Back to the E.R.
Louis just completed his third visit to the emergency room in the past six months. I've been lagging behind on updating this site and haven't even shared the particulars of each of these small mishaps.
Number 1, July 5, 8:00 p.m., California: Mary, Louis and I were wrapping up a wonderful week on the beach south of L.A. with my Peace Corps China group. We are celebrating the 10th reunion of meeting each other. Louis had survived the sand, the waves, a second story condo, and three other kids older than him. Mary had to leave one day early to get back for classes. So, as luck would have it, we had said goodbye to Mary that morning and had just returned to our condo from dinner. We were all sitting around a huge, round glass top table when Louis tried to crawl down from my lap, tripped and bashed his face, just under the left eyebrow, on the side of the table. Immediately, blood started streaming down his face and from the depth of the cut I knew we'd be visiting the E.R. Louis fell sound asleep in the triage section of the E.R. only to be woken up to a huge floodlight shining down on him and a doctor shooting a needle right above his eye. He started screaming, realized his arms had been pinned to his side when the nurses wrapped a sheet around so he couldn't move, and then screamed even louder. I can still remember between shrieks Louis calling out, "Mamma... Dada" in the most innocent, heart wrenching voice imaginable. When it was all over Louis and I left the E.R. with five stitches and a five-hour flight back to Ohio the next morning. Mary was very understanding and told me not to feel badly about it, even though she couldn't help but wonder aloud how he had managed to play around the glass table all week without incident while she was in town! In the end we both survived and received plenty of sympathy on the flight home.
Number 2, October 14, 9:00 a.m., Columbus: It was a beautiful fall morning. Louis and I were looking forward to a busy day together. Mary was in her nursing clinicals all day so Louis and I were planning to go for a walk, have lunch and then join Patrick and Amanda to watch the Buckeyes battle the Spartans of Michigan State. All but out the door for our walk I realized that I should check Louis pants for any surprises before we left. Things checked out as all clear but then Louis decided he didn't want to have his pants on anymore. When I finally wrestled him back to me I stood him up on my lap while sitting on a chaise lounge near the window. Louis was still firm on the fact that he did not want to wear these pants so just as I got both legs in and was pulling up on the waistband he flailed away from me, falling left eyebrow first into the edge of the window sill. I heard the crack and was immediately afraid to look. Sure enough his little eyebrow split open again. This time however it was above the left eyebrow and much longer. Feeling at this point that I was doomed to receive an inscribed mug recognizing me as "The World's Greatest (Failure as a) Dad" I packed us up and headed to the OSU emergency room.
Even though I'm feeling simply pathetic at this point Louis, as he was in California, had completely forgotten about the cut and his happily chattering away. As we sat in the waiting room, Louis marched around saying "hi" to people and trying to pull the rubber gloves out of their boxes. When we were finally seen, they decided to strap Louis down onto a board much like you see when somebody has a potential neck injury and they need to be moved, except built for little guys. Just like in California, Louis had fallen asleep on my shoulder from all the waiting and was lying down and strapped in when he awoke to the needle going into his eyebrow. Same wailing, same whimpering for his parents, and the same Dad dreading a call to his wife explaining how her son has landed back in the emergency room. Mary, of course, was wonderful and could tell that I was feeling lowly enough about the situation and only laughed at the chances of it happening again. This time Louis left with six stitches above the eyebrow, and after a big bowl of tomato soup took a long nap at home.
Number Three, Today, 9:15 a.m., Daycare Center (thank God!): I was in the middle of helping one of my students with a Biology test over genetics, and the Punnet Square (remember, big B, little b), when my cell phone buzzed showing me that Mary was trying to get a hold of me. I excused myself, returned her call and learned that our little bundle of head butting had tripped in the "muscle room" at daycare and had fallen onto a plastic red fire truck. Guess what part of his face hit the truck? You guessed it, the exact same area where he had just got stitches. I found someone to cover for me at school and left to get the little daredevil. When I got there Louis was fine and sporting a huge BandAid above his eye. He was happy to see me but I could tell a little irked that I was intruding on his playtime with Asia and Liam. I packed him up, registered at the ER and sat with Louis around the little kid chairs where we had only just been a month and a half ago. I realized while sitting there how much Louis has grown in just this past month. Were practiced our colors ("boo" has now joined "wed" and "ellow" in Louis' palatte of vocabulary), Louis said hi to people and played peek-a-boo with an older lady in a wheelchair. Mary had come down to join us from her office and this time when they called us Louis hopped down from his chair and strode through the wide-swinging ER doors like an old pro. Our favorite story of today occurred after the nurse asked us to take off the BandAid so she could see how bad the cut was. We took off the BandAid which really ticked Louis off. After talking with the nurse we gave the BandAid back to Louis who looked down, thought for a moment, then slapped the BandAid right on the middle of his forehead and said, "all done. Bye Bye." as if that was all there was to it and now we all could leave. Fortunately, it turns out that that was pretty much all there was to it. The doctor was able to patch the cut together with glue because it wasn't as deep at the first two. The little guy fell sound asleep on the way home while eating the ham out of the sandwich I had packed for school but never got around to eating. He is still fast asleep hopefully dreaming of soft landings and fluffy pillows.
Number 1, July 5, 8:00 p.m., California: Mary, Louis and I were wrapping up a wonderful week on the beach south of L.A. with my Peace Corps China group. We are celebrating the 10th reunion of meeting each other. Louis had survived the sand, the waves, a second story condo, and three other kids older than him. Mary had to leave one day early to get back for classes. So, as luck would have it, we had said goodbye to Mary that morning and had just returned to our condo from dinner. We were all sitting around a huge, round glass top table when Louis tried to crawl down from my lap, tripped and bashed his face, just under the left eyebrow, on the side of the table. Immediately, blood started streaming down his face and from the depth of the cut I knew we'd be visiting the E.R. Louis fell sound asleep in the triage section of the E.R. only to be woken up to a huge floodlight shining down on him and a doctor shooting a needle right above his eye. He started screaming, realized his arms had been pinned to his side when the nurses wrapped a sheet around so he couldn't move, and then screamed even louder. I can still remember between shrieks Louis calling out, "Mamma... Dada" in the most innocent, heart wrenching voice imaginable. When it was all over Louis and I left the E.R. with five stitches and a five-hour flight back to Ohio the next morning. Mary was very understanding and told me not to feel badly about it, even though she couldn't help but wonder aloud how he had managed to play around the glass table all week without incident while she was in town! In the end we both survived and received plenty of sympathy on the flight home.
Number 2, October 14, 9:00 a.m., Columbus: It was a beautiful fall morning. Louis and I were looking forward to a busy day together. Mary was in her nursing clinicals all day so Louis and I were planning to go for a walk, have lunch and then join Patrick and Amanda to watch the Buckeyes battle the Spartans of Michigan State. All but out the door for our walk I realized that I should check Louis pants for any surprises before we left. Things checked out as all clear but then Louis decided he didn't want to have his pants on anymore. When I finally wrestled him back to me I stood him up on my lap while sitting on a chaise lounge near the window. Louis was still firm on the fact that he did not want to wear these pants so just as I got both legs in and was pulling up on the waistband he flailed away from me, falling left eyebrow first into the edge of the window sill. I heard the crack and was immediately afraid to look. Sure enough his little eyebrow split open again. This time however it was above the left eyebrow and much longer. Feeling at this point that I was doomed to receive an inscribed mug recognizing me as "The World's Greatest (Failure as a) Dad" I packed us up and headed to the OSU emergency room.
Even though I'm feeling simply pathetic at this point Louis, as he was in California, had completely forgotten about the cut and his happily chattering away. As we sat in the waiting room, Louis marched around saying "hi" to people and trying to pull the rubber gloves out of their boxes. When we were finally seen, they decided to strap Louis down onto a board much like you see when somebody has a potential neck injury and they need to be moved, except built for little guys. Just like in California, Louis had fallen asleep on my shoulder from all the waiting and was lying down and strapped in when he awoke to the needle going into his eyebrow. Same wailing, same whimpering for his parents, and the same Dad dreading a call to his wife explaining how her son has landed back in the emergency room. Mary, of course, was wonderful and could tell that I was feeling lowly enough about the situation and only laughed at the chances of it happening again. This time Louis left with six stitches above the eyebrow, and after a big bowl of tomato soup took a long nap at home.
Number Three, Today, 9:15 a.m., Daycare Center (thank God!): I was in the middle of helping one of my students with a Biology test over genetics, and the Punnet Square (remember, big B, little b), when my cell phone buzzed showing me that Mary was trying to get a hold of me. I excused myself, returned her call and learned that our little bundle of head butting had tripped in the "muscle room" at daycare and had fallen onto a plastic red fire truck. Guess what part of his face hit the truck? You guessed it, the exact same area where he had just got stitches. I found someone to cover for me at school and left to get the little daredevil. When I got there Louis was fine and sporting a huge BandAid above his eye. He was happy to see me but I could tell a little irked that I was intruding on his playtime with Asia and Liam. I packed him up, registered at the ER and sat with Louis around the little kid chairs where we had only just been a month and a half ago. I realized while sitting there how much Louis has grown in just this past month. Were practiced our colors ("boo" has now joined "wed" and "ellow" in Louis' palatte of vocabulary), Louis said hi to people and played peek-a-boo with an older lady in a wheelchair. Mary had come down to join us from her office and this time when they called us Louis hopped down from his chair and strode through the wide-swinging ER doors like an old pro. Our favorite story of today occurred after the nurse asked us to take off the BandAid so she could see how bad the cut was. We took off the BandAid which really ticked Louis off. After talking with the nurse we gave the BandAid back to Louis who looked down, thought for a moment, then slapped the BandAid right on the middle of his forehead and said, "all done. Bye Bye." as if that was all there was to it and now we all could leave. Fortunately, it turns out that that was pretty much all there was to it. The doctor was able to patch the cut together with glue because it wasn't as deep at the first two. The little guy fell sound asleep on the way home while eating the ham out of the sandwich I had packed for school but never got around to eating. He is still fast asleep hopefully dreaming of soft landings and fluffy pillows.
posted by Adam at 2:36 PM
4 Comments:
I'm very relieved the ER trips were the result of an unrelated series of accidents, rather than some recurring illness (I was particularly thinking of the PKU thing)Tell Big Lou he's gotta stop being so reckless and start setting a better example for his impending sibling.
Jake,
You're the best. Thanks so much for your concern and continued friendship. When Louis is old enough we're sending him to city camp with Uncle Jake.
Adam - that sorry about the stitches sounds a little too familiar to me. Are you sure there wasn't a late night soccer ball to the face involved in the second injury? I mean the pants thing sounds good and all, but who are you kidding? I guess I'll just have to compare scars with Louis next time I see him so we can get to the bottom of this.
Love,
Uncle 'Rico
Adam - that sorry about the stitches sounds a little too familiar to me. Are you sure there wasn't a late night soccer ball to the face involved in the second injury? I mean the pants thing sounds good and all, but who are you kidding? I guess I'll just have to compare scars with Louis next time I see him so we can get to the bottom of this.
Love,
Uncle 'Rico
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