Rough day for Robert James - ER Visit!

Robert James got up early (8am) for his gymnastics class. He seemed to have a pretty good time. The Y rents a space for the gymnastics program, and there lease was up in the old building, they found another place that was newer and had more space and they moved last weekend. So this was our first time in the new building. Robert James seemed a bit more interested in the surroundings than in jumping and playing, although he did some.

We went home to get me ready for my class. George (my hubby) was going to watch Robert James while I worked out. I sat down to have a bite to eat while Robert James played in the livingroom. I was reading the paper, when I heard him start crying. He had falled down and figured that he had just bumped his head or something. Well, then I saw some blood! Right next to his right eye. I took him upstairs for George to see. George seemed concerned, but didn't think that it was anything to worry about after looking at it. I felt differently and told him that I was going to take Robert James to the ER. He said fine, told me to be careful, and said to call if anything was up.

I got Robert James back into the car, and we drove straight to the ER. I was somewhat impatient with other drivers, but tried to keep my cool, since Robert James seemed just fine in the back seat. He was snacking on some yogurt drops and cereal. We walked in to the ER department, and the triage nurse was right there. She asked why we were there, and told her about his fall. She took a quick peek at the cut, but didn't really mess with it. She took his vitals and brought us back to a room to wait for the doctor.

Another nurse came in, looked at his face, but decided against cleaning the wound - thought it would be better to wait for the doctor. She told me that most children will cry and fight the doctor/nurse because it hurts. She didn't want to get him worked up before the doctor came in. She came back to give Robert James a stuffed dog toy.








Finally the doctor stopped in, he sat down in front of our seats and talked with Robert James and me. He wanted Robert to become comfortable with him so that he wouldn't fight as much. The doctor had me lay Robert down on the hospital bed, while he cleaned the wound so he could determine if it would need stitches. The gash is right at the natural fold of the eye, so it was hard to tell. Robert James just layed there without fighting or crying while he cleaned it out with a guaze pad. He poked and prodded for a bit longer trying to decide what to do. He thought about gluing it, but since it was so close to the eye, he didn't want to glue his eye shut. Finally he decided that he would like to put a suture or two in, because it would lessen the chance of a scar, or at least make it less noticible.








He left again to go and check on other patients. Robert James played while he was gone. He was having a blast! The doctor came back, apologized about the wait, and then got two nurses to help while he preped for the stitches. The nurses decided that they should wrap Robert up in a sheet to prevent him from being able to swing his arms around. One nurse held his head, while the other took over at his lower body and arms. I sat next to him (the doctor insisted that I sit, since they didn't want to have me in another bed because of fainting) and helped hold him. The doctor started by giving Robert a shot into the area with Novicain to numb it. He said just before giving the shot, that this is when most kids really start to fight and cry. Robert James didn't even seem to flinch. The doctor was shocked! He was able to clean the wound, then proceed to put two stitches in while Robert just laid there perfectly calm.

The doctor said that in all the years he has done stitches, he has never had a child that calm. He said that he would be talking about this one all day! He kept telling Robert that he was being such a brave little boy.

After the doctor left to finish up the paper work, and we had to wait for some papers to sign, Robert went right back to playing. He kept running into the hall to flirt with the nurses, and show everyone his belly. The last 10 minutes or so he started getting really fussy, but that was because it was nap time and he was really getting tired of being there.

Overall, I am very proud of him for how well he did at the ER. I am sad that he got hurt and needed the stitches to begin with, but I think the doctor and the staff did a wonderful job! He will have to go to his pediatrician in 5 days to have the stitches removed. Hopefully, that will go well :)