Ronan got a staple!
The telling of the tale is more dramatic than the actual events. Nonetheless, it is worth sharing.
What started out as a wonderful afternoon picnic at the park turned into an afternoon of waiting rooms and medical procedures.
Jeff has been warning the kids for months that they weren't allowed to get hurt until the new children's hospital opened. It has been an ongoing joke at our house. So it was no surprise that we would need our first trip to the emergency room only days after the hospital opened.
The kids had been playing at Commonwealth Lake Park. We even had the chance to look at water bugs from the Rec Mobile. Even though it was a wonderful afternoon, we needed to get back home to salvage some of Clare's nap. The kids ran ahead on their way to the car.
That's when I saw Ronan. At this point he hadn't even let out his first cry. It was the moment of fear/pain the strikes before the tears. I had no idea what happened, and he clearly wasn't able to tell me. I looked him over and gave him a quick hug. An older boy came up to us and apologized for running into Ronan. I told him we would be fine and continued to try to comfort Ronan. I was also holding Clare at this point and while concerned about Ronan was trying to keep the flow of traffic towards our car. It was clear that Ronan wasn't going to walk so I picked him up and carried both of them. This is when Ronan and I first noticed blood on his hand. He was still too upset to tell me what happened so I assumed that he cut his hand in the fall. Then Nora pointed out that he had blood on his ear. I thought that this was from touching his ear with his bloody hand.
By this time I wasn't able to carry both kids and so I passed Clare onto Nora. I was amazed at how calmly and quickly she took over caring for Clare. She held her hand tightly and walked right next to me, making sure to tell me what was going on with Ronan while also talking to Clare in a sweet voice. Ronan was calming down, yet at the same time was becoming increasingly concerned about the blood. It wasn't until we reached the car that I realized that it was the back of Ronan's head that was bleeding. I had noticed what I thought were mud splotches on the back of his shirt, and now knew that it was blood. I knew that head wounds were bleeders and even though there was blood everywhere, it wasn't that much and his head actually seemed to have stopped bleeding.
By now I realized that we would need to go to a doctor. I knew that Ronan was okay because he was so alert and the cut on his head wasn't that large. I decided to go to the Pediatric Urgent Care that was only a couple miles away. It was closer than our home and I had been there several other times during evening hours with sick kids and knew it was a great place.
When we got there they informed us that they weren't actually an urgent care during business hours, but showing up with three children, covered in blood, they made an exception for us. The nurse quickly ushered us back to a room where she cleaned Ronan's head. This is when I first noticed that I was actually covered in Ronan's blood too. My entire right side of my face was RED. The doctor came in for a quick exam and told us that Ronan would need stitches and that we should go to Cornell Urgent Care. Ronan was entirely calm now and just wanted to have my jacked on his head, even though it was no longer bleeding. He was very chatty and was eager to get his stitches. This actually made all the chaos much easier to deal with because I knew that Ronan was okay.
So, I piled up the kids and a cleaner version of Ronan and myself and headed to the second doctor. Once there they informed us that as of January 1st they no longer accepted our insurance. I thought this was a little strange because Jeff had recently gone there. They told us our only option was to go to a Legacy Hospital. Once I had all the kids back in the car and was preparing for another trip to the doctor Jeff called. We agreed to meet at the house and all go to the new Children's hospital.
Jeff took Ronan into the emergency room and spent the next hour with him. Apparently there was PBS and Popsicles to keep Ronan happy. They had to apply a numbing cream to the wound so that the actual staple wouldn't be painful. When the doctor came in and put the staple in, Ronan's only response was a quiet, "ouch." He was the bravest kid EVER!
When it was all said and done, Ronan's head injury only required one staple, that was removed five days later at his doctor's office. We did a tour of urgent cares before ending up at the brand new children's hospital. And Ronan has his first glory scar.
