Today I got the call that all mother’s dread getting.
“Mrs. Just? This is the nurse at Boals Elementary. I have Matthew here. He fell and busted his chin open and I think he’s going to need a stitch or two.”
Great. Just what I was hoping to do during nap time today.
I called the pediatrician on the way to the school and they asked me to pick him up then call back. I did, and when I described the wound, they said I should bring him in.
Now, mind you, Matthew wasn’t crying. He wasn’t fussing. He was ECSTATIC to be leaving school early! So you can imagine how silly I felt in the waiting room at the doctor’s office, watching him play with his brothers while holding a white gauze pad on his chin with one hand. Just seemed silly.
However, once they rinsed it off and I got a good look at it – wow! It was deep! I tried to take a picture but it was hard to get a good one with my phone:
They gave me the option of stitches or skin glue, to which Matthew piped in and said “I don’t really know what a stitch is but it doesn’t sound good.” The doctor got a good laugh at that. So we opted for the glue and it took two nurses and a whole lot of squeezing to get the wound glued shut. Here is the “after” shot:
Believe it or not, he never cried – not once. I was so proud of him. But I could have smacked Peter.
When the doctor came in, he asked Matthew what happened and Matthew started with “I wasn’t running, I wasn’t jumping or doing anything wrong. I just slipped on some water in the bathroom and hit my chin on the floor.” The doctor replied “Oh sure. Anytime someone starts a story with ‘I wasn’t doing anything wrong,’ I get suspicious!” Then, as he was leaving the room, he said “Whatever it was you weren’t doing in the bathroom, don’t do it again, okay?” And my smart alec 8-year-old said “Well, since he said he wasn’t running, does that mean you want him to run next time?”
Ugh.
