first stitches....

The wound....

We had made it 3 years without a trip to the ER--not too shabby, right? Well that record came to a screeching halt this afternoon. I had gone to work and Sam was with the boys at home. They were about to head outside to play, when Luke decided to sit on the arm of the couch (which he knows better!) and fell over backwards and hit the back of his head on the pedal of the elliptical machine. Sam rushed over and blood was pouring out of Luke's head all over the place. There was a big deep gash that was bleeding pretty profusely. Sam got pressure on it quickly and Luke was totally with it and fairly calm, just saying, "What is all this blood on me, Daddy?" So Sam called me at work as I was pulling into the parking lot: I told him to try the urgent care center, as I had not seen it and I did not know if he needed stitches or not. Well, the urgent care center took one look at Luke and said not only will he need multiple stitches, but he will have to be sedated to do them and they felt like he needed to be in the ER at CHOA (Children's Hospital of Atlanta). Once Sam told me that, I told my supervisor and she told me to go and she would cover my class. So I hopped in my car and met them there.

Fun little chairs in the waiting room....

Mommy guarding the gauze with the numbing medicine while Luke watches TV

The nurses were so good and we actually had the plastics fellow (one step below the bigwig attending) down to stitch him up. Luke got some numbing cream on the wound and some sedation drops in his nose, basically a drug related to Valium and some mild narcotic pain reliever. Within about 5 minutes, he was about half-drunk and hilarious!! Poor thing was weaving and bobbing and bumping into things--definitely could not have passed a field soberity test!! The Child Life Specialist came in and brought him toys and books to play with while he got his 6 big stitches! Then Luke got a blue popsicle too, which he could barely hold, but did enjoy eating.

Luke, after the sedating nose drops....

What an afternoon! Poor Henry was just shuttled back and forth and was very laidback about it. He ate my dinner that I had taken to work and got graham crackers from the nurses, which got them big smiles! We got home and Henry in bed by 8:30, but Luke had to wind down a little from the sedation and so had to put on his doctor coat and give his bear a complete physical before he could sleep. But long story short, everyone is home and fine.

At home, giving Panda Bear the once-over....

This is a quick video of him, after he got the sedation--PS. the crying in the background is from the movie "Toy Story" that was on in the room, not Henry, and that is what Luke is staring at. He really was funny--inappropriate, I know, to think your child who is injured to the point that he needs sedation to repair it is funny, but I had to find humor in the situation to not be too upset about the fact that he was in the ER and needed sedation at all.