Paybacks?

One of the things my mother always complained about was how we kids would either get sick or have some major catastrophe happen to us right before she went on a trip. Another thing she used to say was, "It will all come back to you." Let me begin my story.....

The day before I was to leave for Tallahassee at 4:30 in the morning the girls were in a speech contest held at their school. Both girls had moved into the final round of the competition so I went to watch it. It lasted about an hour and the teacher then told us we could take our children home since school was only another half an hour and we were already there. Madison and I were waiting for Darcy who was in the bathroom. She finally came out and we were all standing in the doorway talking. Suddenly Madison lets out this primal scream. Apparently, she had put her hand into the hinge of the bathroom door and someone had closed the door on her fingers.

Me: "Why were your fingers in the doorway?"

Madison: "There is a little place there to rest your hand. I always do that."

Me: "I bet you don't do that anymore."

Flashback
My father, Russ: "Go ahead and let her do it."

Me: "But she could get her fingers chopped off."

Russ: "And that will be the last time she puts her hand there."

After running her hand under water and taking her outside so that I could assess the damage, I dropped everything I was holding and had a moment of mother panic. Blood was pouring out of two incisions, one on the ring finger, the other on the middle finger. I pulled myself together (remembering my NY Resolution), wrapped her hand in paper towels and drove her to the immediate care center not far from the school.

There was no standing in line or waiting in the waiting room as the nurse took one look at it and ushered us into a room. Madison was holding on quite nicely until this exchange:

Me: (rubbing her back) "You're doing great. They're already looking better."

Nurse: "They don't look good to me. Might need stitches."

Madison: "EEEEeeeee"

Me: (rubbing her back) "Now we don't know that. I don't think they need stitches."

Nurse: "Could need stitches though."

Madison: "EEEEeeeee"

Me: (rubbing back harder) "Ah, nowadays they don't even use stitches, sweetie. They use glue."

Nurse: "Oh, we use stitches here."

Madison: "EEEEeeeee" (tears start pouring out)

The doctor, the same one who worked on Darcy after the horse incident, was wonderful. He sat down next to Madison and took over the back rubbing, talking to her in a calm, gentle voice. He looked at the fingers and said he didn't think stitches would be necessary, but he did want an x-ray as her middle finger was swollen. Off she went with the stitch nurse.

When she returned the doctor was perplexed. He saw on one x-ray only a bone chip at the top joint of the middle finger. But because he only saw it on one x-ray he wanted a radiologist to take a look at it, which meant he had to send off the x-rays and we would wait a day or two for the results. In the meantime, he explained that the door had gotten all four of her fingers right across the top. On the two fingers that were bleeding the skin had been pulled back from the fingernails and she would need to keep those wounds covered and in splints for a week. If the x-ray turned out to show a bone chip she would wear the splints for two weeks.

The stitch nurse was not exactly adept at wrapping wounds. She tried several different times and finally the doctor made her put away her care items and he told her what to use. Even then Madison's fingers were wrapped in so much red tape that they were three times her normal size.

Here is what her fingers looked like the next day after the removal of the bandages:

Did I mention this is her right hand? A little hard to write and type with those big old things on her hand so I'm now her typist every day after school. That is exhausting for both of us, but we are managing. She had to miss her last basketball game. Two days later we got the results: no bone chip. She can take these splints off tomorrow. I think she is nervous to do that as they protect her fingers from further injury. Her fingers are black and blue, but the skin is adhering nicely back under her nails.

We were in and out of the doctor's office in an hour and back at school to pick up Darcy. And I still made it a few hours later (4:30 AM) on my trip.

My mother will certainly laugh at this story. But Madison has agreed that she will not stick her hand into any more door jambs.