Teddi Mellencamp recounts how daughter’s finger was severed in frightening incident
Teddi Mellencamp learned a lot about her 7-year-old daughter's resilience and what not to do with a severed finger after a hair-raising accident a few months ago.
The "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star and daughter of rock legend John Mellencamp recounted during a reunion episode on Wednesday how she dealt with a frightening incident involving daughter Slate.
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"So at the beginning of stay at home (during quarantine), I was taking the trash out and Slate went to follow me outside the front door," Mellencamp told host Andy Cohen. "A gust of wind came and the front door slammed on her finger and amputated the tip."
Mellencamp, 39, picked the severed piece of her daughter's finger off the floor and called 911.
"So I wrapped her hand and then I put the finger on ice, and then I was on the phone with 911 and the first thing they said was, 'You didn't put the finger on ice, did you?' And I was like, 'Yes,' and they're like, 'Take it off ice and just wrap it in gauze and put it in a Ziploc,'" she said.
Mellencamp frantically texted several of her "RHOBH" castmates to try to find a surgeon and soon received a call from "RHOBH" alum Dr. Paul Nassif, who is a plastic surgeon.
"We got right into the emergency room and the surgery was incredible," Mellencamp said. "You could barely even tell that it happened."
Perhaps the calmest person during all of it was Slate herself, as Mellencamp recounted during her "Teddi Tea Pod" podcast in June.
"I walked back into the house and she was just sitting there silent and I'm like, 'What's up?' She didn't cry or anything, so I thought the door slammed, that she had already gotten in," Mellencamp said. "And she was like, 'Mom,' and then I saw her finger on the floor. And I was like, 'Holy crap.'"
Mellencamp first shared the news on Instagram on June 24, writing about her pride in how her daughter pulled through it.
"Even though I was heart broken and trying to hide my tears SHE was strong, loving, kind and grateful for what she could do," she wrote. "Every night when she prayed she thanked God for keeping her safe. She looked at it like a challenge to be able to answer her school Zoom questions using her left hand, and she cheered on her siblings for learning how to pogo jump, she became an expert at chess and I have never been more proud of what a sweet lovebug she is."
Slate, who is the oldest of Mellencamp's three children with husband Edwin Arroyave, spent three weeks with a cast on her right hand before undergoing skin-graft surgery.
"It really shows how strong our kids are and how positive they are. ... It's so incredible how much kids pick up from you and how much they know," Mellencamp said on her podcast.
Slate also did her best to find a bright side throughout the ordeal.
"Edwin and I were like feeling all down in the dumps, and Slate was like, 'Well mom the good news is I get to sleep with you every night,''' Mellencamp said on the reunion episode.
The family has endured multiple medical issues with their children in recent months, as their daughter Dove, who was born in February, underwent surgery to address a skull condition called lambdoid craniosynostosis, a birth defect where "one or more of the fibrous joints between the bones of your baby's skull ... close prematurely ... before your baby's brain is fully formed. Brain growth continues, giving the head a misshapen appearance," according to Mayo Clinic.
"It’s crazy how resilient kids are," Mellencamp wrote on Instagram last month. "Dove is going into Day 4 post neurosurgery with both eyes open. The swelling went down, she passed all her markers and we have been sent home much earlier than expected. I am so grateful for so many things and feeling really blessed. We love you so much baby Dove and know you are going to live whatever life you dream of."