Weekend Call

This weekend I was on call, for the entire weekend! I am exhausted. There was so much crazy stuff. The bust was a 15 year old boy who was working on a table saw. His hand got caught and this is the result. All four fingers were involved, but the ring and middle were the worst. He could not move the ring finger or feel at the distal tip.

I spent two hours on the phone trying to find a hand surgeon. I called North Platte who doesn't have a hand surgeon on call. I called Kearney, their hand surgeon said he didn't do micro surgery. I called Creighton which is the on call trauma center for the state on Saturdays, they refused, yes that is right refused!! They said it was an isolated trauma so they didn't have to take it. I called Creightons hand surgeon on call who said he did not take care of pediatric patients- the kid is 15 and 170 pounds! He told me to call Children's Hospital, their ER gave me the phone book listings for a Hand Surgeon. We paged several, finally one called back and said they could see him Monday....MONDAY!!

I was horrified. I was so worried this kid was going to lose his fingers, especially the ring finger. His father was surprisingly calm, and said Monday would be fine. From what I hear they drove down yesterday (Sunday) to Omaha to see the surgeon today. I hope he does okay.