KITCHEN HORROR
A household object left baby Ra y’s nger severed
Preparing dinner in the kitchen while my son Raffy, 10 months, was happily playing nearby, I heard a massive crash. Then Raffy began screaming his head off.
‘What’s wrong?’ I exclaimed, running over.
To my shock, there was blood everywhere, my laptop was on the oor, and his right pinky nger was severed!
‘Oh my God,’ I cried, scooping him into my arms.
‘What is it?’ asked his dad, Kip, rushing in.
His jaw dropped when he saw me and our son covered in blood.
‘My laptop was charging on the kitchen bench and Raffy must have yanked on the power cord and pulled it onto himself,’ I replied. ‘Call an ambulance – he’s chopped his nger off!’
Kip rang triple-0, while I wrapped Raffy’s hand in a towel.
‘What does his nger look like?’ an emergency worker asked me over the phone.
‘I know it’s bad but I can’t look at it. His hand’s wrapped up,’ I wept.
‘Is there a piece of nger on the oor?’ she asked.
‘I’m looking,’ I cried, searching. ‘Kip, is there a piece of nger on the oor? We have to nd it!’ We kept searching until the paramedics arrived. One of them gently unwrapped the towel from Raffy’s hand.
‘Don’t stress, the top part of his pinky is still just about attached,’ he said. ‘They should be able to sew it back on.’
It was hanging by a thread.
‘Oh, thank goodness!’ I said.
Raffy was rushed by ambulance to Queensland Children’s Hospital (QCH) where his nger was assessed.
‘Honestly, I wouldn’t stress, this is totally xable,’ the surgeon assured us, looking at the X-ray. ‘His
ngertip still has circulation so we’ll just operate on it tomorrow.’
Kip and I were beyond relieved.
Poor Raffy clung onto us in hospital all night.
The next morning, he was wheeled into surgery. I was frantic but less than an hour later, he was out and, soon after, we could take him home.
Every week, for two months, I took him back to hospital for a check-up and six months on, his nger was almost as good as new.
Oddly, Raffy, now 19 months, doesn’t seem affected by his scary experience. He still reaches out for the laptop whenever he sees it.
But now, it’s always charged overnight and in a cupboard he can’t open.
While it has apparently not scarred him mentally, it has me. I continually assess everything at home to ensure it can’t possibly harm him.
I’m telling my story as I can’t praise the doctors and nurses at QCH enough and also to warn other parents not to charge their laptops where kids can reach the cord and yank the appliance onto themselves.
We count ourselves very lucky the accident wasn’t worse and thankfully, Raffy can still do the same – on all his ngers! ●
Is there a piece of finger on the floor?