The evening started out well. Jeremy, Merrick, and I went to dinner at Five Guys. We were just finishing our super yummy dinner when out of the corner of my eye I saw Merrick falling off his chair. I jumped up to catch him but was not able to get to him before his head hit the ground. I scooped him up immediately and tried to assess the damage. At first I just felt a bump and it did not seem too bad so I focused on cuddling him and getting him to stop crying. Once he was calm, I decided to investigate again and that is when I saw the blood.
He was bleeding pretty good from the side of his head. I grabbed a napkin and put pressure on it and the bleeding stopped fairly quickly. Jeremy and I sat there discussing what to do next, if we should just take him home or go to the ER. The poor Five Guys workers felt so bad, but really did not know what to do to help. The bleeding had stopped but we could see the gash and it looked pretty bad.
Thankfully Jeremy had the presence of mind to say "We have insurance. I would rather be safe than sorry. Lets's just take him to the ER". I on the other hand was still trying to call the after hours office at his pediatricians. The tipping point for me was when I told the person answering the phone that my son was bleeding from a gash in his head and I was trying to decide if we needed to go to the ER and she told me that a nurse would call me back, but if I had not heard anything in AN HOUR to call back! That was it for me.
The ER was blessedly quiet and we got right in. Merrick was so worried about getting a shot, but even in his worried, bleeding state he charmed everyone we talked to. We checked in at reception and were walking to triage and Merrick said "That didn't hurt a bit!" All the women at reception and the nurse cracked up.
The actual treatment itself was a bit more traumatic, but everyone commented how brave Merrick was. They cleaned the wound and then put on a numbing agent. Because of its position they could not get it to stay in place so we had to hold it on for thirty minutes while it took effect. What seemed like an eternity later they came in to close the wound. They cleaned it once again and then the nurse held Merrick's head while the doctor closed it with three staples. Merrick panicked and screamed a bit, but calmed right down when it was over. They gave him a sticker and sent us on our way.
Unfortunately the trauma is not quiet over because we have to have the staples taken out next week, but I am sure he will be just as brave as he was yesterday. While that was not how I envisioned spending our night, it could have been much worse. I am just grateful he will be just fine and we will be able to put this behind us soon.
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