Change of Plans
Jul. 8th, 2009 12:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
billroperOriginally, we'd planned to have pork stir fry tonight, but after ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
daisy_knotwise had to get up extremely early this morning to beat the house into submission before the cleaning lady arrived, and got to wrangle the girls down to meet me for lunch and a trip to see Dr. Bob (hers and mine, not the girls), I suggested that I could take her over to Sweet Baby Ray's for dinner. Gretchen agreed that this sounded reasonable, so when I got home (late already), we mustered the troops, got everyone into the van, and headed out for the restaurant.
Katie ran ahead of me into the restaurant's vestibule and tripped just before she got to the inner door. She lay there crying, so I picked her up and carried her in. It was then that I realized that she had blood running all down one side of her face. She'd managed to plant the corner of her right eyebrow directly into the corner of the frame that held the glass into the door and had a nasty L-shaped cut.
Gretchen still was getting Julie into the restaurant. I grabbed Katie and took her back to the men's room, sat her on the sink, and started wiping down the cut with some napkins that I'd been given. It looked ugly. The owner came in and told me that I'd need to take her to the hospital. Of course, I was already clear on that. I went out, fetched Gretchen and Julie, and we went back to the van.
We decided to go to Holy Family, which was an urgent care center that had formerly been a full-service hospital. This would have been a fine plan had we not arrived at 8:13 and they closed at 8 PM. Katie had fallen asleep in the back seat -- not uncommon since she stopped taking naps. But I got out and shook her to wake her to make sure she was ok, which she was. So on to Lutheran General's emergency room we went. I carried Katie in while Gretchen parked the car. They ran her through triage, cleaned up the blood, applied some anesthetic and a bandage, and sent us to wait.
By this time, I was in fine shape, having taken my Byetta shot before leaving for dinner and having had lunch very early. So I had a Pay Day bar and a Diet Pepsi from the vending machine, which improved my mood considerably. Katie's mood was also good, having found the paper and crayons. Before too long, they called us to go back to one of the rooms, so I took Katie back there and left Gretchen with Julie.
A med student came by and checked on us, explaining that things were delayed due to another procedure that had backed everything up. A bit later, a nurse applied some more anesthetic. And we waited some more. Katie found the control and turned on the TV. I found the Cubs game. (They lost.) Later, I tried Cartoon Network, just in time for Family Guy on Adult Swim. Fortunately, Katie likes Family Guy. (I need to do something about that, as she's old enough to start wondering what's actually going on there.)
One nurse kindly pulled some bubble toys out of a drawer. Katie was delighted with blowing bubbles and -- now that she knew the location of the drawer -- kept going back to get more bubbles. I think we had ten or so at one point, not all of which she managed to open.
Then she wanted Mommy. So I retrieved Gretchen and Julie from the waiting room and they came back about 10:30 PM, shortly before the doctor freed up. At that point, Gretchen and Julie waited outside, because things were getting crowded.
It turns out that they have a velcro wrap for small children to keep their arms and legs immobilized for procedures like this, and that's what Katie got. The doctor asked me to sing to Katie to keep her distracted, so I started with "The House on Pooh Corner", which seemed to keep her quiet, so the doctor said, "Keep going."
I did. I sang "Crystal Dance", and "Midnight Girl", and "Dreams of Distant Lights", and "St. Judy's Comet", and "Close To You", all songs that I sang to her when she was younger and I was holding her waiting for her to fall asleep (save "Crystal Dance", which Katie asks for as "Mommy's Song"). And Katie was very well behaved, and only had just a little bit of tear coming out of her eyes as the doctor finished the ninth and final stitch.
We still had to wait to get the discharge instructions. We finally left around 11:30 PM, about three hours after we'd arrived. We pulled through the drive-through at the Wendy's up the street to pick up dinner, then had to wait as I walked back up to the window to get the chicken nuggets that we'd ordered for the girls that hadn't actually gotten into the bags.
Julie's in bed now. Katie is too, although she's stubbornly refused to wear a band-aid over her stitches, which should come out next Monday.
And now we're going to bed.
daisy_knotwise had to get up extremely early this morning to beat the house into submission before the cleaning lady arrived, and got to wrangle the girls down to meet me for lunch and a trip to see Dr. Bob (hers and mine, not the girls), I suggested that I could take her over to Sweet Baby Ray's for dinner. Gretchen agreed that this sounded reasonable, so when I got home (late already), we mustered the troops, got everyone into the van, and headed out for the restaurant.Katie ran ahead of me into the restaurant's vestibule and tripped just before she got to the inner door. She lay there crying, so I picked her up and carried her in. It was then that I realized that she had blood running all down one side of her face. She'd managed to plant the corner of her right eyebrow directly into the corner of the frame that held the glass into the door and had a nasty L-shaped cut.
Gretchen still was getting Julie into the restaurant. I grabbed Katie and took her back to the men's room, sat her on the sink, and started wiping down the cut with some napkins that I'd been given. It looked ugly. The owner came in and told me that I'd need to take her to the hospital. Of course, I was already clear on that. I went out, fetched Gretchen and Julie, and we went back to the van.
We decided to go to Holy Family, which was an urgent care center that had formerly been a full-service hospital. This would have been a fine plan had we not arrived at 8:13 and they closed at 8 PM. Katie had fallen asleep in the back seat -- not uncommon since she stopped taking naps. But I got out and shook her to wake her to make sure she was ok, which she was. So on to Lutheran General's emergency room we went. I carried Katie in while Gretchen parked the car. They ran her through triage, cleaned up the blood, applied some anesthetic and a bandage, and sent us to wait.
By this time, I was in fine shape, having taken my Byetta shot before leaving for dinner and having had lunch very early. So I had a Pay Day bar and a Diet Pepsi from the vending machine, which improved my mood considerably. Katie's mood was also good, having found the paper and crayons. Before too long, they called us to go back to one of the rooms, so I took Katie back there and left Gretchen with Julie.
A med student came by and checked on us, explaining that things were delayed due to another procedure that had backed everything up. A bit later, a nurse applied some more anesthetic. And we waited some more. Katie found the control and turned on the TV. I found the Cubs game. (They lost.) Later, I tried Cartoon Network, just in time for Family Guy on Adult Swim. Fortunately, Katie likes Family Guy. (I need to do something about that, as she's old enough to start wondering what's actually going on there.)
One nurse kindly pulled some bubble toys out of a drawer. Katie was delighted with blowing bubbles and -- now that she knew the location of the drawer -- kept going back to get more bubbles. I think we had ten or so at one point, not all of which she managed to open.
Then she wanted Mommy. So I retrieved Gretchen and Julie from the waiting room and they came back about 10:30 PM, shortly before the doctor freed up. At that point, Gretchen and Julie waited outside, because things were getting crowded.
It turns out that they have a velcro wrap for small children to keep their arms and legs immobilized for procedures like this, and that's what Katie got. The doctor asked me to sing to Katie to keep her distracted, so I started with "The House on Pooh Corner", which seemed to keep her quiet, so the doctor said, "Keep going."
I did. I sang "Crystal Dance", and "Midnight Girl", and "Dreams of Distant Lights", and "St. Judy's Comet", and "Close To You", all songs that I sang to her when she was younger and I was holding her waiting for her to fall asleep (save "Crystal Dance", which Katie asks for as "Mommy's Song"). And Katie was very well behaved, and only had just a little bit of tear coming out of her eyes as the doctor finished the ninth and final stitch.
We still had to wait to get the discharge instructions. We finally left around 11:30 PM, about three hours after we'd arrived. We pulled through the drive-through at the Wendy's up the street to pick up dinner, then had to wait as I walked back up to the window to get the chicken nuggets that we'd ordered for the girls that hadn't actually gotten into the bags.
Julie's in bed now. Katie is too, although she's stubbornly refused to wear a band-aid over her stitches, which should come out next Monday.
And now we're going to bed.
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no subject
Date: 2009-07-08 07:09 am (UTC)You know with your voice the doctor probably asked you to sing on because he really liked listening...
no subject
Date: 2009-07-08 12:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-08 10:04 pm (UTC)It was a bit longer than that, as I started going around the circle again before she finished putting in the stitches. But she was being very careful about it, because it was a face wound and you'd like those to heal as cleanly as possible.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-08 07:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-08 10:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-08 12:25 pm (UTC)And when Sparkle about the same age, not wanting to go to bed, ran smack on into a baby gate, cutting her forehead open to the bone, and required stitches through her eyebrow. Sparkle was more upset about the velcro wrap than she was about the cut or the stitches.
And sympathies for having to go through that "sinking" feeling as your blood sugar goes low, on top of being worried sick.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-08 10:05 pm (UTC)The blood sugar hadn't gotten significantly low yet, but it was thinking about it and I decided to head it off at the pass.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-08 12:37 pm (UTC)Reminds me of when I ended up in the emergency room when Matt got a skin infection that wouldn't go away.
I LOVE hospitals, doctors and nurses who understand kids . . . And it sounds like the one you went to, did.
Andrea
no subject
Date: 2009-07-08 10:06 pm (UTC)And they were good.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-08 01:25 pm (UTC)Glad it all turned out OK in the end.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-08 01:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-08 03:11 pm (UTC)Oh, brave girl.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-08 04:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-08 03:52 pm (UTC)I'm glad that all turned out (relatively) okay and that y'all finally got some dinner!
no subject
Date: 2009-07-08 03:57 pm (UTC)I think the doctor was enjoying the singing too :-)
no subject
Date: 2009-07-08 04:03 pm (UTC)Never fun.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-08 04:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-08 04:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-08 04:10 pm (UTC)We had something like that
Date: 2009-07-08 05:37 pm (UTC)Great moments in parenting: being complemented as we left at how well behavied my little girl was.
Of course THEN I went home & had a shaking fit.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-08 06:10 pm (UTC)Your girls are lucky to have you two as parents. How cool is it to be sung to while being stitched up??!
no subject
Date: 2009-07-08 09:31 pm (UTC)Of course, when you draw on a place mat at dinner to entertain the kids, you produce something wonderful. :)
no subject
Date: 2009-07-08 08:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-09 12:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-09 03:04 am (UTC)