Daddy may have a lost a few fingers but he is still a great cuddler.
This picture melts my heart.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Nurse Tammy
A little update on how Ryan is doing.
Monday morning we had to head back to Winnipeg to see plastics and occupational therapy. It was a long hard day for Ryan. Plastics may have been the worst of it because they had to pull off all the dressing and some of it was stuck on there good. Plastics took a good look at his x-rays and then a good look at his hand. They were happy with the way it was healing. They checked out the skin graph and all looked well. We see them again next Wednesday to have the stitches removed and get new x-rays.
Ryan was already in pain from that experience and then it was on to a 2 1/2 hour appointment with therapy. Our Therapist was exceptional though. She was gentle and kind and worked with Ryan very well. She took off the dressing and gave his whole hand a good cleaning. Then she dressed it again making sure to have a lot of gauze on to absorb any moisture. At this point they are a little afraid as maceration, (prolonged wetness that can cause skin layers to deteriorate and cause open sores) so we want to keep his hand as dry as possible even between the fingers. This was a little bit painful for Ryan as no one had pulled his fingers apart yet to get in between. After he was all wrapped up with new dressing they molded him a splint out of thermal plastic. The main purpose of this is to help keep his finger straight and protect the skin graph. The tendons still need time to heal before he can move his thumb.
Right before we were able to leave the therapist gave Ryan some exercises to do. Because of the 3 hours of touching he had already been through, this was exceptionally hard, but he did it. He has been so strong through all of this. I am so amazed with and proud of him.
The doctors want Ryan's dressing to be changed daily so they got in touch with Brandon to set something up. Unfortunately Brandon's home care service is very busy and there is a 2 week waiting list. Obviously that is not an option so the lady that set it up had to contract it out to a private nursing company in town. They came yesterday to re-dress Ryan's hand. It was the first and last time they will be doing it.
Everything from reading the doctors orders to listening to us was too hard for them to do. The nurses showed up without any sterile gloves, or sterile towels, pads....anything. We had told them twice that we had enough gauze to do at least one dressing, and their orders say to bring all supplies with them, but apparently that is too confusing. Right from the start the head nurse seemed out of her element, she said she would watch as she undressed it to dress it the same way, which she did not do. She refused to read my hand out from OT on how to use one of the products claiming she uses it all the time. She did not listen to me when I told her how our OT wants it done, all she did was complain about how we did not have the right materials to do the job and that she thought we had gloves and everything. Honestly what nurse does house calls for dressing changes without bringing sterile gloves? Really? . Ryan was huffing and puffing, not because they hurt him physically but because their incompetence scared him. I was ready to just 'snap lose it' on them. Once they were done Ryan got up and went to his room. I was left to explain that this was not what we expected and that we were unhappy with how this worked out. They finally left and I went to check on Ryan
This is how he explained it..."of all the things that I thought would take me to my breaking point, I did not expect it to be 2 nurses changing my dressing. They are never touching me again. I would rather have a no-handed monkey do it next time".
So I set out to find what will do for the next day. We decided that we would take Ryan to Day Treatment at the hospital, but couldn't without a doctors referral. So, we went to the home care pharmacy and got all our supplies and decided I would do it today, tomorrow we see his Occupational therapist in Brandon then we will go from there.
Then we hit problem #2: not a single pharmacy in town stocks sterile gloves. They can order them in but do not carry them. I went in to the ER and told them this, " My husband cut off his fingers and part of his thumb last week, he needs daily dressing changes and I am capable of doing them. The problem is that I can find any sterile gloves in all of Brandon so, you need to either supply me with some gloves or I will have to bring him in here and have one of your nurses do it." She went and got me the gloves and gave them to me. :)
Today I was Ryan's nurses and I took down his dressing, cleaned up his wounds and then redressed it. Now, we both agree it is not quite as good as the Occupational Therapist, but 100x better than the private nurses. I can not explain how good it was to be able to do that for him; to see him more at ease, to know that he trusts me enough to take care of him like that. I has been a hard go but the fact that I can be there for him to help him with everything from the paperwork to his medicine and be his nurse makes me feel...almost special.
Props to Ryan's parents who have been helping out with the kids because with the kids home I almost lose my mind a bit. They are both very very demanding children who need A LOT of attention and right now Ryan needs that attention so not having the boys home is a huge help.
Thanks Mom and Dad!
watch for cute picture I will be posting tomorrow. :)
Monday morning we had to head back to Winnipeg to see plastics and occupational therapy. It was a long hard day for Ryan. Plastics may have been the worst of it because they had to pull off all the dressing and some of it was stuck on there good. Plastics took a good look at his x-rays and then a good look at his hand. They were happy with the way it was healing. They checked out the skin graph and all looked well. We see them again next Wednesday to have the stitches removed and get new x-rays.
Ryan was already in pain from that experience and then it was on to a 2 1/2 hour appointment with therapy. Our Therapist was exceptional though. She was gentle and kind and worked with Ryan very well. She took off the dressing and gave his whole hand a good cleaning. Then she dressed it again making sure to have a lot of gauze on to absorb any moisture. At this point they are a little afraid as maceration, (prolonged wetness that can cause skin layers to deteriorate and cause open sores) so we want to keep his hand as dry as possible even between the fingers. This was a little bit painful for Ryan as no one had pulled his fingers apart yet to get in between. After he was all wrapped up with new dressing they molded him a splint out of thermal plastic. The main purpose of this is to help keep his finger straight and protect the skin graph. The tendons still need time to heal before he can move his thumb.
Right before we were able to leave the therapist gave Ryan some exercises to do. Because of the 3 hours of touching he had already been through, this was exceptionally hard, but he did it. He has been so strong through all of this. I am so amazed with and proud of him.
The doctors want Ryan's dressing to be changed daily so they got in touch with Brandon to set something up. Unfortunately Brandon's home care service is very busy and there is a 2 week waiting list. Obviously that is not an option so the lady that set it up had to contract it out to a private nursing company in town. They came yesterday to re-dress Ryan's hand. It was the first and last time they will be doing it.
Everything from reading the doctors orders to listening to us was too hard for them to do. The nurses showed up without any sterile gloves, or sterile towels, pads....anything. We had told them twice that we had enough gauze to do at least one dressing, and their orders say to bring all supplies with them, but apparently that is too confusing. Right from the start the head nurse seemed out of her element, she said she would watch as she undressed it to dress it the same way, which she did not do. She refused to read my hand out from OT on how to use one of the products claiming she uses it all the time. She did not listen to me when I told her how our OT wants it done, all she did was complain about how we did not have the right materials to do the job and that she thought we had gloves and everything. Honestly what nurse does house calls for dressing changes without bringing sterile gloves? Really? . Ryan was huffing and puffing, not because they hurt him physically but because their incompetence scared him. I was ready to just 'snap lose it' on them. Once they were done Ryan got up and went to his room. I was left to explain that this was not what we expected and that we were unhappy with how this worked out. They finally left and I went to check on Ryan
This is how he explained it..."of all the things that I thought would take me to my breaking point, I did not expect it to be 2 nurses changing my dressing. They are never touching me again. I would rather have a no-handed monkey do it next time".
So I set out to find what will do for the next day. We decided that we would take Ryan to Day Treatment at the hospital, but couldn't without a doctors referral. So, we went to the home care pharmacy and got all our supplies and decided I would do it today, tomorrow we see his Occupational therapist in Brandon then we will go from there.
Then we hit problem #2: not a single pharmacy in town stocks sterile gloves. They can order them in but do not carry them. I went in to the ER and told them this, " My husband cut off his fingers and part of his thumb last week, he needs daily dressing changes and I am capable of doing them. The problem is that I can find any sterile gloves in all of Brandon so, you need to either supply me with some gloves or I will have to bring him in here and have one of your nurses do it." She went and got me the gloves and gave them to me. :)
Today I was Ryan's nurses and I took down his dressing, cleaned up his wounds and then redressed it. Now, we both agree it is not quite as good as the Occupational Therapist, but 100x better than the private nurses. I can not explain how good it was to be able to do that for him; to see him more at ease, to know that he trusts me enough to take care of him like that. I has been a hard go but the fact that I can be there for him to help him with everything from the paperwork to his medicine and be his nurse makes me feel...almost special.
Props to Ryan's parents who have been helping out with the kids because with the kids home I almost lose my mind a bit. They are both very very demanding children who need A LOT of attention and right now Ryan needs that attention so not having the boys home is a huge help.
Thanks Mom and Dad!
watch for cute picture I will be posting tomorrow. :)
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Ryan's Accident
I know I have not been blogging much lately but there are a few family members and friends out there that do not use facebook so I just wanted to update those people with what is going on.
Last Wednesday afternoon Ryan had a terrible accident at work. He was using the table saw and near the end of his cut the cork tile got stuck, or twisted and kicked his hand back through the table saw cutting off 4 or his fingers and a piece of his thumb.
He has working down in Deloriane that day to was rushed to the Deloraine hospital. At that point they called me to tell me what was happening. He was then rushed by ambulance to the Health Science Centre in Winnipeg. It was not till 5 hours after the accident that Ryan's parents and I finally got to see him.
What we found out when we got the hospital was that it was his right hand and that there was little chance they could reattach the fingers. When plastics arrived they explained to us that because or where the cut was on his fingers reattaching was not really an option. He said that if they did reattach the fingers would be useless and would just kinda hang there and they would be extremely painful. He said that 90% of the time when they reattach fingers like that they have to remove them within the first year anyway. So it was decided to just close off what was left without reattching.
It was a very long night sitting by his bedside. He was in incredible pain for about 6 1/2 hours from the time of the accident until they finally gave him enough drugs that he fell asleep. Both his parents and I sat by him while plastics closed up what was left of his fingers. They fixed the tendons in his thumb and skin graphed it as well, so once he heals up he should have full use of his thumb; it will be weaker but it will work. The entire process took over 3 hours but luckily Ryan slept through most of it.
That night he had a pretty good sleep. The next morning there was a lot of pain. The doctors wanted to switch him over just to t3s but after trying it once he was then pumped full of Fentanyl & morphine. Eventually they decided that they would put him on Percocet (Oxycodone & acetaminophen). Once he could just take that orally he would be allowed to leave the hospital. Thursday was very up and down but Ryan was determined to get out of the hospital. He was so strong and by 6:30pm they released him. I would not let him go back to Brandon that night so we all stayed in a hotel incase anything happened.
Besides experiencing some intense pressure pains in the middle of the night he did great so Friday we brought him home.
So far Ryan has been in incredible high spirit. I am just so shocked and amazed at how he is couping. I think a part of it is that the shock has not really worn off and it has not really hit us but for now we are playing it hour by hour and that is working for us.We have been receiving so many kind words from family and friends and I can see how that is helping him. It is so good to have those email and messages to read when he turns on the computer. So those of you that are sending them please keep it up.
Monday will be a very challenging day. We are back at plastics and occupational therapy. He is going to have his hand unwrapped so they can look at the skin graph. I am worried about this because Ryan has not actually seen his hand since they sewed it all up. In order to close the skin around his fingers they had to cut more length off of the bone so his fingers are actually shorter than when the accident happened. I think that the first time he sees it is going to be hard. Also it is just going to be extremely painful to have everything unwrapped and them touching and moving the fingers. Then he has to have a custom splint made. The reason for the splint is to hold his thumb out and not let it move or he will ruin all their work they did with his tendons, as well as to keep him fingers protected.
Ryan has about a 1/2 inch of length left on his pinky and ring finger, his middle finger is a little bit longer, and his index finger is the longest. They stiched it closed just below the first knuckle. They explained to us that there are things they can do in the future to give him more use. They can cut down the webbing between the thumb and index finger to give him more area to grasp. They can also take one of his toes and attach it to his finger to give him a longer finger and a better pinch.
If you would like to send your love, your positive thoughts, or anything else you can comment here, facebook me if you have it or mail us @
PO BOX 50034
Brandon MB
R7A 7E4
Last Wednesday afternoon Ryan had a terrible accident at work. He was using the table saw and near the end of his cut the cork tile got stuck, or twisted and kicked his hand back through the table saw cutting off 4 or his fingers and a piece of his thumb.
He has working down in Deloriane that day to was rushed to the Deloraine hospital. At that point they called me to tell me what was happening. He was then rushed by ambulance to the Health Science Centre in Winnipeg. It was not till 5 hours after the accident that Ryan's parents and I finally got to see him.
What we found out when we got the hospital was that it was his right hand and that there was little chance they could reattach the fingers. When plastics arrived they explained to us that because or where the cut was on his fingers reattaching was not really an option. He said that if they did reattach the fingers would be useless and would just kinda hang there and they would be extremely painful. He said that 90% of the time when they reattach fingers like that they have to remove them within the first year anyway. So it was decided to just close off what was left without reattching.
It was a very long night sitting by his bedside. He was in incredible pain for about 6 1/2 hours from the time of the accident until they finally gave him enough drugs that he fell asleep. Both his parents and I sat by him while plastics closed up what was left of his fingers. They fixed the tendons in his thumb and skin graphed it as well, so once he heals up he should have full use of his thumb; it will be weaker but it will work. The entire process took over 3 hours but luckily Ryan slept through most of it.
That night he had a pretty good sleep. The next morning there was a lot of pain. The doctors wanted to switch him over just to t3s but after trying it once he was then pumped full of Fentanyl & morphine. Eventually they decided that they would put him on Percocet (Oxycodone & acetaminophen). Once he could just take that orally he would be allowed to leave the hospital. Thursday was very up and down but Ryan was determined to get out of the hospital. He was so strong and by 6:30pm they released him. I would not let him go back to Brandon that night so we all stayed in a hotel incase anything happened.
Besides experiencing some intense pressure pains in the middle of the night he did great so Friday we brought him home.
So far Ryan has been in incredible high spirit. I am just so shocked and amazed at how he is couping. I think a part of it is that the shock has not really worn off and it has not really hit us but for now we are playing it hour by hour and that is working for us.We have been receiving so many kind words from family and friends and I can see how that is helping him. It is so good to have those email and messages to read when he turns on the computer. So those of you that are sending them please keep it up.
Monday will be a very challenging day. We are back at plastics and occupational therapy. He is going to have his hand unwrapped so they can look at the skin graph. I am worried about this because Ryan has not actually seen his hand since they sewed it all up. In order to close the skin around his fingers they had to cut more length off of the bone so his fingers are actually shorter than when the accident happened. I think that the first time he sees it is going to be hard. Also it is just going to be extremely painful to have everything unwrapped and them touching and moving the fingers. Then he has to have a custom splint made. The reason for the splint is to hold his thumb out and not let it move or he will ruin all their work they did with his tendons, as well as to keep him fingers protected.
Ryan has about a 1/2 inch of length left on his pinky and ring finger, his middle finger is a little bit longer, and his index finger is the longest. They stiched it closed just below the first knuckle. They explained to us that there are things they can do in the future to give him more use. They can cut down the webbing between the thumb and index finger to give him more area to grasp. They can also take one of his toes and attach it to his finger to give him a longer finger and a better pinch.
If you would like to send your love, your positive thoughts, or anything else you can comment here, facebook me if you have it or mail us @
PO BOX 50034
Brandon MB
R7A 7E4
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
What's Up
Life sure has been crazy lately. We had a flood at Dufresne Furniture. We survived the rising river but got caught by a water main break. I showed up for work 2 weeks and could hear water running into our store and everyone was running around trying to move furniture out of the way. I have been working crazy hours along with everyone else. First it was because we had to manually take inventory of everything that was in water damaged areas. Now we are all working long busy hours while we have a massive liquidation sale. Everything has been 25% to 60% off and that has brought us a lot of business.
We have managed to squeeze in some family time here and there. Last weekend we picked up Everett's wagon and went for a walk. Everett LOVES his wagon. He just hangs out and just smiles. Rawley pulled him half of the way then climbed in with him and rode the rest of the way home. While I pulled.
Last weekend I set up a booth at the mall in town and worked with some other consultants to raise money for the MARY KAY ASH CHARITABLE FOUNDATION. We also had a draw going on to get some new names for each of us. It was a long weekend as I set up in the morning than went and worked at Dufrense then came back to the mall and worked our booth. It has been a long time since I have had 2 jobs and I am feeling old and tired. lol. The booth at the mall was a huge success though so I do not regret it for one minute.
Every Tuesday night I go to my Mary Kay meeting here in town. We talk about our week past, set goals for the new week, pamper guests and learn skill to help us along in our business. It is always so motivating and inspirational. I absolutely love going. It is also a chance for me to spend time with a group of really wonderful ladies. This week we were graced with a national sales director from Ontario and our VP, Lynda Rose, from the Dallas Head Office. They were both amazing speakers and it was such aa wonderful evening.
Lynda Rose brought out a whole lot of expensive jewelry for us to see. She was showing us all the jewelry that we could possibly earn within the company. As long as we were returning in the morning to attend her workshop we were allowed to take a piece of jewelry of our choice home. So, I picked out the the Queen of Sales ring. It is worth $10,000. It sure felt great to wear that on my hand.
Anyway, that is a bit of what we have been up to. The weather is odd here. One day is 24 degrees then the next day is thunder, lightening, hail, down pours and only 6 degrees. We have crazy mosquito's already and Ryan has had his first tick *shutter*. The Assiniboine River went down about 5 or 6 feet but is back up abut 4 feet. So we are going to have a lot of water hanging around for a long time. YUCK!
We have managed to squeeze in some family time here and there. Last weekend we picked up Everett's wagon and went for a walk. Everett LOVES his wagon. He just hangs out and just smiles. Rawley pulled him half of the way then climbed in with him and rode the rest of the way home. While I pulled.
Last weekend I set up a booth at the mall in town and worked with some other consultants to raise money for the MARY KAY ASH CHARITABLE FOUNDATION. We also had a draw going on to get some new names for each of us. It was a long weekend as I set up in the morning than went and worked at Dufrense then came back to the mall and worked our booth. It has been a long time since I have had 2 jobs and I am feeling old and tired. lol. The booth at the mall was a huge success though so I do not regret it for one minute.
Every Tuesday night I go to my Mary Kay meeting here in town. We talk about our week past, set goals for the new week, pamper guests and learn skill to help us along in our business. It is always so motivating and inspirational. I absolutely love going. It is also a chance for me to spend time with a group of really wonderful ladies. This week we were graced with a national sales director from Ontario and our VP, Lynda Rose, from the Dallas Head Office. They were both amazing speakers and it was such aa wonderful evening.This is Lynda Rose and me.
Lynda Rose brought out a whole lot of expensive jewelry for us to see. She was showing us all the jewelry that we could possibly earn within the company. As long as we were returning in the morning to attend her workshop we were allowed to take a piece of jewelry of our choice home. So, I picked out the the Queen of Sales ring. It is worth $10,000. It sure felt great to wear that on my hand.
Anyway, that is a bit of what we have been up to. The weather is odd here. One day is 24 degrees then the next day is thunder, lightening, hail, down pours and only 6 degrees. We have crazy mosquito's already and Ryan has had his first tick *shutter*. The Assiniboine River went down about 5 or 6 feet but is back up abut 4 feet. So we are going to have a lot of water hanging around for a long time. YUCK!
Good Night!
