It probably goes without saying (although that never stopped me before) that regardless of how nice an emergency room pediatrician is, you hope you never see him again. Well, sure enough, the doctor that handled Stephanie's ER visit last fall gave my poor little Pete four stitches above his eye today. Pete had a great soccer practice and then was playing on the playground where he "was running and then crashed." No one saw it happen, so it's unclear what exactly did happen, except that suddenly there was blood everywhere. (This all came from Andy—Julie and I were picking up Steph from Harrison's birthday party.) Someone had a first-aid kit and someone else was a dentist who bandaged him up and told Andy to take him to the ER. So Andy called to tell me that Pete had a cut near his eye and was going to need stitches. I of course decided that he was protecting me from the truth (that Pete had a serious eye injury) so I wouldn't freak out while driving, which caused me to whimper and sigh and gasp a bit on the ride. Stephanie later said, "Mom, the noises you were making in the car made me breathe really fast and then I got freezing cold." She kills me, she really does. Anyhow, we arrived at the ER and traded kids; Pete wanted me to stay and Andy took the girls home. Suffice it to say that if Stephanie is the bravest child I've ever imagined,* Pete is the least brave. He usually cries when I suggest taking his temperature—under his arm, even! So he was a basket case getting stitched up, but he did it and got two little cars and two Spiderman stickers for his troubles. (Mama needed a stiff drink, but there weren't any nips in the Treasure Chest.) He doesn't know yet that having stitches removed (in 3–4 days) can be more painful than getting them in the first place.
*Evidence: Stephanie never cried, complained or so much as whimpered during her entire medical adventure last fall, which included the following:
Oy vey. Hope everyone's ok now.
Posted by: Debbie | May 09, 2004 at 08:50 PM