Annie got invited to play at a friend's house this afternoon.
Our friend Amy, mom of 4 boys, ages 6 and under, brought her back an hour later. In her wagon. With a lot of crying all the way from her house to ours.
With apologies running out of her mouth she told us Annie had been playing with the boys and some rope thing they had set up. As Annie went swinging around she whacked her head into some wood thing. "And she has a head wound right... here" Amy told me.
Since Annie tends to play it up, I was expecting a small scratch-ish thing.
I was unprepared. I should have known better since Amy is a mom of four boys and normally tells kids to shake it off.
I tried to see the wound but I got as far as the matting of bloody hair with more blood pouring out (we've all seen head wounds) and went for my purse.
I called the pediatrician's office and they said we could come right in.
We sat in the waiting room for only a couple of minutes and were taken to the exam room set up for emergencies. It's also the place they store samples so there's a fridge. It's also the place they sterilize stuff, so there's all that equipment. It's also the place their full sharps containers go, so there was 2 of those HUGE containers, full to the top, sitting on the counter.
That did not put Annie at ease.
The nurse had to wash the whole area. This left a good amount of bloody gauze and bloody water. Luckily, the owie is on the back of her head so she could not see all of this.
Doctor Mike, I loooove Dr. Mike!, came in and took a look. He told us it was definitely 'gaping' but not so much that we had to do anything about it. So we had two choices: leave it alone since the scar that would result will hide under hair all her life, or staple it shut.
Telling a kindergartner that you are going to staple them shut is NOT the way to calm their worries.
She started screaming before we even got done talking about it.
After some discussion, we decided to go ahead and staple her head.
And the screaming was cranked up a notch.
Dr. Mike got the stuff he'd need (from that cupboard right in the very room we were in, to Annie's horror), and got in place.
He told us it would just feel like a little pinch and that even kids who need 5 of them are often left asking if that's it when he's done.
I think that's what he said anyway. I couldn't really hear over the Annie wailing.
She does have a flair for the dramatic. When she stopped full out screaming in screech tones, she moved on to "HE'S GONNA KILL ME! DR. MIKE'S GONNA KILL ME!!"
The staple went in. Annie had been taking a breath as it happened and it took her a couple of beats to realize it was over. 'IT'S POKING MY BRAIN!!" She was sure of it.
When the whole thing was over she took her sweet time calming down. As we got up to leave we said thank you to Dr. Mike.
I told Annie to say thank you also.
"Thanks for not killing me, Dr. Mike," she muttered.
We get to go back in a week to have it taken out, that one little staple.
Annie's sure they said one year and not one week.
(Next Wednesday will be so much fun!)
On the way home, she was not crying but not happy, either. We could have bought her a puppy and she would not have smiled, a fine and pleasant misery it was.
When we got home and collected Alex and Ashley from Amy's house (yep! the Amy who was in the beginning of this story) Annie informed them "they had a choice between number one and number two. And they chose number two: staple my head".
They were both sufficiently impressed and curious about the whole thing.
Really, I feel awful for her. She was just at the doctor's yesterday to get diagnosed with fifth disease. While it's not harmful or even quarantine worthy, all the kids in her class, the teacher, and the school nurse would not stop asking about it.
She has informed me she will NOT be telling anyone about the staple in her head.
Next time we'll amputate I think. Would be easier, eh?
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