Sore Thumb

Poor Jarem!  Tuesday night, Jesikah stayed with the kids for a few minutes while I took Alex to voice lessons.  While I was gone, Jesikah was trying to get Jarem out of the bathroom while Tessa used the bathroom.  Jesikah locked the door from inside and them slammed it shut from the outside.  Unfortunately, Jarem's thumb was in the hinge-side of the door when she slammed it shut.  Once she realized it, she couldn't open it cause it was locked, and in her panic, she was yelling at Tessa to open the door who was on the toilet by then.  I'm not sure how many seconds it was before the door was opened.  All I know is that when I walked in from the car, it had just happened.  Jarem was screaming, "I'm going to die, I'm going to die" as blood was dripping all over everywhere.  Tessa was sobbing profusely because she thought she was responsible.  Jesikah was crying and trying to explain what happened.  Eric was still at work.

My initial assessment (once I figured out where the blood was coming from)was...Jarem's thumb got smashed REALLY bad.  I called Eric to get his opinion on what I should do, then I calmed the girls down, and I headed to the hospital.  Once there, we waited in the waiting room for just over an hour.  His nail had been dislodged and blood was continually oozing all around it so we had it wrapped in a paper towel and he was holding it as it continued to bleed.  He had a hard time not crying while we waited, but he remained pretty calm.  Eric got there just as they were taking us back.  After a series of x-rays and evaluations, it was determined that Jarem had a hairline fracture in his bone, his nail would have to be removed and reset, he may only have about 25% chance of his thumbnail growing back, and he'll need to take antibiotics to prevent infection.

They gave him 2 shots before removing his nail and resetting it.  He whimpered a little when they gave him the shots, but he was very brave.  The doctors kept commenting on how brave he was.  We made it home about 11pm.  All in all, we appreciated the helpful and friendly staff at Gateway Hospital and we're glad to have a good place to take Jarem that was closeby.  Also, many thanks to Linda for giving Alex a ride home.

The kids were very worried about Jarem while we were gone, so they made him some welcome home signs:

Welcome home sign

The girls felt so bad, and left Jarem this note when we got home.  As soon as we got home and we read Jarem the note, he went and found the girls and told them he forgave them.  A couple of nights letter, Jesikah came to me concerned and said, "Even though Jarem said that he forgave me, do you think he will change his mind later if his nail never grows back because he'll always have a reminder that I did that to him?"  I told her I didn't think so.  I thought it was interesting that she thought about the possible long term effects of what happened.  The girls have been especially nice to him since.

Alex gave Jarem one of his Lego clone guys, which was a real treat for Jarem

I told him now that his thumb sticks straight up, it would be really easy to do the "thumbs up" sign

This one he quickly changed to thumbs down when I took the picture, which is probably more fitting for the injury. :)