Tales from the Hill's Country

Quips, stories and observations from our adventures in marriage and parenting (as told by Katie).

Monday, March 28, 2011

Poor Chris!

On our first day of skiing, Chris went with Laura and Liz for snowboarding lessons. I went off to enjoy the slopes with Tara and we met up a lunch. Chris told me all about how much fun he was having and how he was really getting a hang of snowboarding. I was really happy and expecting for us to be skiing blue and black slopes together by the end of the trip!

When we met up again at the end of the day, however, Chris told me he fell and badly bruised his hand. It was a beautiful shade of purple. Later that afternoon, I found him not looking so hot:
He had wrapped it up with a scarf and was elevating it. The hand was now extremely swollen and the purple was getting deeper. I insisted Chris go see the doctor. And that's what I thought he did when he left with K-Dog early the next morning.

Instead, when I met up with them at lunch, Chris told me he hadn't seen the doctor yet and that he'd been snowboarding all day! Men! He could move it and didn't think it was broken so he didn't see the point. After some more encouragement from me, he finally did go to the doctor at the end of the day. After some x-rays, the thumb was declared shattered. Yes, broken in six places! The doctor gave Chris a cast and a lecture about not snowboarding on an injury:
This next photo attempts to show you some of the amazing colors we saw on Chris' hand... but it really doesn't do it justice:
When we got back to Houston, we saw a Doctor who recommended surgery.

My husband once pulled out his own wisdom tooth while traveling internationally for work so he wouldn't have to fly home and miss an important meeting (true story). So when I told his family that he'd be going under, his sister, Jojo, was shocked. She was certain he would watch a youtube video, grab a shot of whiskey and attempt the surgery himself. When I told Chris about her prediction he responded, "marriage has made me soft."

So last Friday morning we woke up at 4:30am to get Chris ready for surgery. As a young wife, I wasn't thrilled about the idea of my husband going under anesthesia and being cut open, but Chris seemed totally fine with it. He even told work that it was outpatient so he'd probably be back to work for the afternoon! Ha!

My parents of course knew what was going on, but I hadn't given my mom every detail of where and when. So you can imagine my surprise when she walked into the waiting room 15 minutes after Chris and I had arrived! She thought I might enjoy the company and I have to admit I did. We commandeered a corner of the waiting room and got quite comfortable!
The doctor was very pleased with the surgery and Chris is now on the mend. He has a soft cast and in a few weeks, he'll get a harder one.

As I drove a very medicated Chris home he told me I should just drop him off at work. Then I asked him why his hand was orange (from the iodine) and he told me that he'd had chicken wings!

This injury has been a little on the inconvenient side, but thankfully we have wonderful friends and family. My mom kept me company in the waiting room (and sat with Chris after the surgery while I went for a jog). My dad mowed our lawn for us, which was very appreciated!! (Chris insisted that he could push the mower with one hand... and then passed out.) Our friend Mark volunteered to come by and help me move some things into the attic (thankfully I managed, but the willingness was so kind). And many of our friends called and e-mailed to check on Chris' recovery. We're so blessed!

After hibernating for nearly 36 hours after his surgery, Chris was ready to brave the outdoors.
(Of course I had to get the "under construction" part of our yard in the frame!)

Several days later, his hand feels fine and he's back to work. That pain medicine is crazy though! Chris has said that coming off that has been worse than the pain itself!

Of all the snow-related injuries, I'm thankful that Chris' is just mildly inconvenient. I've enjoyed being his helper and learning that I'm much more capable than I thought (like moving heavy things into the attic!), but it'll be nice in three months when he'll be all fixed up. Looks like I'm peeling the crawfish this season!

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