Baby John's Finger Accident

On October 27th we had a big accident at our house.  We had been at the church earlier that day and were talking about how great it was to be starting a church, etc.  The devil saw how excited we were and thought he would throw a trial our way that day.

We were cleaning the house and getting ready for a missionary to stay with us and preach at our church that night.  Our three year old son said, "Daddy, look I peed in the trashcan!"  My husband put our almost 1 year old son down in the hallway and went into the bathroom, slowly shutting the door behind him. He did not realize the baby had quickly crawled toward the door and put his right ring finger at the hinges and the door shut all the way on his finger.

I heard the baby screaming and ran to see what happened.  I saw two big drops of blood on the floor and my husband was holding the baby's hand and hiding it from me.  He calmly said, "Brandi hand me a washcloth.  We need to go to the hospital."  I started to panic.  What had happened to my baby?  How bad was it?  My husband is always so calm and brave and tough.  He told me not to panic and to get the kids in the car.  I ran around the house all scatter brained not able to think of what I should take.  It was cold and we weren't dressed warm enough.  I almost left the older two kids at the house while we got in the car.  My husband handed me the baby, who was screaming in pain with a bloody washcloth on his hand.  I sat in the car and began to nurse him to calm him down.  The washcloth was falling off and my husband needed me to look at his finger to see if it was cut all the way off or not.  I took a few deep breaths and prayed and looked at it for the first time.  I will not easily forget what my poor baby's finger looked like.  It was cut off under the first knuckle and barely hanging on by a thread.  I thought he was going to lose it.  I panicked again and cried out to the Lord.  All I could pray was "Lord, save his finger!"

That was the longest 12 minute ride to the ER.  Once we parked at the ER I remained calm the rest of the time by the grace of God.  No one was at the counter when we arrived but they got us back there quick and gave him some awful shots for infection.  They sent us two hours away to the hand surgeon specialist.  A friend came to take the older boys to church while my husband drove me and the now sleeping baby to the big city.  The baby woke up and we finally found where to park in the parking deck.  This was all a test of patience and trust in the Lord.  We walked as fast as we could to the ER with only a gauze over his dangling finger.  They got us back pretty quickly, but then it was torture.  Several different doctors came in at different times to unwrap the stuck on gauze, look at it, and rewrap it.  Every time the baby screamed in pain.  We did not question or demand or yell at the doctors though. They took x-rays twice because it was not done right the first time.  The Dr. did a dopler test and said it was amazing but there was a pulse and blood flow to the tip of his finger.  I knew it was the Lord!  After much waiting, the doctors said we could either sedate the baby or numb his finger and sew it back on.  We chose to numb the finger and I modestly nursed the baby to keep him still while they performed surgery on his finger with my husband's help!  That was a first for us and the surgeons. 
After surgery the Dr. said it had a 50-50 chance of living.  It turned back pink quickly so they were hopeful.  We had everyone praying for his finger to live.  He also fractured the bone so they put his finger in a stint and wrapped it in tons of gauze like a cast.  It looked like a boxing glove and was so thick.  He used it to hit his brothers on the head!  Baby John celebrated his first birthday with the cast on.  He was in the cast for two weeks and then the hand surgeon took it off and said to let it heal out in the open.  This worried me because him and his brothers are rough.  It got infected a few days later and we had to make another trip to the ER and got an antibiotic for infection.  A few days after that (which is today) the stitches and scab was coming off.  Part of it came off and was real tender.  While we were at the church my three year old son stepped on his tender finger and it bled and oozed and scared us all over again.  I thought we would have to make another trip to the ER.  Instead, we called the surgeon and he coached us through what to look for and that it should be fine. It scared me again when the rest of the scab fell off and I thought it was the tip of his finger falling off!  Ugh! Doc said that most fingers have to get amputated when they are like that but his seems to be living and reattached itself well.  It looks a bit funny but it is attached.  I give all praise to the Lord for saving that finger!