Flat Stanley's Adventure with Elder Sly

My grandson Gavin sent Flat Stanley to visit us for a couple of weeks. We were to take him around the mission with us on our adventures and report back. This was one of his first adventures he experienced.

A mission President's life is defined by the next phone call as was this event. On the way to a baptism we received a phone call from Elder Tallman explaining that Elder Sly was trying to open a box with a knife, and the knife slipped and went into his wrist. Blood was spurting out everywhere and Elder Tallman was calling to report that the ambulance was ready to take his companion to the hospital. In the emergency room they tried to sew up the wound only to find out that the entire arm ballooned up. A vascular surgeon was called in and did emergency surgery to repair a severed artery (which they didn't know was severed when they sewed him up in emergency causing the arm to swell up like a balloon). Because of the swelling he also had to cut open the back side of his arm and leave it open for the swelling to go down. He was later transfered to another hospital to do another surgery to try to close up the swollen arm and repair some nerve damage and tendon damage. Elder Sly was a lucky young man that day. He could have lost his arm if any more time had lapsed before the surgeon arrived. Just another average day in the mission.

Original repair of the artery of Elder Sly

I was ever so lucky to walk into Elder Sly's hospital room just in time to see the dressing of his wound unwrapped by the nurse. This was the open wound from the swelling. I was never told this was part of the job description.