And So We Spent the Afternoon in the ER

*WARNING: If you get queasy or squeamish at the site of injuries, don’t look. There are pictures of the wound*

My little Miss Gremlin is a mover, she can’t sit still, she’s a wriggler and a wiggler and a leg shaker. She gets this from her father. Sitting on the couch with her drives me nuts. I can’t deal with the jiggling and shaking but she tries to sit still so she can sit next to me. Sweet right?

With this habit comes the energy of a rabbit on crack, she’s a boisterous child. It’s just the way she is.

Usually this isn’t a big problem but when she decides to push her arms up between two desks and swing her legs in the library, shit goes wrong! She told me she’s done this a million times but this time, somehow she lost her balance and fell, face planting into the floor. According to the teacher, she cried alot-there was quite a bit of blood.

Luckily I was at the school for half day pick up and immediately on the scene. Upon seeing her in the nurses office I could see it was pretty serious but I wanted to get out of there. I got her straight home where I could assess properly. Upon closer inspection it was clear we needed to go to the ER.

A hole to be sure

A hole to be sure

We took a cab  to the hospital, cos I’m fancy like that and luckily we got in pretty quickly, she was seen and assessed. It was deemed stitches would be required… I felt pleased I’d made the right call. They put on some numbing cream and sent us off to xray to check her jaw wasn’t seriously damaged.

Numbing cream, it's good for the soul too

Numbing cream, it’s good for the soul too

Now in our 7 years living here in this fine country, this is only my second trip to the ER. I’m not fond of them, they’re usually filled with the scary side of humanity. I don’t understand why this is but it’s true in both countries that I’ve resided. People go to the ER for the strangest reasons, the day we were there, there was a toddler who it was suspected had swallowed a penny, a lady had broken her toe kicking her baby daddy’s car, and a young mom couldn’t make her baby poop. And they were only the people we saw waiting for xray!

Miss Gremlin was very friendly by this time, she had  lignocaine on her chin and a big plastic bandage holding it all together. Kids are so innocent. I just wanted to get the hell outta scary dodge,  she’s chatting with the broken toe lady with no teeth!

After what seemed like forever but was only an hour we were whisked upstairs to a different xray dept and we were seen straight away. I guess they felt my pain. 🙂

Cover up there's radiation around.

Cover up there’s radiation around.

Xray was quick, she was so good, staying in the positions the radiologist put her. During this I had to explain why she had a lead apron, why we left her and hid behind the wall and what xray does. I’m a realist and honest and I’m not afraid to explain to my kids what’s happening. I always feel it’s better to be armed with the truth of a situation and know what’s going on. There’s less chance for panic that way. They’re people, regardless of their age, they deserve to know and be treated with respect.

After our happy snaps we were escorted back down to paediatric ER, just as the friendly doctor was looking for us. Miss Gremlin said” You’re totally blogging this aren’t you mum” SHe knows me well.

He took us into a treatment room and asked Miss Gremlin to change into a gown, just in case he got blood on her. You can see her face has been bleeding alot by this stage by the pooling of the plastic wrap.

Not a Ball gown

Not a Ball gown

We had plenty of time just hanging out that afternoon and we were getting to the business end of our trip. She was so good, so patient. I didn’t want her getting anxious for what comes next so I decided to tell her what the doctor would do and showed her a scar above my eyebrow where I had stitches many years before.

This is the hole after it stopped bleeding.

This is the hole after it stopped bleeding.

Our friendly Dr came back and it was down to business. Needles and stitches…

This is not a pretty site

This is not a pretty site

I’ve mentioned before I’m not a panicker, and I can handle plenty of gross stuff but there’s something about seeing the meat and fat inside your child’s chin that started to upset me. As I was watching and clicking (because everything is blogworthy) I felt an unfamiliar feeling, that feeling of warmth and queasiness, unsure if you wanna pass out or vomit. The Doctor looked at me just as I started to lean against the wall. The common question passed through his lips ‘Are you ok?’ I was ok. I had to be ok, my baby needed me but I wasn’t. I wisely decided to sit and hold her hand and take a few deep breaths.

The Doc kept on with his job, the needle going in a little here and in a little there, dispensing it’s analgesics so everything was suitably numb.

She was so brave, I’m so very proud. That shit hurts. I remember it well.

All the while we chatted, the Doctor, Miss Gremlin and I. He nearly went to Australia, he was dating an Aussie girl but she turned into a rabbit cooker and they were history. I told him he should still go. It’s amazing how many people you come across with a connection to Australia.

The numbing needles done, it was time for the stitching. I watched, feeling better that the hole in her face was closing back together.

Surgical stitches are clever things

Surgical stitches are clever things

 

Getting closed up

Getting closed up

In the end the hole needed 4 stitches.

4 stitches to close the wound

4 stitches to close the wound

There’s nothing fun about getting injured, it hurts. But I’m confident she’ll heal well and there won’t be a terrible scar.

After she was all sewn up, a band-aid was placed over the stitches. Then it was sign out time.

We were there fore 3 1/2 hours but for the last hour we were both starving as I hadn’t eaten yet that day and she fell just before her lunch. While waiting to be discharged we discussed our food options. We decided the food van around the corner was the best and fastest place and she ordered 3 hotdogs with ketchup and mustard. We laughed a bit when she couldn’t open her mouth to get the hot dog in.  She eventually worked it out and felt much better.  We strolled back home through the park to rest at home after our ordeal.

I’m very proud of my baby, she was very brave, patient and handled herself extremely well. She said to me later on that night, ‘I sure won’t do what caused this again mum.’

And I’m confident she won’t.

Comments 8

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      Author
  1. I love that you took pictures at home before you left for the hospital. I love that you took pictures throughout and that she knew you would blog it. Fucking bloggers and our priorities.

    I’m glad she is alright and she sounds like she was very brave!

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      Author
  2. OMG, I love that you took pictures of it!!! Glad she’s okay. Must’ve broken your heart!!!!

    P.S. Did you design your site yourself? The header is so impressive! Holy cow!!! I keep coming back to look at it!

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      Author

      My Hubs did it. It’s kinda one of his gigs. He was actually learning it for a client and needed something to try it on and voila I get a new site 🙂 And you know.. I keep coming back to look too 😛

  3. Pingback: A Mother Life And so begins another long stretch of Single Parenting - A Mother Life

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