I am upstairs feeding the babies, when Joe walks in and says, "Suz, I MAY need stitches..." As I go downstairs, I see Joe in the kitchen with blood from his wrist to his bicep...several lacerations about an inch WIDE and deep enough for me to see pearly white tendon. (HOLY COW! I am thinking in my head) "YES Joe, you most definitely need stitches. Go to the ER immediately!" (in a calm, but firm voice)
At this point, Joe is packed full of adrenaline and is not really feeling the effects of his sliced open arm. In my head I am thinking, "OMG! I saw tendon! That is a deep cut! Will he have function in his fingers? Will he have nerve damage? It is his RIGHT arm! Oh NO!" I am trying not to freak Joe out, so I pull my brother aside and say, "COLLIN! GET HIM TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM PRONTO! He is going to start feeling the pain any second now!"
Thank the LORD Collin was there and took him to the ER while I finished feeding, diapering and putting the quads down to nap. I made some calls and had friends come to watch the babies so I could be with Joe in the ER. (THANK you Linda and Joyce!)
Joe wouldn't let me take a pic of the doc sewing him up :( but it was awesome! This was Joe...going on hour 5.5 and getting a bit delirious...
So...after it was all said and done, Joe had managed to miss every tendon and nerve by the grace of God. He was 1/2" away from severing his radial artery (which was the first thing I thought of when I saw the cut on his wrist!) He got a tetanus shot, 12 sutures (not including the subcutaneous stitching beneath the skin--it was DEEP!) and bandaged up....ALL WITHIN A WHOPPING 7 HOURS! jeeeeeeeez. Well, at least we got to spend some one-on-one time in the waiting room! Hee Hee...and managed to get back in time for all of our friends coming over that night for a BBQ! Yep, Joe would have to be in a coma before he would cancel a get-together with friends! Good times...
Joe modeling his gimp arm the day after...(can't pick up the babies for a while)
I told the ER staff that I'm sure we would be visiting quite often with 3 boys! (4, including their father)...
41 comments:
Thank goodness he is allright! Feel better Joe!
I'm SO glad he's alright! Thank Heavens it missed. Hope he heals quickly and smoothly.
(love those bibs, my favorites)
Oh no...that really stinks! Atleast he was doing something to help around the house and not something silly like goofing around!!! (no offense Joe, just stating the facts! lol) Glad he is ok now though! Love the pictures!!
Oh no! Poor Joe!
You guys are just too cute!
Hopefully he will be able to help you soon with the kiddos!
Oh my goodness Joe! Have to be the center of attention sometime, huh!! Heal quick so you can pick up your precious babies!!!
~Elyse~
Scary! Glad he is okay! Geez, you two go to great lengths to get that one-on-one time!! ;o)
Oh no! I'm sad about the lack of sewing up pictures :) That's always fascinating. I wanted my husband to get detailed video of the triplets C-section but he did not :( So cool. Anyway, I hope he feels better.
Enjoying your blog :)
Dorinda
OMG!!!! Yikes, that sounds like quite the injury. What a wife, if my husband would have showed me his arm I would have ran screaming from the room and passed out....he would be on his own I do not do well with blood and or things of that nature.
I am really glad you missed all the major arteries, tendons and nerves Joe, heal fast and healthy!
My gosh! That is awful! I am glad he is okay. 3 years ago this very month, my husband cut his knee open in a v-shaped cut right over the joint. We had a similar experience (LONG) in the ER. It WAS really cool looking into his knee while they picked splinters from the tissue, etc and then forced saline into the knee to see if the joint had been compromised. I took that prime seat right at his feet so I could watch. Fortunately - it was just a huge stitching job. I am not even a medical professional like you - but my mom is an RN with a variety of experience - and medical stuff is very common to me. I did work at Medical Plaza too - in fact that is where Mike and I met. LOL.
Seriously - I hope Joe heals up pronto.
Take care!
I'm glad to hear Joe is alright. Your life will be (and has been!) very exciting! At least he can help feed the babies!
OMGOSH!! Maybe thats why you didn't get back with me about the baby food!!! YIKES! Hope he recovers soon,god knows you could use all the arms you can get! haha, Just drop me a note when you get a chance and I will fill you in on what I have picked up so far! Cortney
Oh my goodness! I am glad that everything turned out all right. I think this is one of those times that it would be scary to be a nurse and know really how bad the cut was. Hope it heals well and all goes okay!
What a blessing it wasn't more serious!!! I hope his arm heals quickly...and y'all better REALLY enjoy that freezer with all the work/pain that's been put into it! :)
OHHH MY! I am so thankful he is okay! The Methodist Hospital in Mansfield is awesome! You hardly ever have a wait. My neighbor across the street has been there 2 times in a year LOL....He is always doing something. Just FYI, just in case :*)It is off Broad and Matlock about 3 miles from 360. Not to far from the Target :*)
ttyl
Joe, at least you've got another one. Hope you feel better soon.
The babies are beautiful.
Celeste
Ouch! Sorry, I was cringing as I read that, it just sounds painful. Hope Joe is back to lifting babies soon.
Hi! I happened upon your blog last week and spent the weekend reading the whole thing! Such an amazing story and beautiful children. It looks like so much fun. I have a 13 month old girl and she wears bows all the time too! Hope Joe feels better soon, and thanks for sharing all of your blessing.
Mollie from Webster, NY
Holy Cow! I'm glad he is alright. There's never a dull moment in your house.
Blagh...I'm getting nausious just thinking about it! A few months ago, my husband cut the top of his head when he was redoing the basement ceiling (I think he cut it on a piece of the drop ceiling). He called me down to look at it...it was PUMPING! Gag. It's tough being a wife, no? Glad Joe's okay. I'll be praying for a little extra patience for you the next few weeks with a "one armer" along side you.
Blagh...I'm getting nausious just thinking about it! A few months ago, my husband cut the top of his head when he was redoing the basement ceiling (I think he cut it on a piece of the drop ceiling). He called me down to look at it...it was PUMPING! Gag. It's tough being a wife, no? Glad Joe's okay. I'll be praying for a little extra patience for you the next few weeks with a "one armer" along side you.
I am glad to hear he is ok. I can only image what you went thru with that! UGH! It is sooo nice to have people to call and come watch the kiddos on such short notice. I hope it heals fast for him.
Misty
Oh no! Glad he's ok. Way to stay calm. I think I may have freaked. Don't ya just love hanging out in the ER? Ha! Too bad they don't move you up on the list for having quads at home waiting for you.
Eek poor Joe! I bet not picking up the kids is killing him.
Glad you got to spend some "quiet" time alone though even if it was surrounded by strangers and blood.
Joe, that just proves what a great Ag you really are... 12 stitches (not 11, not 13... 12). You definitely bleed maroon, even after an accident!
Gig 'em!
-Jon '00
Holy smokes Suz! I got queasy just reading about it. What a lucky man missing all those important body parts!! Glad he was okay. And I'm actually really glad you didn't get a pic of the doc sewing him up!
How horrible, I do hope Joe feels better soon. Best wishes to you all.
I hope he gets better soon and I hope they gave him so pretty good pain meds so he could get some rest. Its horrible that he won't be able to pick up the babies for a while but he'll get lots of lovin' from them when he's better!
I hope he gets better soon and I hope they gave him so pretty good pain meds so he could get some rest. Its horrible that he won't be able to pick up the babies for a while but he'll get lots of lovin' from them when he's better!
Ouch! That sounds painful! Hope he's on the road to recovery. I know he has the best nurse around! Take care of those precious babies! Your friend in East Texas, Pam.
I like the positive outlook...at least you got some mommy and daddy time together in the ER!! I hope he heals quickly!
OUCH JOE! I'm very impressed with how he kept humor through the whole ordeal. Although I can totally picture the whole scene of you pulling Collin away to make him go to the ER. SOOOO glad he's okay and that he had nurse Suz to take care of him. (You totally have the best degree EVER for your position as mom to four and wife to Joe!!!)
Glad that Collin was there to take Joe to the ER. I am sure that was one quick feeding, diapering and nap time as you were trying to get to Joe. Hope he is not in much pain and that he heals really quickly!
Now you two will BOTH have scars to compare! But Joe didn't get 4 beautiful quadlets from his.
It must be something about this time of year, because we've been seeing ALOT of big lacerations in my ER lately. So glad there is no permanent damage, though....very lucky, Joe!
The bottle time fussy video was definitely a familiar scene. It amazes me how much Sav looks like Joe there.
Hope to meet someday! Until then, I really enjoy getting to know your family via the blog. You do a great job!
Love from KS,
Moni
Ack! What a painful experience! I haven't commented before, but I read your blog all the time. I'm expecting my first daughter and will be ordering some of the bow headbands that Savannah wears. Sooo adorable! Take care!
Ooowy! Get better soon!
Ashley is having her surgery in the AM.
Glad he is okay!!! I tell ya, sometimes I think these husbands need to be leashed up. My hubby had an accident the first of May playing paintball with my boys and slipped and fractured his ankle and out of work for 5 weeks...LOL..;)
YIKES!!!!!!!!
Poor Joe! We will pray for a speedy healing and what a blessing to miss all the important parts! How in the world did that happen? I had 7 stitches in the palm of my hand in February, and I thought THAT was bad!!
Poor guy! His gimp face is hilarious.
Love love love those bibs! They are the best! My dd has the pink one on Savannah... They are well worth the price don't-cha-think?! (;
Thank God for presence of mind and live-in siblings! I bet you're glad he's around the house for a while since you've lost a baby lifter.
P. S. I've commented a couple times but just wanted to say I heard about you thru Sonya "looch". I was curious to see if you'd had those babies yet, so I did a search and found your blog, and I'm so glad I did! My second girl was born about a month before your babies and I'm expecting my third in a month (not in the plan). It is encouraging to see so many Christian blogger mamas who have many small children and they are LOVING it! God bless.
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