heart in the clouds

Friday, February 8, 2008

Head Drama revisited


So I think I'm going to permanently affix a helmet to Zach's head. In November his head got into battle with a ceramic flower pot on the "Nina's" front porch. Short version of the story... the pot won and Zach ended up with IV sedation and four stitches. It was very traumatic, mostly for me, at the time. But, we zoomed past that boo boo in a hurry and were on to bigger and better things.

He'd occasionally bump the same spot again and get a small bruise. It was like they sewed in some kind of "smack me here" magnets with the stitches. Last night though, those magnets must have been working overtime. I went to pick him up at 4:45 and when I walked in the door, I heard him crying. Now, that's not so unusual as lately, he's been quite tantrum-prone. But when the babysitter rounded the kitchen corner holding an ice pack on Zach's head with blood all over his shirt, I knew we were in for a long night. Linda said...Aimee, he did it again.

She was nearly in tears and then I was beginning to get watery eyes when I realized it was the same exact spot on his head as the last split. Oh great, I thought, at least it'll still just be one scar. Oh crap, I thought, his two-year pictures are next week. I know that's bad, but it was one of the first thoughts I had after I knew he wasn't bleeding out. So vain - I know, I know.


On first inspection, I thought maybe we could get by with some neosporin and a
band aid...then he dug his finger into it while saying "Mommy, boo boo." Sheesh, self mutilation at this point was just not acceptable! But that's when I knew we were going back to the ER. You see, the pediatricians are not equipped to do stitches, so if there's a possibility of needing them, they tell you to go on to the ER.

We parked in the garage so Zach could ride the bus to the ER, which just awed him. They got us right in and asked the routine "I'm trying to figure out if you are a child abuser" questions. We were sitting in our room 10 minutes later when the doctor walks in and I'm like "Oh, David look...it's Dr. C____." Dr. C____ was surprised that I knew him and wanted to know if he was missing something.


You see, this is the same Dr. who let David go after his stroke without doing any
tests. So I got him up to speed on who we were and that we found out David had a stroke that day. He was very apologetic for not doing a CT scan on David that day, blah blah. I had to keep my cool and try not to question why God had given us this same doctor again. He really did seem sincere and concerned and he was very good with Zach.

Dr. C_____ decided Zach wouldn't need stitches. The old scar had only half way opened up...so he could use glue. Whew! They put a numbing gel on his head for about an hour, but then he did warn me that they'd have to wrap Zach up to clean it out and get it glued straight. We had a lot of time to waste, so we walked the halls and Zach insisted on going potty...good boy! Turns out what he really wanted was to play with the "magic" hand towel dispenser. He got a good giggle out of waving his hand in front of it to get paper towels. I told him if he was scared, all he had to do was tell Jesus and if he wanted to pray, we would pray too. He bowed his head and we asked God to be with him and keep him from being afraid.

Amazingly when they wrapped him in the sheet, he didn't even cry.
He did seem a little unsure of things and got a little fussy toward the end of the procedure, but we started singing Twinkle, Twinkle and he just focused on the song. He didn't even cry until it was all over and the doctor wanted to put a band aid on haha. I know it was just a little wound, but I think God was trying to show me that this guy was a good doctor and that I shouldn't hold a grudge against him. He's human like all of us and he made a poor judgment call with David; he acknowledged it and we must forgive him and be grateful that God protected David through that oversight. So, I suppose I learned a little about forgiveness through this experience.

Psalm 86:5 (Holman Christian Standard Bible)
For You, Lord, are kind and ready to forgive,
abundant in faithful love to all who call on You.

8 comments:

jennifer said...

i cannot believe it's the same exact spot, when i saw the picture i just thought it was from the first time but decided to check it out! Poor thing, you all maybe should just stay at the hospital... and David had a stroke! I didn't know that

aimeenky said...

You're right, we should just rent a floor and move in :)

Kelly K said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kelly K said...

Hey Aimee I will tell you right now (cause I have a kid like this one) INVEST IN BUBBLE WRAP!!!!! It starts with the head and then comes the arms and ... ok enough. I am glad he is ok. I am even more grateful that God brought you some closure to the doctor thing.

aimeenky said...

Should I just wrap him in bubble wrap each morning or what? lol

Kelly K said...

That might just do the trick! :) Let me know if you plan to, I will need to change my stock holdings around ;) Hang in there.

Chelsea said...

OH my goodness. when is he going to learn?

Misty Dawn said...

You are officially my hero.