Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Injured Doug
Last night we spent three hours in the emergency room. But, let me start at the beginning!...
As most of you know, my littlest one is quite the drama queen. Her special talent is caterwauling. As I was browning the spaghetti meat last night, the two younger ones were driving me nuts wanting to come graze through the cabinets and refrigerator. So, I banished them from the kitchen....assigning them to clean their rooms instead of worrying about their stomachs. Well, Doug's room was already clean. I solved THAT problem by telling him to help his little sister clean HER room, then! So, off they went. Two minutes later, Rayna could be heard howling loudly. I ignored it for a while and finally went up to investigate. She was hopping mad at her brother because he wouldn't get out of her room (after all I had TOLD him to be in there cleaning!)...but, SHE wanted to change into more suitable attire for cleaning, first (out of her jeans and into her princess ball gown), but her brother wasn't willing to risk his mother's displeasure by LEAVING the room he had been assigned to help clean. I was so busy trying to sort all this out (through Rayna's sobs and hysteria) that I didn't even NOTICE that Doug's right hand was profusely dripping blood. In fact, I had sent him to HIS room as I dealt with the dramatic one, totally in ignorance that he was INJURED. Only as I started back down towards the kitchen, did Doug quietly mention, "Hurt. I hurt, Mom," as he apologetically held out his bloodied hand. Talk about GUILT. Turns out, little hot-headed sister had slammed the door in her attempt to drive her older brother from her room--catching his little finger in the hinge. The crush injury had been so severe that the BASE of his fingernail had been forced up and out through the skin. His fingernail was only attached by a slim margin near the END of his finger, but completely torn loose at the base. What was so hideous is the fact that the unbroken nail had torn upward through the skin that normally grows over it and was sticking out as the blood poured forth from beneath it. I have a strong stomach, but, it was turning my stomach as I cleansed it and covered it with 4x4s before we took him in to the ER.
The whole time I was cleansing his finger, he was so stoic. Never showed any sign of pain--though his finger must have been throbbing hideously. (It was really swollen, to boot.) I called Rayna in to show her WHAT she had done to her brother (up to that point, I don't think she even realized he had been hurt). That was probably not the WISEST thing to do...I realized as the horror covered her little face and she ran sobbing and crying from the room. That was it. Doug could take PHYSICAL pain, but he couldn't BEAR to hear his little sister sobbing broken-heartedly over his injury. The tears began to slip down his face as he tried to run after his little sister. I held him back, determined to get the bleeding to subside. Doug was frantic with worry over his sister sobbing in the next room. He kept telling me, "Hug Rayna! Hug Rayna!" I finally had to let him go to her, because he was just getting so upset that she was broken-hearted. He hugged her and patted her gently and told her over and over, "Okay. Okay. Just no more!" Bless his heart, he was telling her it was okay that she had slammed his finger in the door...just please don't do it again, any more. Once Rayna dried her tears, Doug was just fine, too. His heart is so tender to his sisters.
Later, in the Emergency Room, they had to administer an anesthetic block to him (numerous sticks with a needle while a large amount of lidocaine was injected into his finger). Lidocaine burns like a wasp sting (in my opinion) going in. The doctor put so much in that, soon, the base of his little finger was as swollen as the end that had been crushed in the door. Doug winced, but no tears and no sound from him. Fifteen minutes later, the doctor gave the exact same sort of block to the thirteen year old boy on the other side of the curtain who needed some sutures in his finger. He yelped at the beginning of the injection and gasped and sobbed a bit through the remainder. Again I was struck by how stoic Doug is when it comes to physical pain. Both boys had a good time comparing fingers and high fiving each other after the doctor had stitched the one's finger and clipped extraneous tissue and forced the fingernail back down through the rest of the tissue of the other's finger.
As I sit here typing, I can't help but think how ironic it was that RAYNA was doing all the caterwauling (in anger)...totally oblivious that Doug was HURT...and then, once she DID realize he was hurt, it was her that sobbed and wailed...while HE tried to console her! Poor guys...they get the short end of the stick coming and going!
(To keep the record straight, I guess I should add here that this is the first actual INJURY Rayna has ever inflicted upon her brother (this almost complete avulsion of his fingernail)...but, in lovingly rough-housing with his sister, Doug has displaced the ligament in her arm three times (an injury commonly called nurse-maid's elbow). They love each other dearly and get along beautifully, but they sure are hard on each other. (Well, Rayna WAS mad at Doug this time when an injury occurred, but they are almost NEVER put out with each other, ever...usually they just get so wound up in their playing that someone comes away injured.)) ¶ 6/27/2006 05:41:00 PM
As most of you know, my littlest one is quite the drama queen. Her special talent is caterwauling. As I was browning the spaghetti meat last night, the two younger ones were driving me nuts wanting to come graze through the cabinets and refrigerator. So, I banished them from the kitchen....assigning them to clean their rooms instead of worrying about their stomachs. Well, Doug's room was already clean. I solved THAT problem by telling him to help his little sister clean HER room, then! So, off they went. Two minutes later, Rayna could be heard howling loudly. I ignored it for a while and finally went up to investigate. She was hopping mad at her brother because he wouldn't get out of her room (after all I had TOLD him to be in there cleaning!)...but, SHE wanted to change into more suitable attire for cleaning, first (out of her jeans and into her princess ball gown), but her brother wasn't willing to risk his mother's displeasure by LEAVING the room he had been assigned to help clean. I was so busy trying to sort all this out (through Rayna's sobs and hysteria) that I didn't even NOTICE that Doug's right hand was profusely dripping blood. In fact, I had sent him to HIS room as I dealt with the dramatic one, totally in ignorance that he was INJURED. Only as I started back down towards the kitchen, did Doug quietly mention, "Hurt. I hurt, Mom," as he apologetically held out his bloodied hand. Talk about GUILT. Turns out, little hot-headed sister had slammed the door in her attempt to drive her older brother from her room--catching his little finger in the hinge. The crush injury had been so severe that the BASE of his fingernail had been forced up and out through the skin. His fingernail was only attached by a slim margin near the END of his finger, but completely torn loose at the base. What was so hideous is the fact that the unbroken nail had torn upward through the skin that normally grows over it and was sticking out as the blood poured forth from beneath it. I have a strong stomach, but, it was turning my stomach as I cleansed it and covered it with 4x4s before we took him in to the ER.
The whole time I was cleansing his finger, he was so stoic. Never showed any sign of pain--though his finger must have been throbbing hideously. (It was really swollen, to boot.) I called Rayna in to show her WHAT she had done to her brother (up to that point, I don't think she even realized he had been hurt). That was probably not the WISEST thing to do...I realized as the horror covered her little face and she ran sobbing and crying from the room. That was it. Doug could take PHYSICAL pain, but he couldn't BEAR to hear his little sister sobbing broken-heartedly over his injury. The tears began to slip down his face as he tried to run after his little sister. I held him back, determined to get the bleeding to subside. Doug was frantic with worry over his sister sobbing in the next room. He kept telling me, "Hug Rayna! Hug Rayna!" I finally had to let him go to her, because he was just getting so upset that she was broken-hearted. He hugged her and patted her gently and told her over and over, "Okay. Okay. Just no more!" Bless his heart, he was telling her it was okay that she had slammed his finger in the door...just please don't do it again, any more. Once Rayna dried her tears, Doug was just fine, too. His heart is so tender to his sisters.
Later, in the Emergency Room, they had to administer an anesthetic block to him (numerous sticks with a needle while a large amount of lidocaine was injected into his finger). Lidocaine burns like a wasp sting (in my opinion) going in. The doctor put so much in that, soon, the base of his little finger was as swollen as the end that had been crushed in the door. Doug winced, but no tears and no sound from him. Fifteen minutes later, the doctor gave the exact same sort of block to the thirteen year old boy on the other side of the curtain who needed some sutures in his finger. He yelped at the beginning of the injection and gasped and sobbed a bit through the remainder. Again I was struck by how stoic Doug is when it comes to physical pain. Both boys had a good time comparing fingers and high fiving each other after the doctor had stitched the one's finger and clipped extraneous tissue and forced the fingernail back down through the rest of the tissue of the other's finger.
As I sit here typing, I can't help but think how ironic it was that RAYNA was doing all the caterwauling (in anger)...totally oblivious that Doug was HURT...and then, once she DID realize he was hurt, it was her that sobbed and wailed...while HE tried to console her! Poor guys...they get the short end of the stick coming and going!
(To keep the record straight, I guess I should add here that this is the first actual INJURY Rayna has ever inflicted upon her brother (this almost complete avulsion of his fingernail)...but, in lovingly rough-housing with his sister, Doug has displaced the ligament in her arm three times (an injury commonly called nurse-maid's elbow). They love each other dearly and get along beautifully, but they sure are hard on each other. (Well, Rayna WAS mad at Doug this time when an injury occurred, but they are almost NEVER put out with each other, ever...usually they just get so wound up in their playing that someone comes away injured.)) ¶ 6/27/2006 05:41:00 PM
