On Saturday February 21st, Matt had to have emergency surgery, and narrowly escaped losing his life.
He was in our 3rd floor attic working (we *were* going to finish it and make it a family room) and the circular saw jerked and hit his thigh. He has an (approx) 20cm x 6cm wound that extends down to his femur.
I had just been up to check on him and he was planning to take a break soon. I went back downstairs and about 5 minutes later, thought I heard him yelling, so I ran back up to the second floor to check on him. He told me to "get something for pressure" so I grabbed a twin bed sheet. I was not sure how I'd be able to climb up the tiny opening to the 3rd floor to get him down-there was barely enough room for one person! He kind of "fell" out of the opening and was (what I thought) holding his hand by his thigh. I thought he had cut his hand off. He collapsed at the top of our stairs and I called 911. There was soooooo much blood and I could not get it to stop. I realized it was *not* his hand when he lifted it up to hand me his belt- I saw his femur while I was tying his belt around his thigh to stop the bleeding.
He slid down to the 1st floor and I kept applying pressure. I had no idea if he'd hit an artery or not-there was so much blood, and when I tried to add more fabric to the pressure dressing as he was lying on our dining room floor, he tried to "help" me and knocked the dressing off. When a section of his thigh flopped over laterally, I then saw his fat, muscle, and his femur. What a day that was is an understatement!
EMS talked of airlifting him to the hospital, but decided the hospital was a safe ambulance ride. They called a trauma surgeon to do the surgery. He severed 2 of his 4 quadriceps muscles, barely missed sawing through his femur, and narrowly missed severing his femoral artery. This could have been nothing but worse-had he hit the artery, I would have been burying my husband!
After the surgery, I asked the surgeon if Matt would be able to walk on that leg again. He was very vague told me "I hope so, but there was so much trauma, and we have to hope the muscles that are sewn together will heal." I also asked how many sutures he had-the surgeon said he "lost count." They had to stitch him up inside and then out.
Needless to say, the house looked like a crime scene. I have never seen so much blood without someone losing their life. I took pictures for Matt to see after he was home-I knew if I cleaned it up without pics, Matt would never believe it!
All said, he spent 5 days in the hospital and is now home. He is starting to bear some weight on his leg, and the surgeon is shocked! He had his drain taken out on Thursday 2/26, then saw the surgeon again yesterday-but he wanted to wait another week to remove the stitches. Fine with me, I agree!
So in the meantime, I am helping him clean the wound, changing his dressings twice a day (our surgeon Alina Jayne is helping) and watching him push himself to regain full function.
Since we got married, we have ALWAYS been thankful for each day we have together. Now we realize we need to cherish each *second* we have. I had just talked to him before the accident, and 5 minutes later, he had his accident. Just that quickly, he could have been gone. By the grace of God, he is still here, Alina Jayne still has her Daddy, I still have my soulmate, and our baby in Ethiopia still has a Father here.
The pics I posted are fairly G rated. We have some taken in the OR before he was "fixed" but are not suitable for the faint of heart!
Matt's Aunt (Nonna) gave him a couple of very cute get well gifts. Not to make light of a very serious situation, but these were great! Humor is so healing!
Check out the "edited" cover
The only circular saw Matt will ever use again!
Stay tuned....................
