Tuesday night here in Durango and Tony is napping beside me while I sit down to catch everyone up on his recovery. Funny, I just typed in "our recovery" then had to go back and correct it as it really isn't about me at all no matter how much I feel like it is. Being beside him every step of the way has made this seem like I am recovering as well (in a sense I am I guess) but he is the one handling the loss of his hand, not me.
Our first few days alone were hard, but good and today it was so nice to get up, blow dry my hair, put on some makeup and head to the office. What a dream the cubicle is. A sense of refuge and normality in a place that I used to think of as just work. Walking in, turning on the computer, checking the fax box and walking back to see Bree at her desk is such as great sense of relief. It means that at some point, life will resume as normal and this sense of trauma will have subsided to some degree.
Today was our first appointment with Dr. Kane Anderson who was the original trauma hand specialist that was in the ER with us the night of the accident. It was his first night on call here in Durango and Tony was his first patient. He was so calm and thorough that night I cannot say enough good things about him. I was in such a state of shock and panic, that it was nice to have such a competant person and the helm. I was worried that when I saw him today, I was going to break down or cry as it would bring up so many emotions for me, but what I felt when I saw him was gratitude that he was there that first night to help us through and that he was there today to pick up where Dr. Ipacktki left off. Heather came with us today in case there was some sort of other issues that came up with bandage changes and also to suppor us both which is so helpful its unbelieveable. Dr. Anderson removed all the bandages and said all was looking good which was such a relief to hear. The wounds are healing up, the swelling is going down and it does not look like there is an infection on his arm which was music to my ears. We were there for about 2.5-3 hours while the Dr. looked at everything so he knew exactly what we are all dealing with . As Dr. Anderson removed all the staples and stiches, Tony was so strong it brought tears to my eyes. It looked so painful and all I can do is watch. When you see your husband in that kind of pain, you feel helpless as there is nothing you can do but watch him tough it out through the pain as he tells the doctor to keep going.
After this appointment we went to the prosthetic offices to have an intial meeting with the prosthetics specialist. This was hard as we are looking at pictures of different situations, the realization of how long the process will be and quite frankly, how expensive. This is such a scary feeling and again you think how quickly your life has changed in three short weeks. No longer and I worried about an unfinished kitchen or how to pay a credit card bill, but you are thinking "wow, I sure hope insurance will cover this and if it doesn't, if we sell the house will it cover 1/3rd of our bills?". These are new thoughts for me that I keep at bay while the bills come in and we just keep our fingers crossed that our insurance will kick in and cover it.
Life is slowly returning to normal around here and tomorrow, I will post a few more pictures from todays appointment. I am making Tony one of his favorite dishes tonight, chicken parmesean and hopefully he will fall asleep with his arm elevated and sleep all the way through this night dreaming of healing.......
Our first few days alone were hard, but good and today it was so nice to get up, blow dry my hair, put on some makeup and head to the office. What a dream the cubicle is. A sense of refuge and normality in a place that I used to think of as just work. Walking in, turning on the computer, checking the fax box and walking back to see Bree at her desk is such as great sense of relief. It means that at some point, life will resume as normal and this sense of trauma will have subsided to some degree.
Today was our first appointment with Dr. Kane Anderson who was the original trauma hand specialist that was in the ER with us the night of the accident. It was his first night on call here in Durango and Tony was his first patient. He was so calm and thorough that night I cannot say enough good things about him. I was in such a state of shock and panic, that it was nice to have such a competant person and the helm. I was worried that when I saw him today, I was going to break down or cry as it would bring up so many emotions for me, but what I felt when I saw him was gratitude that he was there that first night to help us through and that he was there today to pick up where Dr. Ipacktki left off. Heather came with us today in case there was some sort of other issues that came up with bandage changes and also to suppor us both which is so helpful its unbelieveable. Dr. Anderson removed all the bandages and said all was looking good which was such a relief to hear. The wounds are healing up, the swelling is going down and it does not look like there is an infection on his arm which was music to my ears. We were there for about 2.5-3 hours while the Dr. looked at everything so he knew exactly what we are all dealing with . As Dr. Anderson removed all the staples and stiches, Tony was so strong it brought tears to my eyes. It looked so painful and all I can do is watch. When you see your husband in that kind of pain, you feel helpless as there is nothing you can do but watch him tough it out through the pain as he tells the doctor to keep going.
After this appointment we went to the prosthetic offices to have an intial meeting with the prosthetics specialist. This was hard as we are looking at pictures of different situations, the realization of how long the process will be and quite frankly, how expensive. This is such a scary feeling and again you think how quickly your life has changed in three short weeks. No longer and I worried about an unfinished kitchen or how to pay a credit card bill, but you are thinking "wow, I sure hope insurance will cover this and if it doesn't, if we sell the house will it cover 1/3rd of our bills?". These are new thoughts for me that I keep at bay while the bills come in and we just keep our fingers crossed that our insurance will kick in and cover it.
Life is slowly returning to normal around here and tomorrow, I will post a few more pictures from todays appointment. I am making Tony one of his favorite dishes tonight, chicken parmesean and hopefully he will fall asleep with his arm elevated and sleep all the way through this night dreaming of healing.......
I hope you guys get good news regarding insurance. You remain in my thoughts. Chris
ReplyDelete