Our First Trip to the Emergency Room (and Ambulance Ride)

Erin and I had been trying to get together for dinner all summer. We finally were able to set it up for last night. We had a nice dinner and were almost done when I heard my phone beep that I had a voicemail. I looked to see who it was from and was going to check it later, but I saw it was from my dad. I told Erin, "My dad never leaves voicemails, so I think I better check it." All he said was to call him. Hmm.

So I called. He said Tolan cut his finger, he's okay, but we're in the ER and you need to come. So we hurried up and got our check and headed to the hospital. I tend to not worry much unless its necessary, so I was doing alright since my dad said he was fine. I was imagining a few stitches and knew that he would want his mommy there so I got there calmly, but quickly. I also called Justin, who was on his way home from work, and let him know to go to the hospital.

When we got there my dad was in the waiting room with Logan and told me what he hadn't told me over the phone - so that I wouldn't freak out. Tolan hadn't just cut his finger - he had cut it OFF. It was the tip of his middle finger on his right hand - below the fingernail near the first joint.

My mom was outside on the patio with the boys who were playing while she was trimming a tree with some garden shears. She put them down for a second to get a caterpillar out of the way and the next thing she knew Tolan had the shears and was screaming and there was blood spurting everywhere. She scooped him up, picked up the piece of finger and ran up the stairs yelling for my dad. Logan didn't see what happened and they said he was okay until they were trying to rush him to get into the car and was seeing the blood and stuff and it was registering that Tolan was hurt.

When I got there they had already done x-rays and he was sitting with my mom all sweaty and bloody. He wasn't crying but he looked so sad. He was happy that I had a spare binky in my purse! Justin arrived not long after I did and soon they were loading Tolan and me into an ambulance to go down to Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh where hopefully they could reattach the piece of his finger. Logan went home with my parents and Justin went home too to get Tolan's blanky and a couple of toys, then he drove down to Children's.

We did a lot of waiting around for pretty much nothing down there. They took more x-rays and the orthopedic surgeon checked him out and came back waaaaaay later to tell us they wouldn't be able to do anything. She said the nerves and blood vessels and everything were just too tiny to reattach it well and if they did, it would probably just die. So they just cleaned it and bandaged it up. No stitches or anything. Tomorrow we go to see the hand specialist, but basically we will just be keeping it clean and changing the bandages for the next 4 weeks until the stump heals.

Tolan did so well. I was very impressed at how tough he was. He would only cry when they came to take the bandages off and was in pretty good spirits most of the time. He did keep asking for the car (as in our car- to take us home...) and he asked about Logan a couple of times. But he was so good. And even today he was playing and mostly back to his normal self, just with a bandaged hand! He's a trooper.

We are glad he is okay and it always could have been worse! He's so young that it will heal quickly and probably better than we think and he will adjust to it just fine. I'm glad I wasn't there to see it all happen and everything. I feel bad for my mom that she had to stomach all of that and I feel bad I wasn't there for Tolan. But they both did well and I'm glad my dad was there to help and that he was smart enough not to tell me the whole truth until I got there!