Mom was at a Relief Society function. Dad, Stu and I were watching the election results pouring in. Suddenly, mom walks in yelling "I need a medical consult!" I go upstairs with dad and mom is taking off her blood-filled shoe and sock. Her toe didn't look so good. I called the Charge RN at IMC to get her opinion. To the ER we went. But not IMC. We went to Orem Community Hospital where I work prn. That's always fun!
Yes, I did a selfie with mom's toe...
Once the doctor had enough time, he took the toe off. He had explained before that he suspected a large laceration to be under the toe from the trauma.
See that "crack" through there? That is what the MD sutured. Don't worry, mom's toe was very numb by this point.
Meanwhile, doc had placed mom's carefully removed toenail in betadine and pulled it out once he was done sewing. He put it right back in place and held it there with two stitches, and voila! It looks like nothing ever happened to it! (This is a gross exaggeration, but it does look better...)
The X-Ray came back showing a comminuted (more than one) fracture of the distal phalange. Now the whole wound is considered an "open fracture." This just means that the risk of infection is significant and mom had to get a dose of IV antibiotics before we could leave. She also has to be on antibiotics for 10 days. Ugh! But at least it doesn't need surgery!
We were in the little ER from about 8:30 pm until 1:30 am. They were surprisingly busy with little kids needing sutures. One such had to be sedated and that takes the whole team at a little place like OCH. So we got left to watch election results and then cat videos when our spirits couldn't take it anymore.
