(c) 2007 Ms. Huis Herself at musenmutter.blogspot.com
A week ago today we were up in the Twin Cities, working on our house there with some friends and family. Well, about mid-afternoon, Pumpkin fell down the stairs. Hard.
Nobody's fault - accidents happen; she was overtired & often gets clumsy when tired; they were unfamiliar stairs, and fairly steep; she was hurrying down them; yadda yadda yadda.
Lots of screams, blood, and a big gash on the top of her head were the results. Gramma Pat's a nurse and she said it definitely needed stitches, so off we went on our second ER trip in the two months we've been back in the US. (side note - I'm sure insurance just LOVES us - on it for 2 months & we've had prenatal visits, 2 trips to the ER, a birth, well-baby checks, and visits to the hand surgeon! Well, I guess it evens out all those years I only went in for a flu shot & yearly check-up.)
Fortunately, this one - while distressing, of course - seemed to not hurt as much . . . or maybe that it was just that Pumpkin couldn't see the owie. Sure - lots of tears and wanting to be held and needing her blanket, especially right away, but it wasn't nearly as bad as last time. Of course, it was a (BIG) bump on the head as opposed to an almost lost pinky tip, which I'd call more severe! It wasn't (quite) as distressing to me, either because I wasn't the first (or only!) one at the scene, AND it didn't seem as serious, AND we had one ER visit under our belts by this point.
MUCH more waiting in the waiting room & ER this time. Bigger hospital, more people in front of us, holiday weekend staffing, or whatever. Talked to a couple of nurses, and finally the nice, tall doctor. They were all, "yeah, definitely stitches or maybe staples," too, which made us feel like we weren't over-reacting.
The nice, tall, calm doctor recommended that we give her a sedative to put her into a "disassociative state" because that would be much less stressful to her than basically getting her head held down while she kicked and screamed and they fixed it. We whole-heartedly agreed - especially after seeing/hearing her after getting her pinky stitched - and so they (eventually - it took FOR-EV-ER for the pharmacy to send up the meds) gave her a shot that put her out of it for a while. The doctor (did I mention he was tall? 'cuz he was TALL) was able to put in 6 nice tidy stitches to close up the inch-on-a-side, V-shaped gash very well. It took next to no time (and I was SO GLAD we weren't fighting a kicking, screaming, strong, now-traumatized almost three-year-old 'cuz it would have been bad.)
Oh yeah - the haircut? He had to shave a tiny patch of hair (1/2 inch x 1 inch, if that) in order to do the staples. Since her hair was in two braids, the shaved-off strands stayed in until I took out the braids, so I do have them for her memory box. Not at all the way I planned or wanted her first haircut to go!!!
Then it was more waiting for her to come out of the medication. It was quick acting stuff - she was out within a few minutes of the shot, then stayed under for maybe 10 or 15 minutes, then gradually started becoming aware. We couldn't help but being amused at her waking up. Relief that it was over combined with Pumpkin acting all sleepy/drunk/stoned did make for a few giggles.
Finally, about 6 hours after it happened, we got to go back to our house, tell everybody (who were all still there) how the ER visit went and that she was ok, and eventually, drive back to the grandparents where we were staying that night.
And that's the story of Pumpkin's first haircut and second visit to the emergency room. We go to see the pediatrician to get the staples taken out tomorrow, so I hope that goes well. I think June's goal should maybe be to try to be accident-free for the month, don't you think?
8 comments:
Oh no! Poor pumpkin! (How is her hand doing by the way? Is it all healed?) So glad she is ok!
Do you need to borrow my OSHA safety sign?
Impressive, I didn't even manage my first visit until I was around 4. She is going to have so many good stories to tell when she gets older. Make sure she knows how tall and cute the Dr. was. I still tell stories about the green eyed emergency dentist.
Keeping my fingers crossed for a peaceful removal of the stitches. And for your old place to move quickly -- I saw the for sale sign in front of it this morning. Congrats on that. It's a huge step. You've been taking lots of those lately!
Aw, poor Pumpkin! Yes, I think no more trips to the ER is a good goal.
Remember when you were young and you thought it was so super cool when someone would come in to school with stitches or a cast? I was always so jealous. Nothing cool like that happened to me. Sure, a grouchy old guy slammed my hand in a door and broke my finger, but they just taped them together. Not even a splint. I got jipped!
Best wishes to Pumpkin. She will probably forget the whole thing - especially since she got the good drugs and was knocked out for part of it!
Well, my fingers are crossed for another sedative while they take out the staples. And a quick recovery and no more ER visits, too, of course. But definitely another sedative.
Good luck!
Poor little Pumpkin. I hope her next visit to the ER is a looooong way off.
Wow. Brave her. Brave you. Glad all is okay!
I do know people with three kids who said they never got through a whole summer without one trip to the ER. It's kids, I guess, though I'm not looking forward to that some day!
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