holy shitaki mushrooms batman! or what not to do on christmas vacation...

much is happening this december in lewinland, but life just jumped up a few notches in emotional intensity...

rob and i were out christmas shopping monday morning. mac and hudson were at home alone (not generally scary when you consider they are almost 17 and 13).
it was the first morning of their christmas break.
i called to check in and ask if anyone had eaten breakfast...
they didn't really get out of bed til after 10am so it was a reasonable question at 11am...and they tend to be grumpy when they forget there is a fridge in the kitchen!

no one had eaten, so i offered to bring home lunch.
when i called back to see what they wanted (not five minutes later) hudson screamed that mac was bleeding and it looked pretty bad.

we'll i'm a junior high pastor at heart so i said "you're kidding right?"

hudson" no mom, not kidding he's bleeding all over the place, he stuck his hand through the window and it looks really deep"

me "tell him to throw on his shoes i'll be right there to pick him up"

thank god i was five minutes away, not stuck in the middle of mall traffic or worse, inbedded in some outlet store!
while i was driving trying to get a doctor on the phone and trying unsuccessfully not to panic,
hudson was playing "doctor house"....or 'mciver",  using his world vision wristband and mac's one wristband as a tourniquet and telling mac to put pressure on his hand and raise it above his heart!

once again i experienced hatered of outsourcing as my "411" service couldn't connect me to children's hospital emergency room on the first try!

long story short...picked up a pj clad mac off the front porch. he was sitting in the rocking chair in his flannel pants and cal berkley t shirt (now tatooed with blood), hand over his head, sans coat, in 20 degree weather. fingers wrapped in paper towels.

mac "where's dad"
me : "we're going to pick him up"

rob and i were working on a secret christmas gift for mac that involved driving another car...
so he had to walk up the street to krogers so i could pick him up with the patient and not give away the surprise ( which now looks like it's in the toliet, but that's another post !)

picked up rob, he drives telling me not to panic and just breathe...
i don't do blood when it's my own or my kids.
i really don't like crisis when it's my own or my kids...
somehow, i can do crisis when it involves the lives of others...hum.

we made it to children's hospital...mac was seen immeditately. i won my $10 bet with rob.
triage went well...
4 out of the 5 fingers on his right hand would need stitches. the ring finger was really bad and would need a plastic surgeon to look at it (cut to the bone, just lovely)

thanks be to god for a great children's hospital and for espn. it helped us survive
being in the emergency room from 12noon til 8pm! i had to repay rob the 10 dollars.
mac was got to watch many hospital procedures and decide if "house" is really his favorite tv show.
his hand was really bloody so i spent my time on sport's center.

"the plastics" the hospital's name for the plastic surgeons didn't arrive until 5pm. mac's resident had sewn up one finger and a thumb, but the litocane block hadn't worked very well and he felt the second finger a lot!  the men in our family take three times the amount of numbing medication to make it work!
but no one believed us. dr. gentle was really gentle and did a great job but "the plastics" were the pros and they would determine if and when we'd go home and if mac would have surgery that night.

mac and hudson are brothers. and like most brothers (and even sisters for that matter) they know how to push each other's buttons. so a small altercation ended up with mac chasing hudson to the office (we call it the fish bowl cause it's on the front of our house and is all windows and french doors)
and hudson closed the door as mac was pushing the door to stay open...mac's right hand went through the pane of the french door and only his pointer finger on his right hand is unscathed.

the plastics said mac severed a tendon in his ring finger and two nerves. thus, surgery would be needed but not instantly! great news for mac who'd not been able to eat or drink all day in case surgery was done that night. he'd been requesting a kong whopper every half hour.

they sewed up the rest of his hand, put his arm in a gauze cast ( or mummy hand puppet) and we left at 8pm with perscriptions to be picked up at the kroger pharmacy before they closed at 9pm.
i have ambar indian restaurant in my cell, so we picked up some great indian food ( not burger king) on the way home. and after a major run to the video store ( we don't have cable so videos are key to anyone's recovery at our house)
we made it back home at 9pm.

mac will have surgery sometime in the next few days...hand surgeon at children's hospital will do the deed.
then he'll need 6 months of occupational/physcial therapy to reuse his hand.
it'll be interesting to figure out homework and exams (after christmas break). jrs. have loads of writing!

mac says he's getting a new hand for christmas! thank god for insurance! we heard from a friend who's son did the same thing about ten years ago that it was a "10,000 dollar hand!"

so much for practicing guitar over christmas.
but mac and hudson both learned a BIG lesson...so sad that we always need the big wake up call
to learn stuff!

brushing your teeth one handed is so fun and learning to eat one handed, also fun....
he got his hamburger last night : )

so please pray for us this week.
that mac's hand heals quickly and well, and that the surgery goes well too.
pray that i'll not freak out about everything as i am sometimes want to do at this time of year...
considering our tree is still on the back porch waiting to be decorated and shopping just hasn't happened so far.

but it could be soooo much worse. so i'm tired, stressed, and very thankful at the same time.
pray also that the christmas surprise some how works out! thanks.

(photo of mac's arm in better days )

Comments

[Kari]

Oh my goodness! I broke my sister's toes in much the same fashion when we about that age. Just think of the stories they'll tell when they are 80 about those scars on Mac's fingers.Many, many prayers for your family that the rest of your Christmas Vacation is safe and healthy.

[Andrew Seely]

God you are the healer and provider. This season is meant to remind us of how you came in rushed, hurried, less than optimal conditions, thank you for being a God who understands how things don't always go as planned.
Hold and keep the Lewin family close these next few weeks. Let them bask in joy and love as they are reminded how much you love them as individuals and as a family.
~amen

[Dean]

Wow! What a tale they will tell in 15-20 years! I remember the time when my sister and I were riding each other's bikes and she lost her footing on my metal pedals (oh yeah, she had no shoes on) and almost cut off the little toe on her right foot. We laugh about it now, but it was extremely traumatic when it happened.

My prayers are with your whole family as this event only adds more drama to an already dramatic season. God Bless.

[Mike Lamson]

Lil,

My heart was skipping beats! Our prayers are with you. Never a dull moment with boys, right?

[Kathryn]

Oh Lilly....how scary (the worst mine have done to each other so far was when Luci pushed Giles off our bed and chipped his elbow...being a horrible and unfeeling mother I refused to believe for hours that there was anything really wrong...the shame, the shame!)but could surely have been worse. Lots of prayers for healing, for calm and for space to celebrate Christmas as you'd wish to.
Take care xx

[StCasserole]

Will pray. Let us know how's he's doing.

[Bald Man]

Do you guys know how to have a good time or what? Praying for healing and trust.