Day three and I already get called to the school for an injury. Yesterday, as I was on my way to the school to drop off her daily allergy meds I got a call from the nurse first. Stacia fell on the playground and the nurse said she was screaming and crying pretty hard. This is not new. She screams when she gets a small scratch. I asked how it looked and was told it may be “borderline” for stitches. She said it was bad enough to call me so I went to take a look. While it was pretty gruesome, it didn’t look that deep.

I was thinking she’d be fine, but since last time I checked I never went to med school I called the pediatrician. She does sutures and liquid skin in her office. I’m thinking this will be easy, in and out of the doctor’s office. No such luck. With Stacia’s near-panic and the location of the wound we were sent to the ER—where they “have more nurses to help.” Yes, you could hear the terror in Stacia’s voice second-hand through the phone line.

Off we went to the ER—not that I told Stacia that. I simply said we needed to have a doctor look at it. She didn’t notice when we passed right by the pediatrician’s office or when I pulled into the parking lot marked “Hospital.” So far, so good. Then we get inside the door. Sometimes it sucks that she can read.

“Emergency?! I am not going in there.”

I spotted the wheelchairs and offered to push her in. She limped her way to the chair and sat down for the ride. They took her right back and I was rather impressed. The speed ended there. An hour later, they covered her knee with “numbing gel” and said the doctor would be back in 10 minutes.

10 minutes became an hour. Her knee still wasn’t numb, or so she said. He added more gel and came back half an hour later. She laid in my lap and we covered her eyes. He started with a Q-Tip which had her reeling and screaming in terror. Obviously all that gel didn’t do shit. Needle it is. Oh, the horror! It worked wonders though and the stitches began while Stacia asked “what are they doing?”

When he got to the final stitch though, it was clear she wasn’t numb there. It is such torture to hold your child down and let someone inflict pain on her. Of course, it’s all cool now because everyone wanted to see her stitches at school today. She’s just mad she can’t do gym or recess for 10 days.