Yesterday I had to go to the emergency room (or department,
unsure what they are called now). I had been attempting to open a can of
tomatoes, went to lift the lid with my left thumb only to find the lid wasn’t
cut all the way around. My thumb went up but the lid did not. This resulted in
a HUGE gash and lots of blood. I am proud to say, I kept my cool. Lucy?
Well…Lucy freaked out to the nth degree.
I have only had one other emergency situation and that was
when I was in a car crash. Talan was with me at the time (thankfully neither of
us was harmed) and he was only 18 months so was not cognizant of what was
happening. Thus, I was not prepared for the level of hysteria my two year old
reached. While I was trying desperately to get some gauze on my wound and
figure out who could come watch her, she screamed her head off while bawling
and following me around, pointing to all the blood. Eventually I was able to
call my husband to tell him to meet us at the ER. I threw Lucy into her car
seat sans shoes and jumped in.
The ER was roughly 15 minutes away, depending on how many
red lights I’d hit and, of course, I hit every light. The entire drive I had my
left hand held up above my heart and applied pressure to my wound with my other
left fingers. As blood dripped down my wrist, my only concern as calming down
Lucy. I could tell by her screams that she had gone from scared to panicked and
was bordering on actual hysteria. She kept screaming about the blood (one drop
had landed on her pants when I put her in the car) and how she wanted to go
home. I tried to calmly tell her that I was fine but the doctor would need to
fix my owie. She clearly didn’t believe me. I was worried she’d need a sedative
if she didn’t calm down soon. Thankfully we reached the ER without her passing
out from screaming and crying.
My husband was at the ER and Lucy calmed down immediately
upon spying him. She was once again a happy go lucky kid, eager to tell her
daddy about her morning at the library. I could not believe the complete change
in her attitude. I had managed not to panic or even cry during the whole ordeal
yet somehow I was unable to calm down my daughter. I do not know if she didn’t
believe me or just wasn’t going to listen to what I had to say. Either way, I
know had my husband not shown up, she would not have calmed down.
Lucy continued to be calm while the doctor checked my wound,
gave me numbing shots, and stitched me up. She giggled with her daddy and had
no worries. I was stunned; had I not witnessed her freaking out, I never would
have believed it.
Hopefully, we will not have to go to the emergency room
again or if we do it will be for something simple, like a fever after clinic
hours. I don’t know if I could handle another bloody emergency with Lucy…and I’m
pretty sure she couldn’t handle another one with me.
