As I mentioned, Sunday was Miles' birthday. We went to church that morning, but kept Brooke in the service with us as she'd caught my cold. We came home, had lunch, FaceTimed with Luke and Lexi, then headed to our cul-de-sac playground with Mike and Jane who'd come by to wish Miles "Happy Birthday."
I'll just fast-forward to the point when Mike came up to me and said, "Brooke fell. Matt ran back to the house with her. It looked like she was bleeding." I thought I should head back to the house to see if Matt needed help bandaging her up. As I approached the house, Matt came out with a blood-covered Brooke in his arms and said, "We need to take her somewhere. NOW." Thankfully, Mike and Jane offered to stay with Miles (HUGE lifesaver as this was also at nap time) and after a quick phone call, we decided to go to urgent care because it was closer than the hospital.
On the way to urgent care, I sat in back with Brooke and applied pressure to her wound. It was probably at least 3/4" in diameter and DEEP. Matt was playing chase with her and as she was running out of the playground area (it's recessed), she tripped on the wooden tie lining the playground and hit the edge of the sidewalk just right/wrong to burst open this wound. And as most people know, head wounds bleed. A lot. We were probably quite a sight rushing into urgent care with her face and arms (and Matt) covered in blood. Brooke had stopped crying by the time we were done with our paper work and after a short wait, we went to the back.
She was a trooper. The only time she got choked up was when they said she'd need stitches. We assured her that it'd be fine and tried to distract her. She was most worried about her dress ($5 from Old Navy) being ruined and having to stay at urgent care overnight. They numbed the wound by putting gauze soaked in some kind of numbing medicine in it (it was that deep). She was such a champ. She only moved to rub her nose and cough because of the cold she'd woken up with. While they were applying the stitches, she and Matt were making faces at each other. The nurse called her a "textbook perfect patient" for a child getting stitches. With her being a girl and this being in the middle of her forehead, we've obviously thought about the scarring. The urgent care doctor seemed very careful and thoughtful and used the finest stitch they had. According to Brooke's pediatrician, she did a great job sewing her up. We have to be very vigilant in protecting it from the sun and we're optimistic that it'll heal just fine. There are bigger problems to have. In the grand scheme, we're so lucky that this is the worst thing that we've had to deal with in 4 1/2 years. Feeling helpless while your child is in pain is a horrible feeling and my heart truly goes out to those who have to deal with things like that on a daily basis.
This picture was taken on our way out of dinner that night. I think she's going to be okay.
poor baby... Glad she's ok.
ReplyDeleteI have a scar on my forehead, compliments of my brother, from when I was 9. I hardly notice it. Our friend's daughter, she's 4, had a head wound last fall and they consulted a plastic surgeon about the stitches and scaring. I don't think they pursued anything, but if it bothers you it's worth a consult. I personally think it's a badge of honor.
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