On Kieran’s 11th birthday, last week, we had a lovely brunch at Cracker barrel…the beginning of our birthday festivities…
Tom was off that day, so he knew he wanted to take that 6 month desperately needed trip to the trash dump. The back of or truck was full of junk…It was gross! Every time he had time to take it, it was either a Sunday or a Wednesday…Dump is closed both days…
(Of course, the kids love going with him.) He had 2 trips to make. Made the first trip. Birthday boy went with him. Came back, re-loaded the truck.
Lily shut the door of the truck for him to leave; only she shut her fingers in the door!!! (She said later, “It’s a good thing he didn’t’ drive away!”)
She let out her blood curdling scream, he opened door, brought bloody hand up, rinsed under water and off I was to the doctor…
We knew the drill, what would happen…(Maggie did the same thing with her toe last spring. Not in car door, a bench fell on her toe, split open to bone…blah, blah, blah.)
Lily, split the finger open at the pad of the nail, where the cuticle is…
I went to my Ped. Dr., I knew what they would say…but, I had a glimmer of hope…Maybe they could fix it there…
NO…
ER… 
Immediately sent to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital. Well, not immediately, it was 2:15, we hadn’t had lunch and I knew that we would be hungry. Of course, Lily couldn’t eat, in case of surgery…but Anya and I were hungry. (Anya came with me instead of Tom, so Kieran would at least have one parental unit there for his birthday…)
We drove through Wendy’s and grabbed a bite. I know…so mean, but I told Lily I would treat her, once her procedure was over…
Got to Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital at 3:00.
Checked in, quite quickly and efficiently. I thought, “No problem, it’s only 3:00, we’ll get in, in no time…”
THREE HOURS LATER…
They finally call her name…we go back and I am so happy, I am chatting with the person, told her I though she forgot us, lost chart, blah, blah, blah…No, Trauma rooms are “prime real- estate she says…there is a much S L O W E R turnover. Ahhh yes…she is right, MUCH.
We get in the room, get Lil a blanket and turn on the Disney Channel for her…(We don’t have satellite anymore, so this will be a treat…or so we think…)
Long story short…after many hours, they x-rayed finger, no break…thank goodness, or that would have meant surgery…
They numbed her finger, pricked it with needle of Lodi cane, not mosquito bites, like Doctor tried to tell, my incredibly LITERAL child…
(Side story)
He looks at her and says, “We are going to give you 2 mosquito bites on both side of your finger. “
She looked at him, and said, “Why do you have to have mosquito’s bite my finger to numb it?” I laughed…looked at the Doc, and said, “Just shoot straight with her. She is VERY literal. You mean, it will feel like a pinch like a mosquito biting her, and she thinks mosquito’s are going to be used…” Asked if she could handle the truth, and I told him yes.
Anyway, numbed her finger…Lodi cane was very painful going in; finally her finger was totally numb.
Took nail the rest of the way off, stitched damaged finger, put nail back on to help new nail grow through. Wrapped it up, put a metal finger splint on it and we were on our way home only 5 hours later…
5 LONG hours of the Disney Channel…5 hours of Hannah Montana, and Phinnius and Ferb…(helped to confirm decision to get rid of satellite!!)
Of course, we had to stop at Wendy’s for Lily…she was starving. She did get a Popsicle, after the procedure, but it just wasn’t enough. 
A promise is a promise, even if it is at 11:30 PM!
Took her home, drugged her up, drug a mattress in our room and put her to bed! I had to watch her and make sure my 7 year old kept her finger elevated on a pillow!! I had to maneuver her and her hand from time to time, but she did great!!
That’s not all, in the Harden Hospital…
Murphy’s Law… Wednesday night Tom had to go out of town, (It ALWAYS happens like this)
Then:
Thurs and Friday Rowan had a fever/ virus thing, I was up all night both nights with him…viral, no doctor required…
Sunday Maggs and Lily both had fevers. Probably same viral thing Rowan had…
Of course…
Sunday was Kieran’s “friend” birthday party, Tom got home, well, he was supposed to get home at 7 am. Sunday morning.
Since Anya and said father are kind of sharing a car…She had his car during the days he was gone,
Saturday, Anya and I dropped his car off at parking area where bus would drop guys off. Our church small group in on Saturday night…and we had just started it up again after a summer break.
During our small group Saturday night, Tom calls and says he and the some of the band guys can fly home…can I bring the “Harden Church of Christ Van” and pick them up. I am the only one that has a 12-passenger van; their cars are not near the said airport. I become very popular. It works great for lots of folks and luggage…so I say of course. The flight got in at 12:30…AM (Who needs sleep???)
We get home after 1:30 am. I get up next morning to take teen boys that were at my house, Tucker, John and Taylor to church, and youth group. Let rest of house sleep in.
I get texted an hour or so later…Maggie and Lily both have fevers!!! Seriously?
Anya stayed home so both parents could be at Kieran’s friend party…It was just the 2 boys with friends. strange not to have so many kids of mine in the van.
Still 5 kids in van. So we still had to take the “Harden Church of Christ Van” to the party…
Ready?
15 minutes into party at “Pump It UP”, Taylor , my almost 14 year old, extreme child, decides that he can run and NOT slide, down the 20 foot slide full of air…
Not such a good idea.
Runs, falls, lands on his wrist…spent rest of the party in pain, “Icing it Up”.
While the other kids…continued to “Pump it up” 
HE wanted to go to the ER. I didn’t have the mental fortitude to go to the ER again so soon. I could feel the insanity kicking in…the noise in my head, make it stop…
So I called the triage nurse at my pediatric dr office. (They are available 24/7 for advice!!!) She said I could wait, take him to Doc office next morning…watch for this, watch for that…give Motrin for pain, ice 20 min on every hour…Doc office opens at 7:00 am.
Next morning, fairly early, called doc, got an appt for Taylor at 11:30 am. Checked it out. Said he needed an X-ray to see if it was fractured…(Please, not the ER!!) Woo Hoo, they sent me to radiology center, (much nicer waiting area) for x-ray to see if it was fractured. Fantastic staff…all so nice!!
2 hours later, no fracture, bad sprains, possible tendon tear, pull…No need for MRI…whew!
Went back to Dr. office to then get a really nice leather brace for his wrist…I am sure I’ll see that on my bill…
Thinking I might be done…no, I had to take Lily back to Vanderbilt, 4th floor this time to Orthopedics, for a smashed finger check…2 hours later…all was well. Yea!
In the room, 2 doctors, argue… I mean discussed her finger to see what to do on next visit…3 weeks for re-check, one want another x-ray as well, other doesn’t…Mmmmm. 
Doc says we’ll see you back in 3 weeks for a re-check and x-ray.
I don’t think so, I am thinking…I will just go see MY Ped…for the recheck…like he did with Maggie’s toe…
Whew…I am exhausted!
