandma was trying to get Leila to the Insta Care.  During the chaos, I saw the missed call and it was agreed to meet at the Taylorsville Insta Care.

It was quickly determined that Insta Care would not be able to address the injury and we were sent to Primary Children's Medical Center....one of the biggest fears of any parent - to have to take your child to the Children's Hospital.  I'll say it now...I hope that any time I take a child there, it is for a physical injury like this, and not an immune or terminal illness.  Before we left Insta Care, the nurse gave her a dose of Ibuprofen.

While at the Hospital, Leila was taken in to get an X-Ray taken of her hand.  She was VERY brave and complied with all requests of the technician, even though it hurt her little hand.  After we went back to the room, a few minutes later Leila said, "Hmm...I guess we really do have bones in our bodies."  As if she had not believed that before. 

The nurses came in to give her an IV that would be used while they did minor surgery to sew her finger back on.  There were actually three there in the anticipation they would have to physically restrain her.  The nurse spent a few minutes showing her what it was, how it worked, and why they were going to put it in her hand.  When it came time to actually put the IV in, the nurse let Leila play games on the iPad.  The nurse said "you are going to feel a little pinch...."  Leila looked over at her hand, looked at me, shrugged her shoulders, and kept playing the game.  The nurses were totally amazed at how well she dealt with it.

A little while later it came time for the surgery.  They gave her some Ketamine which sedated her, but she was not put completely under.  There was a nurse there to monitor breathing only, and another nurse to help inject the Ketamine as needed, then the doctor who was actually doing the stitching. 

Leila is HILARIOUS on Ketamine.  She was quite talkative.  She started out by growling.  Really.  Loud.  Like a monster.  Then she would yell different things including "No."  "Stop it."  "That's enough I said."  "Quit it."  And she would just babble.  As she was coming out of the sedation, she looked at me with a very perplexed look on her face and said "you look....you look, you look BIIIIG."  Her eyes were very big and watery and everything looked enlarged to her.  She made funny sounds like a baby.  She rolled around in the bed.  It was a bit scary for half a second when they actually gave her the medication, but when I saw that she reacted normally, I relaxed.

After she fully came out of the sedation and could keep liquids down (which was not a problem) we were able to go home.  As soon as she was aware enough, in true Samoan Style she said "Can I eat now?" because she couldn't eat before with the pending surgery.  The nurses asked each other what pain medications she had been given.  Both were completely shocked when they realized that the only pain medication she had been given throughout the entire day was the Ibuprofen around 2pm.  We left the Hospital just before 7pm. 

The ultimate injury was the tip of her finger was cut about 75% of the way off.  When it cut through the finger, it also cut through the tip of the bone.  It was more than just a smashed finger in the door.  She had 7 stitches in her small little 4 year old finger.  The doctor opted to take her fingernail off as it would make for an easier recovery.  A week later we had a follow up with the plastic surgeon who had sewed up her hand. We had to get a special mold made to keep her finger protected.

A month later, we had another follow up to make sure everything was healing properly.  Leila was really good to keep her finger clean, and even though it started out really rough, by the end (and as it healed of course) it got much easier to clean her bandages.  To end the story, the doctor asked Leila if he could see her finger.  She dropped her head, shook it up and down in agreement, and then shoved her middle finger in the doctor's face (with all other digits down.)  The nurse laughed and said "You are awesome." 

It's healing well and it looks like her fingernail is growing back.