Here is an update on Deborah.  Monday morning she went out on her exercise walk with her friend.  It was cold and icy.  She slipped on some ice.  In order to protect her back, she extended her right arm to brace her fall. This caused her severe pain in her wrist, but her back did not hurt.  I was at the office.  She went to see our senior missionary area medical advisor.  Fortunately, he is an orthopedic surgeon. He recommended that we go to a local hospital. We went to the emergency room.  X-rays revealed a fractured wrist and dislocated thumb.  The medical staff relocated her dislocated thumb which was extremely painful even after receiving a local anesthetic. They put a soft splint on her hand, wrist and arm and directed her to go to a different hospital.  Instead, we went back to our apartment and showed the X-rays to our medical advisor.  These X-rays showed that her thumb had been put back in its socket. He sent them off to the former mission president of the Frankfurt mission who is back in Utah.  He is a hand surgeon.

Monday night Mom was in a lot of pain and was very concerned about what to do if she would need surgery. We have heard bad stories about missionaries having surgery in Germany. She felt that if she needed surgery she would want to fly home for it.  With four weeks to go in our mission, realistically going home for the surgery would mean we would end our mission early. She was physically and emotionally pained by the dilemma.

Tuesday morning we woke up to an encouraging email from the hand surgeon stating that he felt she could get by with a hard cast for six weeks without surgery. We were elated.

So, we headed off to the specialty hospital very encouraged. The hospital took some new X-rays and performed a CT scan.  These images showed that the thumb had become dislocated again and showed a different view of the wrist fracture.  We were sent to the department that specializes in hand surgery. The hand surgeon told her that her thumb needed to be wired in place and that a trauma surgeon needed to put a plate on the fracture of her wrist.  He said both surgeons could work together in a single operation.  He insisted that the surgery needed to be done immediately. Mom was very afraid to go into surgery in a German hospital. 

We said a prayer together in the hallway asking the Lord what we should do.  I immediately felt a warm feeling of comfort and peace come over me and a strong feeling that we should proceed with the surgery.  I felt very good about the surgeons and the hospital. I told Mom this.  She was still terrified.

We sent the X-rays to our medical advisor and got him on the phone with the hand surgeon.  When they were done, we spoke to our medical advisor.  He said he felt that what the German surgeon had explained and proposed made sense.  He said he felt the surgeon was very competent. We discussed that postponing the surgery for a few days until we could pack up and go home would mean ending our mission early.  I told her that it was her decision to make. After a brief moment of reflection, we walked back into the surgeon’s office and Mom said bravely “Let’s go with it.”

The hospital checked us into a private room.  While we were waiting, the trauma surgeon came, introduced himself, and explained how he would screw the plate onto her wrist.  He too, seemed very competent. He said the anesthesiologist would meet with Mom and they would decide if he could do an anesthetic block on her arm or if she would go under general anesthetic. 

At 5:45pm, they came to wheel Mom into the operating room. I asked where I could wait.  They answered that family visiting hours ended at 6pm and told me I could come back at 2pm the next day when visiting hours resumed. That meant I would not be there when she came out of surgery.  It also meant I could not go home and come back with all the items Mom requested me to bring for her overnight stay.

I went home discouraged.  About 7pm I decided I would gather up the items she had requested and go back to the hospital and just boldly walk in and go to her room.  It worked.  Nobody tried to stop me.  So, I left her things on her bedside table.

At 9pm, I received a call from Mom.  Her voice sounded clear and she was her usual cheerful self.  She had received an anesthetic block so she did not go to sleep during the two-hour surgery.  She had no feeling in her arm at the time she was talking to me.  She was able to get a pretty good night’s sleep. 

Wednesday morning they formed a plastic brace to go on her thumb and wrist. I picked her up the next morning at 11am. She has been resting this week and learning to do things with only her left hand.

We met yesterday with our medical advisor.  He looked at the post-operative X-rays and said that the surgeons did an excellent job. We are both feeling confident now that Mom made the correct and courageous decision to have the surgery here.  We are grateful that the Lord answered our prayer for direction.

In two weeks, Mom will go back to the hospital and have her brace changed to a shorter version that will allow her to flex her wrist. She will go home with the short brace.  I will be doing the packing and carrying the suitcases.  After we are home a week or two, she will have the stitches and wires removed. This will not require surgery.  Then, she will be almost back to normal. In about six months, she may need surgery to have the thumb joint replaced.  That will go on her list along with a badly needed knee replacement.

FROM DEBORAH: I always check the weather and ground surface before I walk. I will not walk on ice. Monday morning it was above freezing with snow coming later in the day. The ground looked good so Ella Romney and I headed off to the cemetery to walk. Although I could not see ice, I could tell when I put down my right foot I was going down. Immediately I bent my knees and prayed for a soft landing. I did not realize I put my hand down until I was still. My first question did I hurt my back? I did a self-exam and knew that it was OK. When I tried to stand up, I knew something was wrong with my hand or wrist. I am grateful Ella was there. She called the mission medical doctor, and walked right beside me up to his apartment. She stayed with me until Geoff arrived. I am so grateful. Geoff has been by my side the entire week.

WARNING: The X-ray images following the picture of Mom smiling with her brace and flowers are graphic so don’t scroll down if those sort of images make you queasy.

The top arrow shows the dislocated thumb.  The arrow points to the socket where the thumb bone should be resting in normal position. The bottom arrow points to the diagonal line indicating the fracture of the wrist.

This post-operative X-ray shows the metal wires inserted to hold her thumb in the joint.  The wires will be removed in six weeks.

This X-ray shows the titanium plate screwed onto her wrist with seven screws to hold the wrist bone together so it can heal.  This plate will remain permanently.

This X-ray shows the side view of her wrist with the plate being held on with four screws placed horizontally at the top and three screws placed below.

WE WILL BE HOME ON FEB. 22nd!