Sunday, March 06, 2005
Almost One Less Finger
The night before his birthday, Thu and I were on our way back from the Metro supermart with party drinks and food when we rec'd a very calm call from Cal at the front desk of our apartment building: 'Dad, I am bleeding a lot but it does not hurt too much. What should I do?'
The apt. manager rushed him to the International SOS health clinic and we asked the driver to floor it so we could meet him there. Amidst he panic, the manager told my wife (all this in Vietnamese) that Cal had lost his finger. That certainly added to the spice.
The clinic examined his cut and, on a whim, the doctors on duty sent him to the local French hospital. A world-class hand surgeon looked at him later that night and it turned out he severed a nerve and a tendon. He spent two hours the next day mending Cal. I stayed with Cal throughout the weekened at the hospital.
I think Cal was supposed to stay calm and quiet but we ended up bringing the birthday cake into his room and had more than 20 people in and out through the day. At one point it was so noisy we didn't realize Cal was in agony because his intravenous needle had slipped out of his hand.
When the accident first happened, five-year old Calista gave Cal a towel to wrap his hand and keep the blood from dripping all over his bedroom. She says she wants to be a doctor when she grows up--apaprently she already has the stomach for it.
I gave Cal fatherly advice such as: Keep your wounded hand elevated or else you will devolve and turn reptilian. I took photos of his friends Anthony and Leo posing in front of a French sign pointing to the 'Reanimation ward.' (You will get this if you are a Linkin Park fan.) And his mother, surprisingly, did not scream or harangue him, but was relieved that all his digits are intact.
It'll take several months of therapy and perhaps a follow-up operation in a year, but hopefully he will have full usage of his hand.
Not quite as dramatic as Jack White's finger injury a couple of years ago (www.WhiteStripes.com), and we have no photos of the surgery to post on the web page like Jack did, but definitely an eventful weekend.
And...the birthday party is postponed 'till this Friday at 6pm. See you then.
The apt. manager rushed him to the International SOS health clinic and we asked the driver to floor it so we could meet him there. Amidst he panic, the manager told my wife (all this in Vietnamese) that Cal had lost his finger. That certainly added to the spice.
The clinic examined his cut and, on a whim, the doctors on duty sent him to the local French hospital. A world-class hand surgeon looked at him later that night and it turned out he severed a nerve and a tendon. He spent two hours the next day mending Cal. I stayed with Cal throughout the weekened at the hospital.
I think Cal was supposed to stay calm and quiet but we ended up bringing the birthday cake into his room and had more than 20 people in and out through the day. At one point it was so noisy we didn't realize Cal was in agony because his intravenous needle had slipped out of his hand.
When the accident first happened, five-year old Calista gave Cal a towel to wrap his hand and keep the blood from dripping all over his bedroom. She says she wants to be a doctor when she grows up--apaprently she already has the stomach for it.
I gave Cal fatherly advice such as: Keep your wounded hand elevated or else you will devolve and turn reptilian. I took photos of his friends Anthony and Leo posing in front of a French sign pointing to the 'Reanimation ward.' (You will get this if you are a Linkin Park fan.) And his mother, surprisingly, did not scream or harangue him, but was relieved that all his digits are intact.
It'll take several months of therapy and perhaps a follow-up operation in a year, but hopefully he will have full usage of his hand.
Not quite as dramatic as Jack White's finger injury a couple of years ago (www.WhiteStripes.com), and we have no photos of the surgery to post on the web page like Jack did, but definitely an eventful weekend.
And...the birthday party is postponed 'till this Friday at 6pm. See you then.
