The pins are out!

Here is Tyler, post-op. He was in surgery for an hour and the Doctor said everything went fine. This was 2 weeks ago (sorry about the lag in updates). They didn't have to open his hand up or anything. Just put Tyler under a "real-time" x-ray machine and shoved the pins into place. They did give Tyler the option of just having local anesthesia or going under completely. He elected to go under completely, which was probably best for everyone. Tyler was trying to sleep off the drugs and Elsie kept slamming into our bedroom door (which doesn't latch anyway) as hard as she could. The door would slam open and Elsie would go crawling in there as fast as her little legs could carry her. After this happened a few times I decided to let her play with dad for a few minutes so she wouldn't be so curious and he could finally get some sleep. In this picture, she is making sure he knows she is definitely here to help. And here I'm sure she is congratulating herself on what a great job she does of cheering up her dad. This is the day he got the pins taken out (Tues, 5/25). This is supposed to be a shot of the pins in Tyler's thumb, not of the Doctor's fancy shoes. However, I was rushing and so his thumb is fuzzy while the Doc's shoes look nice and shiny. Anyway, Tyler kept asking if I thought they would give him anything when they took the pins out. I said no. He was very worried. The Doctor asked Tyler if he would prefer to lie down, but Tyler elected to remain sitting. He said it did feel weird having the pins come out, and although it didn't hurt, he was getting a bit queasy just by the feeling of having them pulled out. He didn't pass out, thank goodness. Now he is pin free! He does have to keep wearing the splint for a couple of more weeks when he's working, but other than that the splint is off and Tyler is trying to get some range of motion back into his thumb.

Snack Time, Take 1

After watching Rambo for a few days Elsie decided maybe she could start sharing her snacks with him. At first it was a little scary. You can see her snatch her hand back as soon as he takes the goldfish. However, after a few times she warms up to the idea and starts having fun. Rambo was very well-behaved, and patiently waited for her to hand him the snacks, instead of snatching them off of her "snack stool" which was easily within his reach. It was very cute. We weren't able to upload the video directly to our blog, so we posted it on You Tube. Follow the link- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFzzT2jsmq0

Snack Time, Take 2

After finally getting the hang of sharing her snack with Rambo, Elsie decided she wanted the last goldfish. Rambo, on the other hand, had something else in mind- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrHYvrl8-f4

Dog Sitting

We have been watching Sam's dog the last week while they were out of town. We asked Sam to bring Rambo's stairs so he would be able to get up on our bed (which we had to raise up pretty high so we could store boxes underneath) and away from Elsie. Well, Elsie thought the stairs were just about the best thing next to 'Nilla Wafers. As soon as we put the stairs up she was trying to figure out how they worked. She would usually get stuck on the 2nd step. After attentively watching Rambo go up and down them several times she finally figured it out, and was scrambling up the stairs and onto our bed before you had time to turn around. Poor Rambo. No where was safe from Elsie this time. Rambo, making sure Elsie doesn't fall (or waiting for her to). Elsie, making sure her little hombre is right behind her. I was a little worried about how the dog sitting would go this time, since Elsie is a lot more mobile, and aggressive, than she was last time we watched him. We only had one incident where Elsie was on the bed and trying to get over to pet Rambo when she lost her balance, fell, and grabbed onto Rambo in an effort to save herself. Rambo (who was surprised, and probably pretty irritated) nipped at her hand that was clutched tightly onto his hair and skin (ouch). No bleeding, just a few welts from where his teeth scraped. She was a little more careful after that, and Rambo was well-behaved the entire weekend. Even bringing his toys and setting them in Elsie's lap so she could throw them for him. It was super cute.

Already into Mom's shoes

The other morning Elsie was showing interest in my slippers. So, I let her put them on. She had a pretty good time crawling around in them.

Thumb Status

Still broken. Still waiting for the surgery date to be scheduled. I called & talked to the surgeon's office last Thursday who said they were just barely getting the claim info (10 days after the accident), even though they had been calling every day. Seems there was a delay with the city filing the original claim. So, here we are, nearly 2 weeks post-accident. Needless to say, no one in this household is very happy about this. When talking to the surgeon's office the scheduler sounded just as irritated as we are. She said that now that the paperwork has (FINALLY) been filed as soon as they receive the approval Tyler is top priority. The pain has been continually declining, meaning it is most likely in the healing process. Which could mean they might have to re-break the bone in order to set it properly before they put the pins (or plate) in. Crappy.