Christmas Eve morning everyone was grumpy - I mean everyone! Autumn was crying over everything, the other kids weren't playing nice, they were fighting. I was worrying about some stuff and was busy online and not being the most attentive mother. Leah was mad that Autumn was trying to get at her stuff and so I told her, go down stairs, shut the door, and play in your room. She was going so slowly down the stairs that Autumn was catching up. I said, go fast, but DO NOT SLAM THE DOOR! I was quite clear about it because Leah has been known to be a door slammer. Then I went back to what I was doing. I heard a door close and then a door SLAM. The thought in my head was: Why would Leah close her door, re-open it to slam it right after I said not to. I was a little mad.
But before I could think too much, I heard blood curdling cries from Autumn. I went running downstairs and there was Autumn crying her heart out, in only a shirt and a diaper (don't remember why she didn't have pants on) and blood - a lot. Just to be honest, I started yelling. I was so mad at Leah for slamming her door and Leah opened her door, but wouldn't come out and kept closing her door saying I can't come out! I wanted Leah to get me the phone so I could call Levin to come home, I needed to get shoes on, I needed to get a towel, I needed to stop the blood, I didn't know what to do. I finally got Leah to walk around the blood and then she was fine. I went to get a towel and then I saw Oliver come out of his room - I thought he was upstairs. I told him to walk around the blood. He and Leah were so helpful! They got me pants, a new diaper that wasn't covered in blood and a towel. I was getting upset Levin wasn't answering his phone and Autumn had played with the house phone so it was off the hood somewhere I couldn't find. Autumn stopped crying and I suddenly felt so much more compassion for her! She just hugged onto me quietly and I realized I hadn't been doing much to comfort her. I completely calmed down then. Levin finally called me and asked what the emergency was. When I said, "part of Autumn's finger is cut off!" he came running home. I passed him at the front door as I ran down to the Embassy medical unit and he came home to watch the other kids - and thank heavens, clean up the blood.
Autumn wouldn't let me cover her hand so my sweater became a human band-aid I guess. At the medical unit - she didn't cry once! She let htem look at and clean her finger a little. She fell asleep whyile they bandaged it up and only stirred and let out a little whine when the nurse pressed a little hard. Then she went right back to sleep. We had to go to the European Medical Center to get an x-ray to make sure no bone was damaged and see about plastic surgery. Levin came and met us there. When Autumn woke up and turned and saw him there she got a huge smile and turned around. She saw the bandage on her hand and acted like, hey, look at this cool thing!! I honestly feel with all my heart angels were with her. A few days later I hurt my finger on a stupid Russian toilet flusher and could not believe Autumn wasn't crying more, my finger hurt for a long time!
We rode to the children's clinic and Autumn was so happy. The x-ray showed no bone was hurt and they said we'd go to the hospital and have surgery at 6 that night.
We came home, made sure Donna could keep watching the other kids - so great to let them be there on Christmas Eve! Autumn and I changed out of our bloody clothes, we took turns hiding from Autumn and eating because she wasn't allowed to eat or drink. Then we went to the hospital.
At the hospital we met with a plastic surgeon and an attending physician. They took a picture on an iPhone, looked at it and acted disappointed we didn't have the "piece" that was cut off. Then said, "I promise you we can do the surgery by tomorrow." Nice promise. We went back out and later they came and told us to come Christmas Day at 3 (or was it 4 pm) and have the surgery.
One fun thing was we had to go give them some blood for some lab tests. They took a ton! Autumn did finally cry then. Then they said we needed a urine sample. We looked at them like, uh, how do you expect us to get that. They gave us some dumb things to put inside her diaper. Autumn hadn't had anything to drink since before the incident that morning because they wanted her ready for surgery.
We gave her water to drink immediately, but before we got home it was in her diaper I guess. Then I missed one on the carpet . . . it made for a stressful Christmas Eve!
The Embassy doctor's daughter has babysat for us a couple of times recently, so she brought us some cookies which were perfect to leave for Santa because we'd been supposed to make his cookies that afternoon. Leah and Oliver didn't seem to feel cheated because they love the Dunsons so much I think they were plenty happy to have spent Christmas eve there. We put the kids to bed early and hoped for Autumn to pee in the potty chair.
Oh, one interesting thing - while I was retelling the story I had a memory of Oliver coming out of his room. I had to know about the piece of finger Levin said he didn't find. I came home and found it. I made Levin touch it and put it in a bag in case the surgeon wanted to look at it because he'd said he wanted to. We knew it wouldn't be reattached or anything. I found it - and not by Leah's door, but the other door. I'd been feeling wracked with guilt for yelling at her anyway and then especially when I realized she might not have even done it! I felt even worse now. We told Leah it wasn't her fault, but she didn't believe us for a while.
Back to Christmas Eve. Finally Levin put her in a garbage sack (around her legs) and he and she went to sleep on the recliner. They slept that way most of the night with me taking one little shift. Nothing all night long and I felt so sorry for her in that garbage bag! But the next morning she sat on the potty chair and I think the best Christmas present was she went!!
We had a fun Christmas morning with the kids. Ruby came to babysit them. She is here with no family, dog sitting for another family, and going to the Dunsons later to take the kids to Christmas dinner that we were supposed to get to be at.
Here is Autumn Christmas morning.
We went to the hospital and they put us in a hospital room with a bed you know and we waited. The head doctor (not surgeon) and our attending physician came in and said we'd be spending the night. That was a surprise! He mocked us for bringing the finger, but the attending physician who was with the surgeon took a picture of it. Finally they came back to take her away. I walked her up to the room and then they made he hand her over. It was not fun or easy! Oh, we had met with the anesthesiologist too. But still not the surgeon! He said he'd give her a small dose and she'd be out 30-45 minutes. An hour later they came to get me to go collect her.
She was screaming! I felt horrible and when I got her she still didn't calm down. The anesthesiologist told me everything went well. Still no surgeon. They tried to have me put her in the bed to roll her down to our floor, but she was going to roll off she was trying to get to me and I wanted to hold her so I carried her down. As we got back to our room I realized her fingers were bunching out of the cast and no wonder she was in pain. The nurses ran back to tell someone while I held my sad baby whose finger had completely slipped out! We were so mad! She had a cast up past her elbow, but the part that had surgery on it, her finger, was out of the cast! It hadn't even been a full year since Leah's bad cast incident so were like, man Russians are stupid with casts! She started to drift to sleep when they came back and said to take her back up. The anesthesiologist took her form me upstairs. An hour later they rolled her into our room asleep. That anesthesiologist must know the exact dose to give because she woke up 60 seconds later and wanted me. She was a little fussy, but not screaming! She had on a full cast - no holes for fingers to escape! We waited an hour I think before the attending physician came down and talked to us for a minute. Levin left and I made sure she'd had some pain medicine. They said I could give her ibuprofen at bed time. So we watched an iPad show and then got some Motrin. Once she got it, she was drowsy, but it took her a while to fall asleep tossing and turning on her bed - the narrow hospital bed. I had to share with her even though they brought me one, but the rails were low and Autumn wouldn't lay down without me. We had a pretty good night sleep considering she kept whacking her cast on the rails and I was a little scared for my face.
My prayers were answered and Autumn slept in. I was worried how to entertain a 1 year old in a little hotel room.
No one visited us the entire night so I have no idea why we had to stay the night. I'm used to America where every time you turn around they are checking your vital signs. The next morning at 9 the whole crew of doctors for the floor visited us. We never saw the surgeon. I called back our attending physician and begged him to let us go early. They ahd said we'd stay until noon at the earliest. He complied and within 30 or 40 minutes we had paperwork signed, bill, and we were set to go. I was elated. It made up for the bad job they did on the cast.
As for the surgeon I guess he was "too good" to talk to us, but we did hear he is the best hand surgeon in Russia. Who knows what that means.
Levin had taken the day off and just went into work for a minute so that we could play games and all the presents with our kids that we felt we got cheated out of Christmas Day.
We went to England on vacation and so we planned on getting the cast cut off there. She had the cast 9 days. Two days before the appointment it fell off! I was a little shocked! We kept her from picking at the scab by putting a bandage and a sock on her arm. The doctor there said it looked okay, but he was a bone doctor, not plastic surgeon. We have to keep it covered up so the scab can heal and everything can't get infected, but that can be done with a little bandage and tape. By now - Jan 27th - we just have a little band-aid on it looks like we will only need that for a little longer. And I think, fingers crossed, that it's actually going to look pretty normal! Yea! She is very good about keeping it covered. When one band-aid falls off she brings it to me and holds up her finger so I can put a new one on.
Well, we've learned one thing - not to slam doors. Leah is an angel about it, Oliver is still learning.
Leah and I had a good talk one night where we explained it wasn't her fault. Before she hadn't believed me and I didn't know why, that night she said, "then why was Autumn and the blood outside my door." I guess her 5 yr old brain didn't figure out that her door and Oliver's door are right next to each other, especially Oliver's hinge side of the door. So I think she isn't as traumatized by it anymore and Oliver seems to be unaware, although we make a point not to be mean or accusing of it to him.
Here is hoping we never have to deal with hospitals again. I'm sure we will someday, but lets at least get out of Russia first. And especially no more Russian casts!
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