HereCare – Stacey’s Story

Stacey was traveling back from Florida to her home in Dale, Texas, when an accident during a stop in Louisiana resulted in her losing the tip of her finger. Stacey went to a hospital in Louisiana where they reattached the tip of her finger and gave her instructions to see a physician when she got home to Texas.

At her first appointment with a local hand surgeon, Stacey was surprised to be directed to go to Ascension Seton Hays immediately. Stacey is very healthy and hadn’t had any symptoms that would make her think something was wrong.

Stacey and her husband drove straight to the emergency department at Ascension Seton Hays where they started her on IV antibiotics and pain meds right away. Stacey still felt like she was too healthy to be at the hospital where there were a lot of people she felt were sicker and needed more care than she did. The staff was extremely reassuring and kind. Although the ED was extremely busy, the staff was very attentive to Stacey, never leaving her alone for long.

“It was my first positive experience at a hospital,” Stacey shared.

Stacey was admitted to Ascension Seton Hays that evening and had surgery the next morning. Her finger was in bad shape so the primary goal of her surgeon was to save her finger – if they were able to reattach the tip of her finger safely, that would be a bonus.

The infection was serious so the first surgery focused on cleaning up her finger as best as possible. They removed the stitches Stacey had received in Louisiana, cleaned everything out, and continued IV antibiotics until they could do a second surgery to pin the bones in her finger days later.

After four days in the hospital and two surgeries, Stacey’s finger was not only saved, but they were able to successfully reattach the tip of her finger.

Stacey was most struck by how caring Ascension Seton Hays was. “Everyone was super nice. I was most surprised – post-Covid and knowing how much the nurses had gone through – that they were still in such good spirits. They were incredibly attentive and it felt like they really wanted to be there.”