car accident

after accomplishing some chores, i decided to take coby out for a peaceful walk and meet jay and the boys at the nearby playground.  within a few minutes, though, elijah and jonah came zooming from around the corner on their plasma cars.  they were happily surprised to see me, and i to see them return so soon.  but where were noah and jay?

they eventually emerged from around the corner too, except jay had carried noah, and our neighbor, who walked along side them, had carried the other plasma car.  uh-oh. 

jay:  noah had an accident.

neighbor:  but it wasn't jay's fault.

don't men know when they say that, we women instantly believe that it was???

apparently, noah leaned forward while riding his car, which had lost one of its front wheels.  the car tipped forward, noah fell off, then the car flipped out from under him, did two 360 degree somersaults, and whacked noah in the back of the head.  ok, the somersaults didn't happen, but the whack did.

jay turned noah around so that i could see the wound.  there was blood.  great, just great.  i was somehow crossing my fingers for a mere lump.  however, there wasn't much, and the bleeding appeared to have stopped.  still, with all the hair obstructing my view, i couldn't get a good look at the injury.  noah had a little frown on his face, but his tears were already drying up.  he seemed to feel better as soon as i took him from jay.

me:  are you okay?

noah:  mm-hmm.

me:  okay, then why don't you try to walk. 

not only did noah walk as soon as i put him down, but he jumped back onto his car and zoomed towards his brothers who were already riding ahead of us!  my eyes bulged out of their sockets, and my jaw dropped to the ground.  the kid just hit his head enough to bleed!  ... composure, composure, composure.

me:  i guess he's okay... ?

i was indecisive of whether or not i was making the statement or asking the question.

neighbor:  wow!  he's tough and brave!

i wasn't sure what to do at this point.  i needed more time to assess, so i let my sons play for ten more minutes.  jay and our neighbor didn't think there was a significant cut, though i didn't quite believe them yet.  i caught up to noah to ascertain that he remained careful as well as to look at his head more closely.  i could make out a tiny open wound but couldn't tell the severity of it.  we went inside in attempt for me to clean the area and get a better look.  the damp cloth i had in my hand wasn't necessary after all as i immediately realized beneath the bright kitchen light that noah's wound required fixing.

i called urgent care, who was much closer to us than the hospital, to see if they were equipped to handle the laceration.  they weren't and advised us to the ER.  that call saved me a trip!

noah and i were at the ER for over two hours.  i forgot to bring books and toys to keep him preoccupied but happened to have the camera in my bag.  it was a fantastic alternative to a toy, and it helped me show and explain to noah about the cut on his head.

the administrator, a couple of nurses, and the attending physician were in and out, to complete paperwork, review the accident, and provide me with an overview of the on-coming treatment.  everyone pleasantly filled in the time, and their purposeful cheerfulness helped uplift both of our spirits during our uncomfortable visit. 

a nurse cleaned his wound after we waited 20 or so minutes for the topical anesthetic to take effect.  she interrupted herself to get a bottle of distilled water to irrigate the wound.

nurse:  there's another hole that's deeper.

me:  you mean there's more than one?

i began to worry.  actually, freak out was more like it.

nurse:  no, there's just one, but a part of it is deeper than i thought.

me:  will he still be ok?  will he require more staples?

nurse:  no, he'll be fine.

i saw the laceration clearly after the nurse was done with the irrigation.  a part of it looked deep enough for the tip of noah's pinky to fit.  ouch!  ew!  oh, my baby!  ... composure, composure, composure.

shortly after, the doctor returned.  in her hand was a stapler, a mini one, like the size of the personal stapler i toted around when i was in college.  and to my surprise, she stapled noah's skin back together the way we staple paper!  and the staples looked like regular mini staples, only thicker.  unbelievable ... seriously!  unfortunately, the two staples that the doctor initially intended didn't suffice to close the injury, and four staple were applied instead.

noah was the most patient, calm, collected, and toughest person ever.  EVER.  he did not complain or cry about the wait, the head examinations, the anesthetic application, the cleaning, nor the stapling.  noah's demeanor was simply admirable and amazing.  he made the entire situation as easy as ordering a pizza.

and that's what we did.  we went home, where noah was ecstatic to see his brothers again.  then i set on the table before him a couple of slices of pepperoni pizza, his favorite.

ouchy ears

just when we were at the end of the sickies (this round, anyway), and we thought the sleepless nights were behind us, jonah woke up just two hours after bedtime.  he tossed and turned, whining all the while.  i asked him what was wrong, but he didn't respond.  so i stayed with him and patted and rubbed his back in hopes that he would return to sleep.  instead, he put his hands, both of them, over his ears.  that was the confirmation of what i dread about every single time any one of my sons are overcome with congestion.  ear infection.

my family has been haunted by ear infections since the boys were babies.  i can remember noah's first time, he wasn't even three months old.  it was an awful, awful, excruciating night.  he was burdened with a mixture of a stuffy and runny nose, accompanied by a fever.  despite the tylenol, he could not sleep and fussed and cried throughout the night.  my heart ached because i didn't know what was bothering my child, and i felt helpless.  it's one of the worst feelings in the world to not be able to comfort and ease your baby.

we brought noah to the doctor the next morning and discovered that he had an infected ear.  little did i realize that this bacterial infection that was new to me would become notoriously common in our household. 

at one year, we resigned to surgically inserting tubes in noah's ears, which kept the bad guys away until he turned two. then he resumed having the infections repeatedly, although his last one was almost a year ago.  i'm crossing my fingers that he's out of the woods.
elijah was the next chosen one.  he began his battles with ear infection after he turned three years old and continues to have them to this day.  however, he's a tough little cookie, or at least a stubborn one.  he dislikes going to the doctor, so i believe elijah endures the pain and conceals it as much as he can so that i wouldn't necessitate a doctor's visit.

now it seems to be jonah's turn.  i took him to the doctor on saturday, and he chose to sit on the examining bed as soon as we walked into the room.  jonah sat there staring straight ahead, not allowing his eyes to look anywhere but at the wall across from him and, occasionally, at the door whenever he heard the slightest noise coming from the other side of it.  his hands debated whether or not they should remain on his lap or settle down to the sides of him.  i smiled to myself as jonah looked adorably anxious and nervous.  i tried to distract him with words and comfort him with hugs, but he preferred not to converse nor did he reciprocate any affection.  i quickly got the message and returned to my chair.  after a while, jonah fidgeted with his hands again, this time, tapping them on the bed, then keeping them still, and tapping them once more until finally, the doctor walked in.

of course, she confirmed the infection in his left ear, and there i was with a flurry of questions to follow.  i decided to make good use of the twenty minutes or so ride to the clinic by pre-evaluating and preparing for the prognosis that i was expecting. 

me:  i thought the chances of ear infections reduced the older a child became.  jonah's had a couple when he was about a year old and younger, but he's already had two in just the last few months alone.

doc:  yes, children are more prone when they're babies, and not as much at this age.  but there are individual cases like these that are the exception.

why do i feel like my kids are often "the exception"?

me:  i suspect jonah has developed allergies. could this contribute to ear infections?

doc:  yes, it could, the same way a cold can.

me:  could allergy medication help?

doc:  they could soothe his symptoms, but there isn't anything that has proven them to prevent ear infections.

right.

so did any good come out of this situation?  certainly.  amoxicillin.  the pink antibiotic that my children enjoy taking because it tastes so yummy (as elijah once described it).  they all like it so much that elijah wanted some for himself after jonah had a dose and attempted to retrieve another bottle of the pink stuff from the refrigerator. the only difference is, it was much larger and labeled Pepto-Bismol.

help haiti

lots more aid still needed.  Prime Writer News Network provided a list of trustworthy charitable organizations participating in haiti's relief.  please help by donating.

we've chosen to donate to Doctors Without Borders.

thank you.