With those words, I knew that my brief workday was over. I had come in on a Sunday to catch up, and I had barely logged into my computer when Mandy called. She mentioned something about a stranger giving her a ride home with the kids, and Noah bleeding all over. I could hear someone in the background wailing. I didn't even bother to ask what happened.
When I got home, I found Noah on the couch he likes to lay on when he gets hurt, holding a bloody mop of wet paper towels to his hand. As soon as I saw him, he broke into sobs and said "I got a boo-boo daddy." I scooped him up, and we headed to Children's Mercy. On the way, Mandy told me the story - they had taken the stroller to the toy store in Brookside to buy a present for a friend's birthday party that afternoon. Noah was excited to go into the store, and followed someone else in as they opened the door.
Unfortunately, he put his left hand on the hinge-side of the door as it was closing, and it shut completely on his pinky finger, breaking the tip and almost severing his finger. Mandy was still unbuckling E from the stroller, and heard the screaming and had to rush to open the door to free his hand.
From there it was chaos, as people scrambled to help. At that point, Mandy couldn't tell exactly what the damage was, only that it was bad.
Noah, who is no fan of his own blood (which he has seen plenty of), was trying so hard to be brave while we waited to be seen. Once in the triage exam room, the nurse was able to replace the bloody paper towels he had in a death grip with a temporary bandage, and he seemed to calm down a little.
Trying to be brave, but still nervous.
Pretty soon the doctor wanted a look. I was trying to shield his eyes from the wound as they unwrapped the bandages.
They brought in a
Child Life Specialist to help Noah get comfortable before (and during his surgery). This was one of the things he remembered pretty specifically today - "The doctor let me play trains". One of the reasons I really like Children's Mercy is their attention to this area of children's health care.
Noah was x-rayed, and given
Versed to relax him before shooting his finger full of Lidocaine for the procedure. He cried as they gave him the medicine (they deliver a huge syringe of the stuff through his nostrils), but afterwards this was the funniest part - watching him get high. He was trying to blow the bubbles that the Child Life Specialist was blowing at him - clearly relaxing fast.
Time to get to work. This was the worst part, watching him cry as they shot him full of Lidocaine. He was wrapped up like a mummy, with one nurse holding his free arm down.
The CLS tried to keep him distracted with a story, while Mom rubbed his head.
This picture speaks for itself. Ouch.
They turned the overhead lights off and pretty soon the stress and the Versed caught up with him, and he went to sleep with Mandy rubbing his head.
The surgery involved 11 stitches to reattach his finger and to do a "nail-bed repair", where they remove the nail, fix the finger, and then attempt to reattach the nail by jamming it down into the cuticle and stitching it to the finger in hopes that a new one will grow. It may or may not. The finger, because it is also broken, is encased in a splint that he will need to wear for at least a couple of weeks.
They told us he would sleep for at least a couple of hours while the drugs wore off, and then go to bed at his normal bedtime. Being the champion sleeper he typically is, he woke up before I had carried him halfway down the hallway, and was up until 9:00 that night.
He hadn't eaten lunch when this all happened (12:15), and by the time we stopped in to fill his prescriptions it was after 5:00. So he got ice cream and Cheez-its for an early dinner. I think we'd been promising him ice cream for at least four of those hours if he was brave - don't judge, you know you would have too. Turns out he not only has Mandy's sweet tooth, but also her penchant for mixing sweet-and-salt foods. Dipping the chocolate chip-cookie dough ice cream with Cheez-its may sound nasty, but apparently it's not bad...
The scene of the crime: I didn't take him here on purpose, it was just between the ice cream shop and the drug store. The left side of the door, about head-high, is where he caught his hand. That'll teach him to run into a store before Mom is ready, right? Right?
We were worried about him waking up during the night due to the pain, but he slept all night and woke up like nothing happened. We haven't given him any Motrin since before bed last night. He says it doesn't hurt anymore and is back to his usual self. He's pretty proud of his "cool cast" and his bracelet (hospital i.d.) that he isn't removing. He can't wait to show Hudson today when he gets home from school.
