Well I can't mince words here, but this is a family blog, so I'll just say that the first week of 2021 has been a doozy. A real doozy. But everybody is fine and healing, for which we are really grateful. So here's the story.
Last week, Glenn had a few extra days off so he and Reina headed to the middle of the state so that Glenn could try to fill his elk tag and Reina could do a little rabbit hunting. They called frequently to give me an update on their adventures and Reina was having a terrific time. They drove our side-by-side all over, visited a run down cabin, scouted for elk and yes, even hunted some rabbits. They were planning on coming home Friday afternoon. Friday morning (Jan 1), I was on the treadmill when I got a call from Glenn. They had an accident in the side-by-side and Reina was fine but Glenn thought his hand was broken. I could hear the pain in his voice, he was definitely hurt. We made plans for me to drive to meet them so that I could help him drive home. Reina was a brave girl. She helped me figure out if Glenn could still drive, she called me with updates on where they were on the highway and she kept asking Glenn questions to make sure that he was okay and not feeling faint. Glenn said she peppered him with questions about all of his favorites (color, food, movies etc.) to keep him talking.
While they started to drive towards home, Vicky came and got me and we took off in my car so that we'd have an extra driver to bring back Glenn's truck. Vicky called one of her doctor friends while we were driving to get some advice on what we should be looking for in deciding if Glenn could make it all the way back to Cheyenne or if we should take him to the ER in Laramie. The decision was easy to make when we caught up to them on the road. Not to be too gross, but you could see inside Glenn's hand, through his glove and down into the stuff under the skin. I thought it looked a little like sweet and sour chicken but it was clear that Glenn would have to stop in Laramie. Plus, his lips were the same shade as his face which is never a good look. Vicky drove him, I drove a worried Reina and we headed to the ER.
Luckily the ER wasn't very busy so Glenn was taken to a room right away. He was giving an IV and warm blankets to ward off shock. The doctors and nurses had to cut off four layers of hunting clothes to work on his hand but Glenn would want me to point out that it was an old jacket and it's also an excuse to have to buy new hunting clothes. (Side note, when I was texting Glenn's hunting friends to let them know what had happened, more than one expressed significant concern that he was wearing his expensive KUIU jacket.) Shockingly, when the x-rays came back, there were no broken bones, just a lot of debris from the ground and his glove in the wound. The doctors determined that Glenn had to be sent to the hospital in Loveland so that the surgery to clean everything out could be done by a hand surgeon. Because he was hooked up to IVs and on serious pain medicine, he'd have to go in an ambulance.
We stayed to watch Glenn be loaded into the ambulance and then we headed back to Cheyenne. Glenn was able to call me later that night when he was settled in the hospital. I helped Reina get settled into bed after one of the hardest days of her 11 years and we all slept a little fitfully.
Saturday morning, I got up early and headed down to Loveland so that I could talk to the surgeon before Glenn's surgery. At that point, there was concern that Glenn might need a skin graft on the hand but they wouldn't know until they did the surgery. They also thought he might need a wound vac, which would result in more days at the hospital. When I got there, Glenn was chatty with the nurses, like Reina chatty. He didn't ask them their favorite colors but Glenn on narcotic pain pills is a sight to behold. The surgeons also regaled us with stories of other ATV-related incidents they've seen from Wyoming residents. Let's just say, we were some of the luckier ones. Glenn went into surgery, I went for a walk and waited for the text saying he was in the recovery room.
I met with the surgeon in the waiting room when Glenn was done and we got the best news possible. No skin graft, no wound vac and he could go home as soon as he ate some applesauce and drank some ginger ale. We got in the car about an hour later and headed home.
Glenn's had a rough recovery. He had some side effects from the antibiotic and an issue with his inner ear causing a lot dizziness and nausea but today it looks like he's finally turned the corner. As he told me tonight, he finally feels like regular Glenn with a hurt hand. He'll go back to the surgeon next Friday and then hopefully a full recovery after that.
All's well that end's well. I had to take some time off this week to help Glenn but working from home helped make that a little easier. Glenn and I watched the events of Jan 6 unfold together and I'm thankful for companionship during that weird/bad day. The kids are back at school and Reina has bounced back from her hard day and even had a story to beat all other stories about "what I did over Christmas break."
Finally, we have amazing friends and extended family. We've had dinner deliveries, and calls and texts checking on Glenn. Vicky and a friend even came over and helped me clean my house which basically brought me to tears. Not because it was so dirty and I was embarrassed... well maybe a little bit... but mostly because it was one less thing that I had to worry about.
So that's our first week of 2021. It can only go up from here.
