Fleshly Cut...

On Thursday, August 7th, Ben and I had a very, very long day...

I left for work at 12:30pm and was closing the store that night. Ben started some laundry and got started on the house. He was working on the roof that day; replacing some rotten fascia board. The tools he had wouldn't fit into the space he was working with though so he went and got a saw blade he could fit on his grinder. So he was on the roof, but also on a ladder on the roof. He was holding onto the roof with his left hand for balance and had the grinder in his right hand. As he was cutting some of the board the blade caught on something in the roof and kicked out of his right hand. The blade caught his ring finger on the left hand on the side from tip to base, then the blade came around to his thumb area on the inside of his hand and caught that(he cut the artery, nerves, tendons, and muscles in both areas). Then he saw the grinder falling and didn't want it to hit the roof so he reached out to grab it with his right hand. As you can guess he cut that hand too, right through the middle of his palm (which ended up being much worse and deeper than they thought). The grinder then fell to the roof, cutting the extention cord right in half and falling to the ground. The blade was so sharp that the cut was so clean he barely felt it cut him, so by the time he looked down at his hands they were totally spewing blood all over. So he looked over at the ladder to get down and realized he couldn't feel his fingers, which meant he couldn't hold on to the rungs to get down. How did he get off the roof you ask? He jumped off. Luckily that didn't cause any other injuries or trauma to his already crazy incident. So he went into the garage to try and grab the keys to the car (I know, that's not so smart), but he couldn't even pick them up off the ground. So he went next door and knocked, but no one was home. He went across the street, and no one was home. He went to our other next door neighbors' house, and no one was home. So here comes our last resort...The neighbor on the corner happened to be home with her little girls. So he went over and banged on the door, feeling really bad for subjecting the girls to the sight of him. They all came to the door and immediately freaked out as they realized something was really wrong. Ben asked for a ride to the hospital as she freaked out more. Ben had to calm her down and get her to go and get some towels and things to cover the seats (not to hold on his hands). She had "On Star" on the whole way trying to get a police escort because she was running red lights and driving on the side of the road to get past everyone.

All the while I was on my way to work walking through the parking lot to the store when I realized I forgot my camera, so I called Ben to see if he might have a chance to bring it to me. When he answered the phone he sounded kind of different. He said he was in the car with our neighbor and she was taking him to the hospital because he cut his hand. At that point I told him that wasn't very funny, and he responded by saying that he wasn't joking and that he would see me there soon. I stopped in the middle of the parking lot and turned around and started running back to the truck. While I was running I dialed work and told them that I was not coming in right away and that I had to go to the hospital to make sure my husband was ok. I told them to figure out how to cover the shift and that I would let them know what was happening. So I got on the highway and got stuck on the off ramp for the street to get to the hospital. There was an accident on that road. I ended up driving around the cars on a grass patch to get to a street to find another way around. Finally I arrived at the emergency room and parked where I was met by my neighbor and her girls. She told me that Ben was in there and they were taking care of him. She gave me her number and told me she would let the dogs out or do whatever I needed her to. So I walked in and told them my husband was in there with two cut hands and they knew exactly where to take me.


The first thing I saw was the top of his head. He was surrounded by 3 doctors and 4 nurses. They had the big alien light down looking at his left hand really closely. One of the doctors was actually a hand surgeon. So I stood there waiting and got more and more glimpses of my husband covered in blood, both arms being looked at. He was covered in blood. He had on a white t-shirt which they had to cut off of him later, he had blood on his shorts, legs, and shoes. The only funny thing about it was that he still had his safety glasses on top of his head!





As soon as all the doctors left the room I cleaned his face off because he was covered in saw dust and sweat. I talked to our close friend who is a bishop and he said he would call his son and they would be there as soon as possible to give him a blessing. Ben had the presence of mind to tell me to have our friend stop at the house and unplug the extention cord that was cut in half because it was still live and he didn't know if it was touching anything. So they got there and gave him a blessing. He will be fully healed. Then we all sat there talking for a few hours while the hospital decided what to do. They were telling us they needed to transfer him to another hospital that had a vascular team because he had no feeling, no color, no capillary refill, and no pulse in 3 out of 4 fingers. They were having issues getting another hospital to take us though. They were going to send us to San Antonio, but they had just started a surgery that would last 8 hours. So finally around 4pm the head doctor in the ER came to tell us what they were trying to arrange. He checked Ben's hand again, and was amazed at the progress that had been made. He had pink color again, his fingers were warm, he had capillary refill, and he could feel all but one finger now. So the original hand surgeon came back and decided she could do it here at the Saint David's Hospital in Round Rock. So then we waited until 7:45pm to be moved out of the trauma room into the recovery area to wait to be taken in for surgery. Then I left to go and feed the dogs and get him some clothes for the next day. He went in around 9:30pm for the surgery and came out some time after 11:45pm. I got there soon after he had been brought out of the OR and got to see him all bundled up like a caterpillar while they waited for the anesthesia to wear off and for him to become alert and stabilized. We stayed there until 3am when they finally did a procedure which ended up waking him up for good. We went up to our room and got settled, got some juice and crackers (which he hadn't been allowed a drop of anything since he was going to have surgery and he ate at 9am that day) and we fell asleep for a few hours.





We finally talked to the surgeon around 3pm Friday and she said that everything went pretty well. There was more damage than she had thought though, especially in the right hand. She was mad at the ER because they didn't pay attention to the right hand because the left hand was so crazy. He had nerve damage in both hands and cut the artery and muscles in the left hand. She wasn't positive about the ring finger on the left hand being fully recovered because of the amount of damage in it. (Ben was afraid he was going to lose that finger all together.) But we won't know until Monday what exactly we are dealing with. She put a splint on his left hand and bent the fingers so that if the one finger doesn't fully recover she didn't want it sticking staight up forever. Like I said we have to go back on Monday for a check up.

Ben is pretty upset and feels kind of sad that he isn't able to do any work or any thing alone. Poor baby! I love my husband and I am so grateful that nothing more happened to him. I know that everything about this incident (other than the incident itself) went perfectly. We were in the right place, right doctor, right hospital, right insurance company, etc. I am so gratful for the preisthood, and for people around us who are so willing to help with anything and everything! I am so grateful that my husband didn't cut his neck or head or any other vital organs! Thank you to any and all of you who prayed for us during this time. We love you and wish you the best!


**As soon as we can take off the bandages I will post some pictures of the sticthes, etc. I'll put up a warning for those who are faint of heart!