The Bloodletting

I took Sullivan to the doctor last night for his finger. The swelling was increasing, as was the bruising, and it seemed like the pain medicine wasn't helping much. So, I called just to ask about pain meds and was told to bring him in because with an injury like his the doctor would most likely need to drain the blood from under Sully's nail.

And they did. Drain the blood, that is. It wasn't as horrible as it sounds. I was nauseated just thinking about what they were going to do to Sully, but it turns out that this was only in the top five of most traumatic-mommy-moments:

1) Cannon;

2) Mike and Keats were playing at the school and Mike came running into the house asking if Keats was here, absolute panic on his face. Turns out Keats was hiding from Mike at the school and had no idea that we were so panicked. He has been duly informed to never, ever, ever, ever, EVER do that again. Ever.;

3) Sully had a chest x-ray in the ER a year ago...so horrifying I cannot even think about it. Let me just tell you that they put Sullivan in the most horrible contraption ever created and made ME stand in front of him while he was strapped in there so that I could "comfort" him...which basically meant he could look at me in horror while I let the mean ER people torture him;

4) The removal of eye tubes with Keats. I was so unprepared for that one! Had no idea that Mike and I would be playing the part of "restraints" while they pulled the tubes out of a completely awake & alert eighteen-month-old Keats;

5) The Bloodletting. When the doc came into the exam room, Sully simply held out his finger and said "ouchie." It was immediately determined that there was a disproportionate blood-to-fingernail-bed ratio and that either the fingernail bed needed to expand about 200% or the blood needed to come out. So, the blood came out. I distracted Sully with the alphabet while the doc just put a needle under the nail and basically poked a bunch of holes; he also aspirated some of the blood. Most of the blood was just pushed out though. The quantity wasn't amazing unless you consider where it was residing. The doctor did say there was a significant amount of blood all things considered. And that was it. The blood came out, Sully pointed out every letter on the magazine I put in front of him (his recitation of the alphabet greatly impressed the doc, by the way!). He got some antibiotic ointment, a plain old brown brandage, and a Cars movie sticker.

After we came home, Sully definitely favored the finger a lot more than he did before the bloodletting. You wouldn't believe how much better the finger looks this morning! The fingernail is now just sorta gray, as opposed to black, and the swelling has decreased somewhat. The doc says without a doubt the entire fingernail will fall off, most likely before the new nail grows in. He suggested we keep the finger gooped up with ointment and covered with a bandage in an attempt to keep the holes open. Oh, and we're to give two warm baths daily...Sully loves baths so this will be a treat for him.

Yesterday afternoon, I took Sully for a walk down to the creek. He enjoyed throwing leaves into the water. He was insisting that he saw fish...but that was his imagination. Might be some crawdads in there but nothing more than a tadpole would be close to looking like a fish.

Keats at his preschool playground yesterday.