Blood, Blood, and More Blood

It was a lovely Monday evening.  One in which despite the heat and humidity, for some reason, it didn't feel all that horrible.  I was sweaty and smelly from going running before I picked up Sidekick from school, but after dinner for what was supposed to be 15 minutes before bath time, Sidekick put his helmet on and hopped on his new bike with training wheels while I walked Dog.  We came across a yard being watered, and Sidekick was enjoying riding his bike through the sprinkler, laughing each time. He somehow stopped and while trying to get started again the training wheel got stuck between the grass and the sidewalk.  I watched him and the bike tip over in what felt like slow motion and saw him fall to the ground. I blew the fall off like I always do and helped him get up while he was crying. I happened to catch a little blood on his neck and when I took a better look, inside I freaked out a bit because it was a lot of blood.

I picked up Sidekick while he was crying, held the bike in one hand, and the leash in the hand that was holding Sidekick.  I quickly and very calmly walked to my neighbor's door to help assess the damage.  We both looked and couldn't decide what to do at first.  I ran the bike and Dog home while my neighbor held Sidekick and held a washcloth to the slice in his neck.  Once I came back, we decided it was best to take him to the pediatric ER.  If you are squeamish, don't look at this picture (probably way too late for that warning!):

 

 

If I learned anything through this process, it's that kids don't know to be scared.  If we are scared, then they will be too.  I texted my sister who filled my mom in, got Taggie that only stays in his bed, and we got in the car.  When we walked into the ER, the person that greeted us asked what was wrong, and Sidekick replied, "I hurt my neck."  We waited an hour to get into triage and another hour to get in a room.  The entire time, Sidekick was great!  It was past his bedtime by the time we got into triage and he couldn't eat or drink anything, so that didn't make him happy, but he was still a trooper.  We finally got a room where he chose to watch "Frozen" and hang out.  

When "Frozen" was over, (that's how long it took someone to get this wound taken care of), he all of a sudden went ballistic!  He was thrashing around, was inconsolable, got off the bed, headed to the door, and told me he was leaving.  At 11:00 PM, a nurse came in (shift change) and I told her he was clearly a mess and might need a little Tylenol or something (I don't normally give him any meds), because he was hurting.  With the way he was laying, she could only see the little "hole" on his left side right by his collar.  She was surprised that he was in so much pain because of that. When I told her to look under his chin, she said, "Oh, Baby, let's get you some medicine."

He quickly fell asleep with Taggie over his face because the room was bright and it was three hours past his bedtime.  During this waiting time, the nurses kept putting a numbing gel so that he wouldn't feel anything happening to him. We finally figured out that the doctor would be able to glue it as opposed to doing stitches which was great, but then we had to wake him up. You can imagine how unhappy he was.  Someone from Family Crisis came to talk to me about how the procedure would go and how to best help Sidekick through it.  At 11:15 PM they scrubbed up the cut and he did great. We had to prop a pillow under his shoulder blades so that his neck would bend back, chin up, and his neck would be stretched. The lady from Family Crisis held her iPad near his ear so that he could listen to music while I held his hand and talked to him.  As soon as the glue was put on him, he screamed bloody murder!  Apparently, despite the numbing gel, they see one kid every few years have a reaction to the glue, and that kid was mine.  While I quietly talked to him to keep him still, he little butt started dancing to "Wheels on the Bus" that was playing on the iPad, and he was singing the song quietly through his tears.  Broke my heart, but such a strong boy.

We were discharged at 11:45 PM with a Cars Band-Aid, a glued 1 1/2 inch gash, and a purple popsicle. 

I was apologized to several times for the wait.  It was a really busy night.  One nurse told me a four day old baby came in with a really high fever. Can you imagine that?  I explained that I was grateful my kid was going to walk out of here with nothing more than a scar, and that I'd wait as long as I needed for an outcome like that.  It was bad to be in the ER, but at the same time not that bad because he was lucky to be on the bottom of the urgency list. I felt sorry for all the kids and babies who had far worse things going on.

So, what exactly cut him?  I don't really know.  The bike wasn't really moving when it fell over.  I originally thought it was the helmet strap, but it's way too soft to have caused that at snail speed.  Upon looking at his bike, I feel more confident that he fell on the hard "wire" leading from the handbrake to the wheel. I think that might have just caught him at the right angle when he fell.  But I'm not sure, and I don't know if I ever will. 

My sweet boy was so brave.  Sometimes I look back and think it could have been so much worse if the cut had been deeper or in just a little bit different of a location.  I kept him home from school the next day since we didn't get home until 12:30 AM, and I knew he'd be tired.  When he got to school, he was proud to show off his war wound, and it never phased him after that.  It's like it never happened.

I'm sure I'll see more blood in my future.  No doubt.