Friday, April 20, 2007

I could have skipped this milestone.

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copyright 2007 by Ms. Huis Herself
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So you know when you're a parent that your kid is going to have lots of milestones. Good ones like first tooth, starting to crawl, walking, talking, etc.


And then there are the bad ones like your first trip to the ER.



Yeah, that was today. Not sure how much detail I'm going to go into 'cuz I'm afraid I'll start crying, but Pumpkin's ok. I'm still rather shaken, but she's been a real trooper.

(Also, grandparents, that's why you're finding out about it by reading it here - I knew if I called I'd lose it.)

We were going to go swimming in the apartment complex pool. Walked over like always, went in, and for some reason, Pumpkin turned around as the door was closing and...tried to catch the door? wanted to go back out to where the video games were? I don't know. I just know she was suddenly crying at the door and I took the couple of steps back and opened it and THEN she was able to take her hand back out. Of the hinge side. Blood everywhere, so I grabbed her, bundled a towel over/around it, sat down to comfort her and snuck a peek.

It looked bad. Not going to get too graphic, but I knew it was an ER trip immediately... maybe not by ambulance, but a right now sort of deal. I called Mr. Kluges and he headed straight over, then I called 911 'cuz I was starting to freak out and wanted to see what they had to say about a pinky tip that looked that bad. They said they'd send an ambulance if we wanted one, but I knew it wouldn't take Mr. Kluges long to get there and then we could go in together.

So I carried Pumpkin back to our apartment to meet Mr. Kluges and to get her special blanket 'cuz I knew we'd want that for comfort. Distraction in the form of blanket, tv, and a popsicle helped until he got there a few minutes later, then we hopped in the car and headed to the ER.

They were good there. I was so glad this happened in the US & not in Ireland. We were seen right away, they took x-rays of her hand to make sure the bone wasn't affected, then the ER doc said he wanted to call in a hand surgeon for a consult/to fix it. Problem was the hand surgeon wasn't available for about another hour and a half 'cuz he was in surgery right then. (But, hey, at least they told us that straight out and right away.) So we waited... and the hand surgeon actually did show up right when we were told he would. (Also, they were GREAT with checking in to make sure we were ok, they had a tv/vcr with Dora and Blue's Clues, also some toys... Pumpkin was great, but the distractions REALLY helped. Also the special blanket and cuddling with Mommy or Daddy the whole time.)

They sent us out to the waiting room while they actually worked on her finger, which was stressful, but definitely for the best 'cuz it would have been worse to be in there and hear her being so distressed (they numbed her finger, but she knew it hurt/was hurt, so she was distressed whenever anybody wanted to see and/or touch it) and not to be able to do anything about it.

When we got to go back in, she was still a little distressed, but everything was done and she was bandaged up. It didn't take her long to calm back down, then we finally got to go home. (Well, via the pharmacy, where we picked up our prescribed antibiotics and tylenol with codeine to be used as needed.)

We go back to the hand surgeon on Tuesday morning. Until then it's keep it clean and dry, keep the bandage on, and manage the pain. She was in good form this evening, but the numbing is supposed to last 10-12 hours, so I'm sure that's part of it. Here's hoping for a good night's sleep for her (and us) 'cuz we're all just wrecked from the whole experience.

5 comments:

Allknowingjen said...

Oh no, Poor Pumpkin! (and poor worried mom & dad too!) It sounds like you handled it so well though. I hope she isn't in much pain and mends well and soon! *hugs*

Happy Veggie said...

Amazing ability to keep things all calm and comfortable when dealing with something like that. *hugs*

Syl said...

OMG I'm tearing up just imagining. I hope she's alright. Best of luck to you all.

DiploWhat said...

Sorry to hear the bad news. But, while it's little comfort now, this too shall pass, and it sounds like everything will be okay.

And, in a couple of years she'll be asking you why she has this super cool, itsy bitsy, mark on her finger that she shows off to all the other kids to show how tough she is. =)

Pusher said...

Oh how scary! I'm glad everything looks okay so far, and I hope she's able to stay as comfortable as possible while it heals. Kudos to you on your handling of a scary situation!