What’s a Weekend Without Stitches?

Saturday was an eventful day to say the least.  Noah had his very first tee-ball game at noon and had to be at the ball park by 11:30 to get his new jersey then warm up with his team.  Where they practice each week isn’t on the same field as the games and for a four year it can be slightly overwhelming without a little prep time.

Gabby started the morning off good but then decided to have a slight mood swing about putting on her shoes before loading up in the car to leave.  I finally grabbed her shoes, carried them to the car saying something like “fine, just hurry and get in the car so we can have Noah to his game on time and I’ll put your shoes on you in the parking lot”.  That didn’t go well.

Gabby has Cerebral Palsy on the right side caused from her stroke in utero.  She has had correctional surgery on her right foot and ankle as well as Botox injections in the past.  We knew there would be a good chance she would have this done again during her life time, probably more than once or twice.  Lately she has been dragging her foot slightly when she walks and turning it inwards more than normal.  I’m sure it’s time for Botox injections very soon.  Unfortunately on her way to the car she drug her foot right across the metal edging around the bushes near the front porch.  Causing her little toe to be sliced completely open and nearly off.

She also cut the top part of her toe which was the first part I saw when she started screaming in pain.  My mom was near her when it happened so she knew it was bad.  I’m not one of those parents who jumps in fear, I always assume the child is over-reacting.  Shame on me, I know.  My mom, on the other hand, is one who panics immediately when someone gets hurt.  As my mom is yelling ‘she hurt herself so we must go to the hospital, look at all the blood!‘ I’m saying something more along the lines of ‘oh come on, what did she do, scrap her toe? let me look at it, how bad could it be?‘  Just as the words come out of my mouth I raise her foot up in my hand and watch the blood go pouring down the drive-way.

The cut was around the bottom of her toe and on the inside.  It was also very, very deep.  We finally had to wrap her foot in a towel because we couldn’t get the bleeding to stop and just rush her to the ER.  Needless to say I missed Noah’s very first tee-ball game.  All that rushing didn’t really accomplish much.  The ER took Gabby back right away with no wait, thank goodness.  I’m not sure if the fact she was completely pale and runs a high risk of having uncontrollable seizures with stress to the body had anything to do with it or if it was just the simple fact she literally almost lost a whole toe.  Either way, I was thankful.

Gabby handled it all pretty well.  The shots between her toes and inside the cut was the worst part.  They did add numbing cream to her foot for roughly 30 minutes before starting which helped.  Not sure how the doctor felt about me snapping photos while he was stitching her up.  I tried to be sly about it.  For one, watching the whole process was making my spine hurt.

Right after the doctor finished with the 4th and final stitch he was just about to bandage her foot and I said ‘oh wait! can I take a photo real quick?‘  His response was ‘sure, Gabby mom wants to show you what your stitches look like‘.  I didn’t have the heart to tell him it was actually for my blog… and of course the live tweeting I had going on during our not-so-boring visit to the ER.

On a positive note… Noah’s father sent me a very cute photo of him at his first game and a quick video clip of him playing.