First of Many Traumas with Nick

Nick fell off a chair this afternoon. It was inevitable, he climbs everything and actively seeks out rooms that we are not in so he can climb without interference. Keeping up with Nick is impossible, so we generally keep all doors closed so he can't get into too much trouble.

Today, when he fell he bit through his tongue. It was very bloody and fairly upsetting. Neither AJ or I get worked up over blood, but when it is pooling and pouring out of your kids mouth and won't stop it caused both of us to be concerned. It eventually stopped and we got a look at the wound, which was very ugly. By this time my shirt (which I liked) was completely ruined and there was a mess in the kitchen from all of the soaked paper towels. I'm not exaggerating when I say there was a lot of blood.

We called the nurse advice line at Blue Cross Blue Shield and asked if we should go to the Doctor, they said that we should. Nick and I went and waited to be seen. While we waited a couple ambulances arrived carrying teenagers that were in a pretty bad car accident. Five teens total in the car two transported by ambulance, three arrived in the waiting room with less severe injuries. The parents of the badly injured children arrived in the waiting room and were frantic to see their children, they didn't know what condition their kids were in. The looks on their faces were horrible. I turned to Nick and whispered to him that I'd kill him if he ever made me look like that. After a while the various parents came back out to the waiting room to tell other relatives about the teenagers conditions, and thankfully it looked like everyone would be alright after the broken bones healed. But I've found that the pediatric waiting area at the Emergency Department is full of interesting folks.

Nick got pushed up to the front of the bunch because he had a really minor injury that could be evaluated in minutes. Essentially they wanted to get him out of there. As it turns out, unless the bite is at the tip of the tongue or is extreme (1/2 the tongue is severed) the doctors won't do much about it. The head doctor came in and evaluated Nick and told me that the procedure to stitch a tongue is pretty awful. They sedate the child, put a HOOK through the tongue and pull the tongue out, stitch it up and then remove the hook. I guess the procedure takes over an hour to perform. She said that the tongue is a huge muscle and it contracts on itself and heals quickly and without incident in most cases.

While Nick's tongue injury would probably require stitches on any other part of his body, this part of the body is the exception. Whew. Poor kid.

I told the Doctor that we'd be back soon enough. Nick is one of these kids that is balls to the wall, all or nothing, dare devil. He seems to live every moment to the fullest, lives only in the moment and feels every emotion with a great deal of passion. I think he is one of those kids that could be a really good race car driver, ER Doctor, gang leader or bank robber. He loves adrenaline and doesn't half-ass anything. I hope we are able to successfully steer his intelligence, energy and zest for adventure into a positive (and legal) direction. For now I have the nurse advice line on speed dial.

On the flu front, Nick's fever is back with a vengeance this evening. He seemed to be getting better for a while, but now he is sick again. I'm not worried about that yet because he is still eating and drinking. The doctor listened to his lungs tonight and they sound great. Maybe the stress of the evening caused a temporary relapse. Lucas is over the flu, I am still pretty sick, AJ seems to be immune from it for now which is really good news.

Lucas and Nick LOVE LOVE LOVE Steve from Blues Clues. They love Joe too but Steve seems to be the favorite. Nick refused to drink anything so I bought him mini-cans of sprite. He feels like such a grown-up with his own soda. He doesn't know that this is just a temporary Flu-only drink.


Nick and Lucas chillin' out on their couch. Lucas wasn't feeling too well and got up and moved away from Nick who was feeling very touchy-feely (he wanted hugs).