T.J. that is. Well, he *almost* did it again, I thought he was going to need stitches under his eye, but thanks to our family doctor, we were able to *fix* him up with some good old steri strips.
Unfortunately, stitches are an all too frequent occasion for T.J.; we've already been through 3 rounds of them...2 of them on his face already. Needless-to-say, I wasn't all that eager to have go through another set of them. Although by now, T.J. is experienced enough in them that the possibility of it didn't faze him at all, "It's OK, mom...they don't hurt!."
I was sitting on the couch where I had just settled down to do some reading when he comes meandering in holding his hand over his eye.
"Mom?" he asks. "Yes," I reply as I look up at him, "what happened?!" After quickly dismissing the possibility that he couldn't possibly have lost the entire eyeball or there'd be a lot more blood than this, I start to become concerned that he now has something sticking *in* his eye and is now afraid to tell me. See, T.J. handles medical traumas quite well. The boy didn't even cry when he broke his arm. The only thing he said was, "Wow! I thought a broken arm would hurt a lot more than that!" So much for using the threat, "stop that right now before you break your arm!"
Anyway, he proceeds to tell me calmly and matter-of-factly, the story of what happened. "I was out in the backyard trying to build a tree house in the old tree. I forgot I left the hammer on the ladder and I accidentally bumped into the ladder and the hammer fell and hit me in the eye."
Into the kitchen we went to clean up the cut and get a clearer view of it; definitely borderline on whether or not it would need stitches. So a quick call to my doctor was in order.
Thankfully, we have a wonderful family doctor who is almost always available to us and has graciously offered to meet us either at the office, outside the ER, or at her house or ours when it's outside of business hours to prevent us from making a wasted visit to the ER. Today (Sunday), she asked us to stop by her house and she'd take a look at it. Once there, she felt the steri strips would be the best option and was able to skillfully pull the edges together and secure them with the strips. In her opinion, this would leave less of a scar than the sutures would, *if* we can keep them in place securely.
After his little medical procedure was over, Dr. Mary invited him out to her back yard to feed her fish. Her husband built a beautiful pond back there that was teaming with goldfish and tadpoles. T.J. fed the fish, explored the pond for a bit and then we were on our way back home.
I sure hope this is the worst of our injuries this summer. Could we be so lucky?
2 comments:
I hope it is your last injury for the summer and I hope it heals quickly! I just had my first "real" injury to deal with last Thursday. My oldest son Tyler comes into my room (after we hear a big thud and a scream) with blood all over his head, face, chest, hand and arm. I 'bout freaked out! well actually I did freak out lol I did it all on the inside though cause this is my boy who can't deal with blood! Good thing my husband was there to calm us down 'cause I was about to call 911 LOL Thinking back on it I suppose I was a bit rediculous but I have never seen so much blood or had anything even close to that happen before...I thought OMGoodness it's his head! Ya know? and thanks to all those CSI shows I kept thinking of Blunt Force Trauma! Anyway it's okay now. 2 stitches later and he was so brave he didn't cry at all when they put them in.
Still I think you handled it well- but it wasn't your first time so hopefully it never happens again but if it does maybe I'll be a little calmer- probably not but it doesn't hurt to hope. LOL
Head injuries are the worst for bleeding! They always seem worse than they usually really are. Glad he was OK in the end! They've come a long way with helping managing pain issues with kids these days. Sure makes it easier for the little ones...once they get past their fear.
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