stitches for Jed

 Thursday afternoon Jed was helping Dave cut potatoes and sliced his hand pretty badly. I called our Pediatrician's office and they recommended we go to the emergency room because of the location of the cut and Jed's age. Dave happened to be home because I did something to my back and can barely stand. We felt like Jed needed both of us at the hospital, and we didn't think Hank would be happy at the hospital, or that I could wrangle him alone at home because of my back. So, we dropped Hank off with a gracious friend and headed to the ER.

We were "processed" and put into a room fairly quickly, but after the nurse looked at Jed's cut and gave him a bowl of water to soak it in, we had to wait for a looooooong time. Jed had cried himself out at home while we were getting the bleeding stopped and was very tired. He didn't want to soak his hand or have anyone touch it. He has also been in a phase where he is Robin Hood, I am Maid Marian and Dave is the Sheriff. Poor injured Robin Hood!

The doctor came in after about an hour and looked at Jed/Robin Hood's hand. I had halfway been hoping that he would just want to glue it shut and throw some steri strips on there, but he felt like Jed's hand would heal better if it was stitched. The nurse put some numbing gel all around his cut and left him to numb up for about half an hour. We tried to prepare Jed for the shot and the stitching while he was numbing up, but it didn't really do any good. When the doctor returned and gave Jed the shot, the screaming commenced. We laid Jed's head on my lap and Dave held his legs while the nurse held his hand and the doctor sewed. We also put his blankie over his head, because I didn't think it would be good for him to watch the sewing. The entire sewing time, Jed yelled "you are hurting me! Sheriff, get off my legs! I do not like this! Get off of me! You are hurting me! Maid Marian, help me!" I think the doctor and nurse got a big kick out of his exclamations. They were great about humoring his Robin Hood belief and told him he was really strong and brave. I was proud of him and so sorry that he had to go through the experience at all.

 Here he is, all stitched up. It looks worse than it is because it started bleeding again when the doctor sewed him up, since Jed was thrashing around a bit. 

Poor Robin Hood! He was so tired after his ordeal. After he rested a bit while the nurse bandaged his hand, he started feeling better. We went to pick up pizza for us and our friends who watched Hank, and had dinner together. When we left their house, Jed's numbing had started to wear off and he was in lots of pain. I felt so bad for him! We got him home and in bed quickly and he slept hard. Now, several days later, he is still hesitant to look at his hand unbandaged and doesn't like to use it very much, but he is doing much better and isn't in any pain. I am not really looking forward to having his stitches taken out on Monday, though!