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Help Daniel 'care for his crew'

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Daniel's Severed Thumb


On Thursday morning, September 14, Daniel basically severed his thumb with a table saw.

Since April, Daniel has been working as a Handyman to support our family. I cannot go into all of the details, but due to some particularly harsh treatment for a period of 18 months, Daniel was pushed to breaking point and developed severe Post traumatic stress disorder or PTSD.

My beautiful, people-loving, ministering husband became a recluse. Any contact with people outside of myself, the kids and his parents, still brings extreme physical and emotional responses. As a result, we are now living in a caravan at Daniel's parent's place and have been surviving financially week to week.

In April it became necessary for Daniel to find some way to support his family. (We homeschool our children and I suffer with chronic migraines, so Daniel has always been our sole bread winner). As Daniel has many practical skills, we decided that a Handyman would be something that he could do as he would be working for himself.

On his first day, Daniel was so emotionally unstable, that he drove through a red light on the way to the job. Going to work each day is extremely unsettling for him, but he has been continuing to head out each day - not a word of complaint, because in his words "I've got to care for my crew".

At any given time, you can experience 'triggers' with PTSD. These triggers will set off flashbacks. The flashbacks basically make sleep impossible. In June, a trigger had set off a series of flashbacks for Daniel and he had not slept for 3 days. He was not himself as he headed off for work. He basically becomes almost frantic in his movements, trying to accomplish everything too quickly - yet at the same time is distracted. This is not a good mix when it comes to operating power tools. On this day, Daniel had to hand-winch a ride on mower onto our trailer. He was to have picked it up the day before, but circumstances had prevented this, so he had the extra pressure of being late. There is some sort of switch on the hand winch that you need to secure before you use it, to prevent any injury. Daniel has used this winch a hundred times or more. This day, because of his emotional state, he didn't secure it. His left thumb became crushed inside the winch, taking a huge slice of the inside of his thumb in the process. This thumb is still healing.

On Monday, Daniel experienced another trigger that set off flashbacks - again resulting in no sleep. On Thursday morning, he was again not himself. He was to head out to a job that wasn't going to require any power tools, so I thought that he would be okay.

He asked me to specially pray for him at 8:10am. We stood together in the annex and prayed, and I reassured him that he would be okay. He then headed off - I thought he was leaving. Unbeknownst to me, Daniel had a gate stopper to drop off that afternoon to another customer that he needed to make - using the table saw...

So in this distracted mental state he began work...I don't think I will ever forget what I experienced at 8:15am on Thursday morning. No one should ever have to see or hear this...our kids witnessed this traumatic event...My husband is a strong man when it comes to dealing with pain - hardly a sound is ever uttered. He only stopped working for a few days with his other crushed thumb, he was just pushing through the pain to 'care for his crew'.  But the pain of severing a bone and every nerve in his thumb was basically unbearable. Yet during this waiting time, his greatest worry, was that the machine be cleaned of blood so that the kids didn't see.

It took 40 minutes for the ambulance to arrive...

Since that time Daniel has been in hospital. He underwent micro surgery for seven and a half hours to reattach his thumb.  The surgeon told him that he had done a "good job".  The cut has gone through his joint, so his right thumb will be stiff for the rest of his life because of the plates they have screwed to hold his thumb together.  There is a long road of recovery ahead - at least 3 months before his thumb is healed and 9 months before the nerves begin to talk to each other.  He will also require physio.  **update** Daniel told me this morning that the surgeon said that they could not reattached his tendon as the ends were too frayed from the saw - hence the button on his thumb. This is holding his tendon up so that hopefully it will reattach/grow itself.  The arteries were so destroyed by the saw that they couldn't find them without releasing the tourniquet and making them bleed. The surgeon is happy that there is blood flow in his thumb.

We have had a number of complications since the surgery - as a result of having a tourniquet on for seven + hours, Daniel's whole right arm is swollen and painful. There is a very, real possibility that the tourniquet has damaged other nerves in his elbow which make his thumb and fingers feel and move - his fingers are still numb and shouldn't be. (The surgeon today said that a tourniquet should only be applied for a maximum of 2 hours - Daniel had it on for seven and a half hours) We won't know the extent of this until the swelling decreases. The doctor told me that because our hands have so many finely-tuned nerves, it is impossible to remove all of the pain with medication...Daniel has also experienced allergic reactions to some of his pain medications. He was behaving a little strangely for my liking on Sunday, so I called the nurse. When she did another check of his vitals - his blood pressure had risen quite a lot and his oxygen level was at 87%. This was definitely a cause for concern. Apparently there is a complication that can occur when you are in theatre for a long time, like Daniel was, where a small part of your lung collapses.  I am feeling so very thankful that we discovered this BEFORE we came home. God has been so good to us throughout this ordeal. A chest x-ray has revealed that the bottom of Daniel's left lung has patches that appear to have collapsed.

He has also developed pain in the centre of his chest, which they are thinking may be a blood-clot on his lung...so the journey continues...(praise God, just got news that there are NO blood clots in Daniel's lungs!!!!!!)

While we were sitting in emergency all day on Thursday, at different times, Daniel would quietly say - how am I going to care for my crew now. I reassured him that we are in God's hands and that He's got it sorted!! One day at a time...

I don't know when Daniel will be able to use his hand again - so his Handyman business is now not an option. PTSD is preventing him from working for someone else. He is desperate to begin a ministry for at-risk Teens and Youth with an emphasis on helping kids in outback towns through adventure therapy. But to do this - he needs his hands.

I would really appreciate if you put all of your mustard seeds together on Daniel's behalf. There is power in prayer and when things look impossible, we must rely on the God with whom all things are possible.

I am also asking you to help me ease a little of the pain that Daniel is having to go through, by caring for his crew. If you can give...thank-you. If you cannot, can you please share this with others who may be able to.

Thanks for caring - I'll keep you posted :)

Tammy

***Some people have asked what we will be using the funds for.  Basic living expenses - rent, food, car payments, bills, medical expenses, hospital parking, petrol.

Daniel will also be requiring physiotherapy/rehab on his hand and arm and have specialist treatments for PTSD.  I am not sure of the costs involved with this at this stage.***



This is Daniel with his pain button, which he has named "jumbo" - which means you are my friend :)

Organizer

Tammy Cinzio
Organizer
Yarrabilba QLD

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