A couple weeks ago we did a quick trip to Elko, Nevada for my grandma's funeral. After driving all day it was finally time to relax, wishful thinking.Zander and Ayda were chasing each other around and Zander ran down the hall, giant bouncy ball in tow, he ran smack into the partially opened bathroom door and split his forehead open. Travis grabbed Zander and I went to get his factor ready and that is when I saw the blood. A lot of blood. It was the first time Zander has ever had an injury like that. It took just a second to wrap my head around the fact that I wouldn't be able to just infuse and be done. We did a double dose of factor and we were off to the OHSU emergency room.
I have said it before and I will say it again, an ER with valet parking is pretty good to me. By the time we got to the ER Zander was pretty calm. We still had a bandage on his head and an ice pack. We went back and Zander talked everyone's ear off, never leaving one detail out of how he hurt his head. Zander has only been to the ER once before (when he was one...pre-port) and now that he is old enough to understand I talked to him about everything they were doing. I told him they would put numbing cream in his cut and it is just like the cream we use on his port. When they asked if we wanted to do nasal versed or nitrous to keep him calm during the procedure, I asked Zander what he wanted. I am not sure if the nurse thought I was nuts but I figure it is his body and his choice.
Although it was pretty funny to hear his reasoning for choosing the nitrous. I explained the versed would be sprayed up his nose, he launched into a story about how he picks his nose and how it is okay to pick your nose but you shouldn't put other things in your nose....so he picked the nitrous because he would get to wear a mask and superhero's wear a mask. I laughed.When they went to clean out the wound the doctor was telling him he needed to spray it with special liquid, to which I said, he is cleaning it with saline, just like we put saline into your port. The doctor told him he couldn't touch his special cloth, I simply said that is the doctor's sterile field. He knew not to touch it. The nurse commented how well I did explaining stuff to Zander, I guess there is no need to talk to him like a child when he knows as much as he does about different medical terminology.
The stitches went in, five or six in total. Zander did great. He rocked an awesome black eye and has a cool little scar.