Stitched

“Moo-om, I’m bleeding!” I heard Alex shout. I was back in my bathroom, and so told Alex to come back to me. He didn’t, shouting “I need to wipe it first!” He was so calm about it, I was expecting that he managed a minor scrape while helping daddy with the yard work. (We had all been weeding at the side of the house, until I came in to check on dinner and use the rest room). Not quite. When he finally came back to where I was a few minutes later, he had a washcloth full of blood held up to his forehead. I came out to the living room to find a trail of blood from the front door to the kids’ bathroom, a blood soaked paper towel on the bathroom counter, and blood all over the tub, mirror and sink. Did I mention head wounds bleed a lot?

Turns out Alex pulled a Bugs Bunny and stepped on a rake, which then cut a 1.5 cm gash into his forehead, right at the hairline. He didn’t want to bother daddy, so he just calmly came inside and dealt with it himself. Because it was at the hairline, it wasn’t something that could be bandaged easily. After a quick call to my Mom (thanks, Nani!) to confirm that I wasn’t overreacting, we headed out to the urgent care. Well, first I scrubbed the child’s hands and nails a little bit (the latter to no avail), and covered the wound with a cool clean rag held in place with a cool green bandana. We were all filthy from the gardening, and I am sure were quite a rag tag sight.

On the way to the after care, I asked Alex: how did you know what to do for your head? He explained: I just learned it and my body knew what to do from when you helped me with other cuts. My body knew what to do. How friggin mature is that for five?!?!

We were seen right away at After Hours Pediatrics, and I’ve got to say, I am so grateful that place exists! It’s an urgent care facility for kids that’s open from 5 pm til 11 pm, and has the ability to do basic emergent care, including stitches and x-rays and casts. Had we gone to the regular ER, it would have taken four times as long and cost at least twice as much. We were seen almost right away, though we did have to wait about a half hour for the topical anesthetic gel to take effect. (Good news: no shots!). Our buddy Lightening McQueen kept us occupied while we waited. Alex was a trooper the whole time — he got a little whiney when he thought he might need a shot, but other than that, he was calm and collected. During the procedure, the nurse held his head, while I held his hands, and he shut his eyes. He did a great job maintaining conversation with the nurse, and took a total of 3 stitches.

After that, we stopped at Mc Donalds for dinner (since it was now 8 pm). On the way home, Alex made up a song about the “Moon Doctor” (since After Hour Pediatrics’ logo has a moon!) to the tune of “Moon Shadow.” The lyrics we ended up with went something like this:

I’m being stitched up by a moooon doctor.
Moon doctor, mooon doctor.
Numbed up and stitched up by a mooon doctor.
Moon doctor, mooon doctor.

And if I ever cut my head.
I won’t moan, and I won’t dread.
And if I ever cut my head.
Oh iiiiiiiiiiif I won’t have to cry no more.

All in all, the least traumatic experience a boy’s first set of stitches could possibly be!