One bloody mess

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.