The Saga of the Thumb! Part 1!

DISCLAIMER

Okay this isn't a fake or joke disclaimer!

The pictures below are not bad but are not for the weak and are medical/surgical related.

So like they say on TV viewer discretion is advise!
 

On December 19th I was making dinner and had finished some chicken in our cast iron skillet.

I turned off the burner and finished doing a couple of things for dinner, set Rondalynn in the high chair with her dinner, put some dishes in the dishwasher, started Rondalynn's bath and get all her bed time stuff ready and then realized it would still be a little bit before Ron and Echo would be home from work so I went to move the pan to the back of the stove so it wouldn't continue to cook while the skillet cooled off.

I figured that the pan wouldn't been too hot and I could move it without a hot pad because I had the heat off for a bit.

Yeah I was wrong! But because I wasn't moving it far on the stove and let's just be honest was being stupid after that first touch I just used my thumb on the handle and moved it the rest of the way. Realizing by the time I got it to where I wanted it that was a bad choice and my thumb was on freaking fire!

I knew it was a burn and since I've had my fair share of those I ran it under some lukewarm water, cleaned it up with some soap, dried it, and went about cleaning up some things and getting Rondalynn in the bath. And I told myself after got her ready for bed and she was playing before bed I would clean it up again and put some ointment on it and let that and the air do it's magic that it always does for my burns and it would be fine, a little sore for a day or two but perfectly fine.

By the end of the night it was more than a little sore and a couple blisters had already started to form so I knew it would take a couple days longer to heal and kicked myself again for thinking I had the leather skin of an elephant!

So I continued doing the same thing I do for all my other burns and what we do at work for them and when Rondalynn accidentally grabbed my thumb one night while changing her and popped all the blister a couple of days later I made extra sure I was cleaning it more and everything.

But the blisters, pain, redness, and swelling only got worse and by Christmas Eve I was considering just taking the thumb off completely. Even worse the blister had come back but instead of the yellow/clear fluid you normally see in them it was now filled with a nasty puss.

I knew popping them, even though it would make them feel better, would just make things so much worse and allow more nasty and germs to get in there and could cause even more problems!

It was also right before Christmas so out of fear of what they would say and want to do I didn't go in to see the doctor, which again I know is beyond stupid of me!

On Christmas the pain in my thumb was crazy and I did fairly well keeping it under control but when it started to get really bad and I was waiting for the med to kick in the pain would start to make me contract. So while I was so excited, happy, and full of the Christmas spirit that day I was also miserable and dealing with not only the uncomfortable stage of pregnancy but contractions and my painful burned thumb!

The next day Ron, Squeaky, and I were going up to Scottsdale so he could check out and do some work for a family friend and we both agreed that he should drop me off at the hospital to have it checked out.

So the day after Christmas I was having to go to the hospital because I tried to be Wonder Women!

Now since I'm very pregnant I have to go up to L&D triage for at least 20 minutes of them monitoring the baby so they can clear me in that regard to be able to go down to the ER to have it looked at.

But of course when I got up there and on the monitor I would be contracting so the 20 minutes turned into over two hours and a shot to stop the contractions!

Finally I got the all clear and they wheeled me on down to the ER where they figured I would be a fast track quick patient and wouldn't be there long.

Then they saw my finger and that idea went out the window and after two more hours I finally saw a doctor!

He looked at my thumb and first thing he said was that my beloved thumb ring, given to me by a patient's family after he passed away when I was working at Phoenix Children's Hospital that I never took off unless I was working with dough or putting on lotion, had to be cut off!

I figured he was going to say that so I had prepped myself but I would be lying if I said I didn't start crying when it came off! But as a side note I kept it so we can make it back into a ring or something else for me to where.

After my ring was off and the swelling was slightly going down that doctor came back and decided that they didn't want to drain the blisters but felt that oral antibiotics would help clear it up and I would be good to go!

I was fine with the plan because taking an antibiotic a few times a day is simple and it would get all better and I would be done with all of this infected thumb nonsense!

So here is what my finger looked like that night in the ER!

Remember I warned you before about the pictures!

Isn't it lovely!

So we got my prescriptions filled and headed home and I started them that night like the doctor said and went about life but I figured I would take pictures every day to see how it was getting better!

So this is my poor thumb on day two and just to let you know most of these were taken in the evening at bath time while I was watching Squeaky play and splash in the bubbles!

Again you have been warned! Hahaha!

And also so you know if you noticed I'm in the same pants as I was in the ER but they were my pajamas and I had brought them into the bathroom when I was bringing Rondalynn in for bath time because she had decided to share her dinner with my pants and then my shirt as I was carrying her in.

And here is my thumb on day three!

Again with the reminder of the warning!

Have you noticed something not right with these pictures?

Like the fact that my thumb doesn't look better at all and is actually looking worse?

Yep I noticed that too! Hahaha!

I also started to run fevers around this time and I was, no joke, seriously thinking of just cutting my thumb off!

I mean we had an almost 30 year run together and had a lot of fun times and memories but I was in SO MUCH pain! And what was worse was that pain was already making my aggravated uterus more aggravated and was causing me to have contractions much more than I should have been and much, much harder than I should have been as well!

 
Ron was off the entire week between Christmas and New Year's and needed to go up to Scottsdale to work on some A/C units for some family friends and Grandma Echo was also off and was more than happy and willing to have a Grandma and Rondalynn day so on the 29th Rondalynn stayed with Grandma Echo while Ron and I went up to Scottsdale and Ron dropped me off at the hospital again so I could get me thumb checked out since it obviously wasn't getting any better while he went to work on the A/C's

Again since I'm pregnant and past 18 weeks I have to go up to L&D triage to be cleared on the baby front before I could go to the ER and have my thumb looked at.

The nice thing about L&D is they are so much quicker to get you back, see you, and get things done and since I had only had a couple of contractions that day I was hopefully my time there would be short.

When I got up there they hooked up the baby to the monitors and I was only having my normal all the time Braxton Hicks contractions which was a good thing and the baby was sounding great and moving everywhere.

They still have to let my OB know I'm there and since it wasn't for anything baby related he said that it was fine for the in house OB to clear me but just let him know when I was cleared and how everything was.

When the OB doctor walked in and saw my finger he was shocked by it and agreed it needed to be taken care of! But knowing that I was in pain and nauseous because of that pain and that the ER could be busy and I would have to wait again when I got down there he had the nurse start an IV, give me a liter of fluid, and meds to hold me over until I got down there.

Not going to lie it was awesome for him to do that and made complete sense this way I could go down to the ER with it an it's one less step for them!

While I was waiting for my all clear I took more pictures of my thumb!

So here it is on day four before I went to the ER.

Insert picture warning here!

Hahaha!

Again isn't that lovely!

My nurse in L&D accidently popped the huge blister below my thumb nail when she was starting my IV and felt horrible about it!


Even though I know you shouldn't pop the blisters without being able to clean it well especially when there is an infection going on but when she did it besides for it hurting it gave me some great relief!

Unfortunately by the time I left L&D 30 or so minutes later the blister had already filled back up with even yuckier fluid then before.

After an hour upstairs I got the all clear and they once again rolled me to the ER where it was slightly busier than I would have wanted it to be so I waited in the lobby for an hour before I got called back and was put in an ER bed to see the doctor.

Luckily I didn't have to wait long to see the doctor when I got back there and he took one look at my thumb and was shocked they didn't drain it and clean it out when I was there on the 26th.

He was afraid it was more than a skin infection so he decided he needed to call the hand surgeon on call and get what he thought and if he would drain it and clear it up or if they needed an infection doctor for that.

He started me on fluids, gave me a dose of strong antibiotic, and more meds for pain and nausea which he wanted to do the pain meds at least every hour to two hours because he didn't want the pain to put me in labor and then we have a much bigger issue to deal with! He was also more that grateful that they put an IV in upstairs!

He called the hand surgeon who would be into the hospital for a surgery case in two hours and would see me before the case to decide what we needed to do. It was great that he was going to come in and consult but it sucked that I had to wait for two more hours of pure nothing and boringness!

Finally after two hours he came in and looked at my thumb and agreed it need to be drained and cleaned up but it was still mild enough that if I was comfortable with it he would come back after his surgery case, give me local numbing to the entire side of my hand and my entire thumb, and just take ten minutes to do it at bedside.

Since I work in the medical field I was excited to be able to watch it and of course because I didn't want to be there any longer then I had to be and didn't want to be put out for anything unless it was in the tissue deeper or the bone so I was more than happy to sign up for his plan!

He told my nurse everything he would need and within ten minutes of him leaving she came in and set this up!

A tray of fun torture goodies for the hand surgeon! Hahaha!

An hour later he came around the curtain and asked if I was ready. I told him more than ready!

He set everything up, got out his special medical light glasses, numbed me up, and got started!

Even though I was numb I didn't know how it would feel when he made the first cut so I didn't watch that but once I realized I didn't feel anything I watched the rest of the procedure!

My inner medical loving heart was more than enjoying watching the procedure which the doctor got a good laugh out of since I was pregnant and everything. He took swabs of the yuck he got out so they could see if it was growing anything and he said to continue taking the antibiotics I had gotten from the ER the time before, keep it wrapped up, and then come in to see him that Friday.

The only thing I didn't like about the procedure was the numbing stuff. He used a numbing agent that had Epi in it which made me all jittery and shaky and even though by the end I could feel the pain it took my hand over three hours to get rid of that funky, not so fun, your hand is asleep feeling.

But it was all good and after another hour Ron was there and we were leaving to get some food and head home after being up in Scottsdale for over twelve hours!

So for five days this is what my thumb rocked!

A huge magenta, Looney Tune, dressing!

On the 2nd I got up much earlier than I wanted to so I could drive into phoenix for a 7:30 am appointment!

They unwrapped my thumb and for the first time since the procedure I got to see my thumb and how it was looking!

Of course I took pictures of it!


Here is my thumb on day one after the procedure!

These pictures may look a little a little more yucky/graphic then the ones before so proceed with caution!

It looks a lot nastier than before but it did just have surgery on it!

The doctor said it was looking good but was still concerned with the amount of redness, swelling, and the fact that I couldn't bend it at the middle joint.

Because of this they told me to undress it every night, clean it with soap and water, then wrap it back up, and come back in four more days on the 6th for another follow up.

If you couldn't tell from the title of this post that it's a to be continued one but since it's still a going on saga it may be closer to the end of the month before the second episode is posted so keep coming back and checking it out!