Around 9am I got a phone call from Wayne (one of Bush's hands at work) to inform me that Bush has broken him arm and they called the ambulance to take him to the hospital. I will admit that after I hung up the phone I laughed a little bit just because of the timing. I then proceed to get ready and pack a bag to head to Rifle. My brother Nate and Clint's wife Brystal were able to meet Bush at the ER in Glenwood Springs right away. After I left and arrived in Rifle I called my brother to see how things were going and that is when I found out how bad it really was. Nate told me that he has a compound break in both his left radius and ulna and that he ripped off the tip of his left index finger. I have some medical knowledge due to some DH classes and my EMT course so I understood that it was a really good break.
My thought was at least it was just a broken arm and nothing else...but I didn't know the rest of it till later.
After I arrived at the ER I saw the x-ray and was pretty impressed by it. He was pretty drugged up but still in a lot of pain. This is saying a lot because Bush can handle a lot of pain. Finally he was moved into the pre-op room and they began prepping him for surgery at 4pm. Dr. Adams was the orthopedic surgeon and came in and told us what he would have to do. What happened was Bush also had compartment syndrome in his arm. This is when there is too much swelling and blood and they would have to cut into the muscles and relieve the pressure. I learned later that this is a pretty serious thing because if left too long it could require amputation because it would kill the muscles and nerves. Luckily that did not happen. The doctor told me it would take about 2 hours.
After waiting for a little over 3 hours the doctor finally came out. He told us that Bush has severed his radial artery as well. They did not know this before hand and they had to get another surgeon to come see if they could fix it... they couldn't. Luckily we have 2 arteries going to the forearm and hand so it would be ok. They said it was damaged beyond repair. The doctor said he was confused that he wasn't bleeding like a 'stuck pig' and said something cut off the artery so he did not bleed out. He then went on to inform us that there was too much swelling and they couldn't close him up. He would need another surgery in a couple days by a plastic surgeon to perform a skin graft to close his arm. Basically the doctor said the only good news was that his bones came back together perfectly. He now has a plate and 6 screws in each bone. He also has a large plate and 13 screws in his right leg. Going to the airport should be fun!!
So on Friday he went in for surgery again to get the skin graft. This surgery only took an hour but the doctor came and told me that they had to cut open his arm more and do a larger graft than originally planned. They said that he will have to be home for around 6 weeks and then could go to light duty for awhile. It will take 4-6 months for him to feel pretty good with using his arm again and a whole year before it is 100%. He will also have surgery again in a year on the skin graft because the swelling will be completely gone by then and it will be too loose.
We were finally able to leave the hospital Sunday evening and are now home. Being in the hospital for 5 days is a long time!! They took the skin graft from his left thigh and so he has a few wounds to heal up now.
Now we are on a long recovery road. Bush is seriously such a stud it is amazing. He only takes a few pain killers a day and is doing pretty good.
I sure hope the rest of you have had a better year so far!!
