Monday, June 9, 2014

He'll survive

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Friday night. Painkillers and cute babies help with the pain.

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The chair in our backyard (not to be mistaken for an abandoned lot)



Last Thursday afternoon the weather was beautiful and I was inside. Martin insisted I go out and lounge in the one "beach chair" we own. I insisted that there was no way I could lounge in a chair while knitting and nursing a baby. He assembled the chair anyway. And he assembled it incorrectly. It collapsed under him and as it fell his finger was caught between the sides and as a pair of scissors would, the chair chopped off the tip of his finger behind the nail. Pretty. disgusting. And painful! Once he realized exactly what happened he yelled at me to get him a towel to wrap around his hand and then asked me to look for the missing piece. Wow. Never thought that was how the day was gonna go. I found it. I picked it up. And a neighbor drove all three of them- herself, Martin, and the missing piece- to the hospital. They couldn't reattach the piece because his finger was technically mashed/crushed, not sliced, so a lot of the actual flesh was just gone.What I found was mostly just skin. (shudder) So they took a lower skin of his finger and swung it up over the tip and sewed it all up. Because skin regenerates like that, and I can't believe it's that easy.

The nearest hospital to our house actually has the best plastic surgery center in Krakow and our neighbor knew just where to take him. He had surgery to repair the finger and I came upon him lounging in a hospital gown, watching his flat screen television in his own private room, with a really swanky bathroom. (I wouldn't be mentioning all that except that from the outside the place looks like an abandoned building. Inside it's all brand new, state of the art...we were both impressed).His surgeon came to check on him, made a joke about him needing extra back rubs to heal correctly, and then left smiling. Martin said almost all the people were friendly and appreciated a good joke except the x-ray technician. Perhaps she was just having a bad day.Or perhaps his joke wasn't funny.

He went back today for a checkup. They said it all looks good and his finger is healing the way it should. He'll survive. He will have a whole finger, even if it is sort of cobbled together. When he asked about payment they said that since he's a Polish citizen it will all be taken care of, for free. That sounds nice. Let's hope it's true. ;)




7 comments:

  1. Ouch! That's a pretty horrid story! I bet you (or I) will never be able to look at a beach chair the same way ever again! Sending my best wishes to Martin.

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    1. Thanks! I think it will be destroyed soon... ;)

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  2. Oh, my...
    I hope Martin will be fine soon!
    I'm glad he had good care in polish hospital.
    And - baby is really cute. And so big already!

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    1. She is quite large for a 2.5 month old. Very heavy but very delicious. ;)

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  3. Yep, I see the painkiller's effect..but what's the baby's excuse? Just kidding! The baby is adorable and there is no denying she's related to Martin (except for the hair ;-))

    Get well soon wishes to Martin!

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  4. So does that mean if YOU had your finger lopped off you'd have to pay through the nose? I think you should have a beach chair bonfire. Roast marshmallows and hot dogs, play some beach boys.

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    1. Actually, I didn't get it for free, after all. But the total cost was still considerably lower than the COPAY I would've paid in the States, in a similar situation!

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