De-gloved

Ty's buddy called me on Saturday afternoon and told me Ty cut his finger playing basketball. He said they were taking him to the Jordan Valley Hospital. I told him to go to the Instacare instead, "Cuz it's cheaper." So a few minutes later I get another call, this time from Ty. He said, "Mom, they said they can't help me here. So they are sending me to the Riverton Hospital where there is a hand surgeon." Mom alarm going off in my head. I knew at this point the "cut" was pretty serious. I met him at the Riverton Hospital ER where the Dr. told us he could lose his finger. This was what I saw when I arrived.

You can see from the picture it is pretty gross. His finger became tangled in the net as he went up for a dunk. The weight of his body ripped the skin from the middle knuckle to the tip of his right hand ring finger. It was like a large flap of skin from each side of his fingernail. He said when he looked down he saw his bones and just flipped the skin back where it belonged and headed out the door. Some of the guys playing with him didn't even know he was injured. Luckily a couple buddies drove with him.

The Dr. at Riverton said he needed the special microscopic tools at the Murray IHC and asked if we could take Ty there to have the surgery to repair the damage. We agreed. I called Mom and Dad and they agreed to meet us at our home so Dad & Steve could give Ty a blessing before the surgery. They raced right over and actually beat us to the house. (Thanks Mom & Dad!)

After 4 hours of surgery under the microscope, using thread so thin the nurse couldn't see it, Ty's veins, arteries, tendons, and nerves had all been reattached. I am so thankful for amazing Doctors who are able to perform such miracles.

Ty was then put into a room to recover.

He had to just lay there keeping his hand elevated with an I.V. in. 

He did get a little bored...

But overall was a good patient. The nurses all loved him. He had to go 2 times a day to get treatments in a hyperbaric chamber. It was a tube that they slid him in and pressurized it and filled it with oxygen. He had to stay in there for 2 hours at a time. He said it was boring and his ears popped a lot. But it helped oxygenate the tissue and help it heal. We got a peek at the stitches after 2 days.

The skin looked a little soggy. Lots of stitches!

Here is how it looked a couple days later.

It is really black. But the Dr. said that a lot of tissue died and new skin was growing underneath.

Stay tuned for more updates!