Homemaker Chronicles

Have you been out to my daughter’s blog lately?  Have you followed me on Twitter lately?  You should do at least ONE of those things!  Then you would know that we had quite a week last week.

I consider two days in the ER to be “quite a week” when it falls in the same vicinity as Christmas.  And it was not only in the vicinity, it was within 36 hrs of Christmas Eve!  You should go just go out to Regan’s blog to read about her incident, and as far as Caleb goes, my tweets pretty much sum it up.

“Titan decided to go ninja on caleb’s head. Triage…GRR!” 9:51 AM Dec 22nd from txt

“Diagnosis- 2 staples” 10:31 AM Dec 22nd from txt

“Titan is getting coal for christmas!” 10:40 AM Dec 22nd from txt

That’s the long and the short of it.  Basically, Titan “accidentally” smacked an unknowing Caleb on the back of the head with a wooden sword.  I heard it happen and came straight in to find Caleb gripping the back of his head.  As soon as he tipped his head down for me to look, I saw a flow of blood coming from his short, thick mane.  We walked calmly to the bathroom where I dug deeper to find the contusion to be about half an inch long, gaping, and in need of stitches.  I changed out of my white sweatshirt (which was no longer white) and had Titan make Caleb an ice pack…that was the least he could do, right?  We rushed off to the ER and he ended up getting one staple in his skin.

I was so relieved that he was okay.  That was a little bit stressful in the beginning, but getting the staple wasn’t that bad of a process since Caleb was so brave and since they numbed the cut first.  We even got to take the stapler home for a souvenir!  I’m carrying that baby around in my purse in case of another emergency.  That way I can just whip out my skin-stapler and go to town without stepping foot in the ER.  It might be a permanent addition though since I don’t have a skin-stapler remover.  Hmm?

Anyhow, Caleb went straight from the ER to a friend’s house and I only worried about him once, but then I got over it by thinking “boys should learn how to toughen up after an injury…he can’t lye around whining all afternoon…he needs an opportunity to show off his battle scar”.  He was fine, of course.

However, the next day was not a run-of-the-mill Wednesday before Christmas.  Why?  Because Regan decided to join the “I need more attention from my local triage doctor” club when she fell outside and slit her eye wide open.  Go read her version first…it’s great!

Honestly though, I was kind of freaking out for a little bit when I saw all that blood on the concrete.  Her eyebrow and around her eyeball was really slit badly and I kept looking at it (which was my first mistake) while we were waiting for a room in the ER.  I thought I was doing a good job of keeping her calm while we waited for the room.  I kept saying, “Regan these doctors and nurses are very helpful and they know what they are doing.  If they have to stitch you up then that is what’s best.  We are going to trust that God is working through them to do what is best for you.”  We even prayed the whole way to the hospital (which is literally about two miles from out house) and I literally prayed that they wouldn’t haul me off in a police car for questioning.

They called Regan’s name and we took the long walk through triage.  I was ducking at every turn just in case a nurse from the day before spotted me and decided to begin an investigation on why I was here with another one of my children in less than twenty-four hours.  I did see Caleb’s nurse from the day before, but I quickly looked the other way as we passed the nurse’s station.

Once we got back into a shared room the nurse came in, took one look and said, “yep, you’re gonna need stitches, hon”.  That sweet nurse might as well have said, “now we’re gonna need to cut all your arms and legs off, hon”.  Imagine how you would react if someone told you they were going to remove your outer extremities and that’s how Regan reacted to having to get some stitches.  I felt really bad for her.  She was scared beyond scared.  It was at that moment that I followed that nurse out of the room and asked for something to calm her down; aka drugs.  The nurse came right back with a little white pill that made Regan happier than Adia sitting on Santa’s lap.

(just had to throw that in…)

Within ten minutes Regan was literally making jokes about how her family would now be calling her “cyclops” and “popeye”.  I teased her about possibly getting an eye patch and how I would carve a skull and crossbones on it, then she could wear a ‘do-rag on her head for effect!  We laughed until Todd walked in the door and I drove home to relieve my wonderful friend who dropped her own busy life to assist me in my crisis.

Truthfully, Todd is much more sensitive with Regan than I am.  He is so long suffering and I’m like, “I’m so sorry babe!  Really, are you okay?  Alright, are you over that yet…we can’t wallow in it!  Let’s move right along…”.  That kind of attitude didn’t go over so well with a dramatic 10 year old girl who had just cut open her eyebrow.  I gave it my best shot, but I honestly didn’t think I could calm her down like her daddy could.  That little white pill did the job though, and Todd got to hold her hand while the Dr. administered the seven stitches.  We make a great team…that little pill and I.

Just kidding…Todd and I!

Ha!  I just thought Caleb’s incident was bad.  Regan’s was a much worse deal…for her especially.  She did such a good job and she returned home with a smile on her face.  Regan has been a trooper all week, even on Christmas Day

when her eye was completely swollen shut!  Tomorrow she gets her stitches out and Caleb’s staple comes out.

As for the other kids, they aren’t going outside ever again, and they don’t get to play with toys for the rest of their lives.  That should keep them out of trouble for a while!

~Angie

Homemaker Chronicles