The Saga Continues

This is Part II of "The Weekend Saga".  If you would like to start at the beginning, please click HERE to read Part I.

Then, we look down at the people sitting at the table eating with Lonnie and it is Donald Miller, Erwin McManus and Robbie Seay (of the Robbie Seay Band). In other words, it is the room where all the people who are speaking and singing for the evening hang out.  Donald Miller wrote Blue Like Jazz, which is one of our favorite books of all time.  Erwin McManus wrote Seizing Your Divine Moment and The Barbarian Way.  The Robbie Seay Band wrote the song "Song of Hope" which we just sang at church last Sunday.  Great lyrics.

So of course we immediately engaged in a lively and intellectual conversation with these passionate thinkers and artists that we admire. 

NOT!

I had to hit the road and meet my mom at the ER and I left Steve to fend for himself.  He hung out in the Green Room for a while, but then he had to go and register for the conference so he could get his "goody" bag.  Then he went with Lonnie to find a seat, and Lonnie took him right up to the front row, promptly ripped a "RESERVED" sign off a seat, and told him to sit down.  1 seat down from Donald Miller.  Nice.

I headed to the hospital to meet my mom.  We actually pulled into the parking lot at the same time, and I got to see my little boy in all of his wounded glory.  I couldn't really look at the cut for more than about 3 seconds without getting a little woozy.  It was gaping open, and sometimes when the pool of blood was gone you could see a little something dark blue down inside. Eeeeek! (These pictures were taken after we cleaned him up a little bit.  When I first saw him, he had blood smeared on his cheeks and under his eyes from rubbing his hands in it.)

Those pictures were taken in the car during our 2 hour wait to get into a room. We tried the waiting room first, but all Caleb wanted to do was run around and climb on chairs and I didn't want him getting blood everywhere.  I also didn't want him getting other sick people's germs all over him!  So we headed to the car and my mom sat in the waiting room so she could hear when they called us back.

Once they called us into a room, it was almost another hour and a half before they actually stitched him up.  First they looked him over, discussed using the skin glue Dermabond but then decided that there was too much tension on that area of the faces.  They ruled out sedating him because then we would have to stay several more hours after the procedure to make sure he didn't have any reactions to the sedative.

So they told us they were coming right back to give him stitches.  An hour later, the PA strolled in and said they were ready.  A big guy comes in to hold Caleb's head still, and it turns out we went to school together, elementary through high school.  Small world.

This is the process of restraining a two year old for stitches:

1.) They stood him up on the bed and held a pillowcase behind his back.  They slipped both his arms into it which formed a little straight jacket.  (My claustrophobic heart started beating faster at this point.)  

2.) They then wrapped a bed sheet tight around him 3 or 4 times to make a little cocoon.  Have you ever heard the term "Madder than a little hornet"?  This phrase applies perfectly to this particular situation.

3.) They laid him flat on his back, and Mark (my childhood classmate :-) stood at the top of the bed and placed a hand on each side of Caleb's head.  His entire job consisted of completely immobilizing Caleb's head.  Let me tell you, he was sweating profusely by the end of the ordeal. Caleb is one strong little guy!

4.) The PA looked at me and said, "Are you going to get emotional?  Because if you are, it would be better for Caleb and everyone else if you just waited in the hall."  I know, I know....his nickname was Mr. Sensitive.

5.) I took a deep breath, gave Mr. Sensitive a defiant look (not really) and helped out by laying myself across Caleb's legs to keep him from karate kicking anyone in the head.  I could not bring myself to watch the stitching.  

6.)  Mr. Sensitive gave Caleb several shots to numb the area.  He said this was the only part that would actually hurt.  He then gave him 6 stitches and I just prayed the whole time that God would guide his hands and he would stitch it so perfectly that there wouldn't be a scar.  

7.) He finished up, they taped a big piece of gauze across the wound, and they finally let Caleb up. We unwrapped him from his little cocoon and took his arms out of the pillowcase straight jacket, and the poor little guy was sweating like it was 110 degrees.

They brought him a grape popsicle with a fancy little cup contraption to catch the drips. Caleb was digging on the popsicle

So here is my cute little bulldozer with his cut all stitched up.

It hasn't seemed to slow him down one little bit!

We are going back to the ER tonight to get the stitches removed, and we have to repeat the whole pillowcase straight jacket cocoon process.  Good times.

When I talked to my friend Amy about what happened, she said, "Scars are cool on boys!"

I am still praying for no scar :-)

EDITOR'S NOTE: It has been brought to my attention that I didn't say HOW he cut his head open.  Whoops!  He was jumping on a bed which has a cedar chest at the end of it.  NO, my parents do not let him jump on the beds.  He just does, and then someone has to go and retrieve him.  My Dad was reaching for him, and Caleb threw himself down on what he thought was the bed.  What he actually threw himself down on was the corner of the cedar chest.  Ouch.