watch your fingers!

Like your mom always says...

Poor Gracie. The day after she got her nose smashed at church she slammed her right index finger in the car door. We pulled up to karate and she saw her best friend, Eamon, pull up next to us. She was SO excited to see him that she jumped out of the car and slammed the door as hard and fast as she could. I was on the other side of the car and I saw her face as it closed. She got her finger. I ran to the other side and I had to open the door to get her finger out. OUCH. She was in hysterics. I didn't know what to do, go home or stay at karate w/beloved Eamon. Both would be bad for her.

Grace wanted to try to stay, so we went inside and ran the finger under some cold water and sent her into class. She couldn't stop crying though, so I pulled her out and held her for a minute. She kept saying "I want to stay, but my finger wants to go home" in muffled halted breaths.

So, we went home. In hind sight, I should have just taken her straight home and iced the poor thing. It was a pretty good slam. She caught it on the sides of her finger, not on the top and the swelling and bruising were there for a long time. Only thing is, the day after she slammed it she said it didn't hurt anymore. Anytime I asked her about it or touched it she said it was fine. This is the kid who will cry that her knee hurts for days if she gets a tiny scratch! So, I thought it was probably fine. Her doctor even saw it about a week later when we were in for a routine check up. Smashed fingers take a long time to heal, so we didn't worry about it and plunged into a crazy busy summer.

Sometime in the middle of one of our summer vacations in mid-July, I was trimming Grace's fingernails and this finger exploded in green pus as I picked it up to trim the nail (which was growing!) I couldn't believe what a bad mom I was to have let it get infected like that, but you really couldn't tell that it was that bad. She must have had a deep abcess. I vowed to take her straight to the doctor when we got home. In the mean time I soaked it and cleaned it up and by the time we got home, it was actually looking pretty good. So, I decided not to waste my time with a doc visit and quit worrying about it.

One week (end) later, it swelled up again with pus. Gross. What was I thinking not taking her in?! I get the stupid mom award for sure. We called our pediatrician's office who referred us straight to the ER because they thought we needed x-rays and possibly a drilled nail. X-rays were negative and the ER doc REFUSED to treat her. I could not believe it. He said he couldn't see any sign of infection. Hmmm... what is the red swelling, the yellow drainage, or the foul smell? Even the discharge papers he gave us said "come back if you have any of the following: ALL OF THE ABOVE!"

So, back to the pediatrician the next Monday. By now, there was a huge proud-flesh, tumor like thing coming out from underneath her cuticle that got bigger every day. After 2-3 weeks of unsuccessful antibiotic treatments from the pediatricians office, we got referred to a hand surgeon at Boston Children's Hospital.

Poor Gracie, she had to have surgery on Tuesday. They had to put her under general anesthesia (her first time) to do it. They removed her fingernail, cut out the thing (hypertrophic granuloma) and sewed her back up. She did not do well w/the anesthesia. It was simply horrible when she was waking back up. That is one of the hardest things I've ever had to watch. She was in so much pain and so confused. Finally, she did wake up all the way and things got much better.

Now, she's sporting a wrapped bandage on the whole hand/arm for a week. End of summer plans, have been totally wrecked. No swimming, horsey riding, or much outdoor stuff for her. Hopefully, she'll get a more manageable bandage in a week and can get back to her normal stuff.

We're just so thankful that she was able to go to horse camp with her cousin before all this went down and that we might even have it taken care of before school starts. We're also very thankful that we finally got some good treatment for the finger and that she is doing well. It's kind of an important finger, the right index finger, when you're right handed.

So, again, like your mom is always telling you: WATCH YOUR FINGERS!