Zak's Surgery

Oh say, about 2 months ago Zak broke his finger while he was sledding.  Just as we should, we went in to see the doctor to verify it was broken and make sure it was set correctly.  A bit later Zak mentioned that something was odd with his finger and he decided it would be best to return to the doctor..only this time he saw someone else in the same office.  That person didn't even examine his finger but just yelled at him for not having his splint on while he was in the doctors office (mind you, the first doctor he saw toldhim he didn't really need the splint but I insisted so we got one).  A week later Zak went in AGAIN insisting something was wrong...only then did they come up with the idea to re-x-ray to see if his claims were valid.  And sure enough, the broken piece of his finger had fused to the wrong part of the adjacent bone creating quite a lovely bump on his finger. The result was pain and a lack of good use of his finger...for someone who does a lot of typing in school and soon to be in his chosen profession that was just unacceptable. SO, Zak was referred to an orthopedist in town who decided it would be best to re-brake the finger, and set it with pins that would be removed as the bones healed.

That surgery was last Thursday and despite the fact that it turned out to be a much bigger deal than we'd expected, was a success!  Zak was put under general anesthesia and had difficulty coming out of it and spent the majority of the day in the hospital.  But, all was well. The surgeon sent Zak home with some very strict instructions and a follow up appointment a week and a half later.

Four days following the surgery Zak's finger began to show some signs that in fact, all was not well.  It began as some localized swelling but it caused Zak a lot of additional pain and he had trouble sleeping.  He contacted the surgeons office on Monday for pain meds and advice about the redness and swelling. By Monday night his entire hand was beginning to swell and turn red and he complained of chills but the thermometer said there was no fever.  He only slept in spurts of about an hour at a time because the pain was so intense.

Wednesday he went in and waited at the surgeons office until he could be seen and the surgeon said he didn't notice any signs of infection but sent Zak home with a prescription just to cover his bases (note: antibiotics typically take 2-3 days before you notice any sign of improvement because they must first build up in the system before they reach "therapeutic levels." It is common for symptoms to worsen significantly before they begin to work).  

This morning Zak noticed streaking (a red streak going from his finger up his hand toward his heart this is indicative of a very serious infection that is becoming septic) so he went right in to the surgeons office where I took the pictures you will see below.  The surgeon pulled out one of the pins holding Zak's bone in place and it was like a cork backing up all the pus which then came pouring out. He then, causing Zak some pretty excruciating pain, proceeded to squeeze the pus out like he'd just popped a pimple!  Belen kept trying to give him a hug and kept pointing at his finger.  We felt so bad for him.  We were sent directly to the hospital where Zak was admitted for I.V.'s. and spent the majority of our day there.  Thank you to our wonderful friends, Aaron and Jana, who came and took Belen for us so I could be with Zak.

We have to take Zak back in to the doctor tomorrow where we expect to be sent back up to the hospital where they will irrigate and clean out the infection and give more I.V.'s.  

Please keep him in your prayers. We are very worried about him.