Samantha went to the gym one Thursday morning and decided for her cardio, she would play basketball. When Samantha went to shoot a three-point shot, the basketball hit the rim, and as she went to rebound the ball, she noticed the basketball was coming back down towards her face. To protect herself from the ball, she put her hands up, resulting in the ball hitting her pinky finger.

“I heard a pop and once I looked at my finger, I realized that I did more than just jam it. It looked dislocated.”

Knowing that something was wrong with her finger, and she needed medical attention, Samantha decided to go to a local healthcare system Urgent Care. Samantha had X-rays done and the doctor determined that the finger was actually not dislocated but shattered.

Because of the severity of her injury, the doctor gave Samantha a referral to go see a hand specialist affiliated with the healthcare system and she wasted no time in calling them to try and set up an appointment.

“I decided to call the orthopedic clinic affiliated with that urgent care and they told me I couldn’t get in until the following day. That would have been Friday and I thought I do not want to wait over the weekend.”

Samantha remembered driving past OSMS a few times, so she called OSMS and was able to get in same day.

“They say as soon as the injury happens you start healing. Why start healing for four days then have to have surgery in a week? Like everyone else, I have a life to live, and I want to be able to utilize my hand.”

When Samantha called OSMS she was “surprised that they could get me in same day. I think that was phenomenal that they had the capacity to take me last minute.”

Samantha first met with Dr. Michael Parman and after he pulled up the X-rays taken at the urgent care, he said he wanted to consult Dr. Ben Zellner, OSMS’ hand specialist. Dr. Parman wanted to get Dr. Zellner’s opinion because given the way the bone was fractured, surgical intervention could potentially be the better outcome.

“When I was walking out of the building, Dr. Parman abruptly stopped me and said ‘Samantha, you are going to need surgery.’ So, Dr. Parman gave me the rundown of you will be in surgery tomorrow and we’re going to take care of this right away – which is what I wanted.”

Because it was Samantha’s son’s birthday week, and they had a birthday party planned on Friday night, the day of Samantha’s surgery, she thought, “Could I maybe do the surgery awake?”

The protocol that Samantha was given is under sedation or anesthesia. Samantha thought, “Well, it’s just a finger, so perhaps I could do the surgery awake under a local anesthetic.”

The morning of her surgery, Samantha contacted the OSMS surgery center and Dr. Zellner approved for the surgery to be done under local anesthesia.

“I thought, oh my gosh, what did I get myself into? Do I really want to be awake during this? But then I thought, as parents, sometimes we have to make sacrifices, and this was one for my son.”

Originally, Samantha went to an urgent care, called the orthopedic specialist affiliated with the healthcare system and never ended up seeing them. However, Samantha’s referral was still in their system.

“Five days after the injury, they called and said, ‘Hey Samantha, would you like to schedule that appointment to see a hand specialist?’ Inside, I laughed. I was shocked because had I not advocated for myself, I would have gotten in maybe on a Tuesday, a Wednesday, the following week, maybe surgery on Friday, or perhaps the following week.”

Samantha realized her biggest take away was “Advocate for yourself. You know, had I hung out and waited for someone to call me with that referral, I wouldn’t be where I am now. I want to meet my goals. I think that was the most eye-opening experience. So, I’m grateful for OSMS for being available from the start.”

“I’m back, thanks to OSMS.”