Sherds from a jar of clay

Yesterday we had a play date with a friend and took them to our pool club. We hadn't been there an hour when my 4 yr. old son fell on the dino slide. He came over crying and saying he fell and heard his tooth crunch. I inspected his mouth and found no blood, nothing loose etc. As I cuddled him to me I noticed my chest was covered with blood. It was coming from his chin which had a nice 1 inch or more horizontal cut in it, deep enough that I could see flesh. The lifeguards helped me clean him up and bandage it to get home. I left a key with my friend so she could stay for awhile and she brought home my stroller and pool toys later. (thanks Ruth) I called my husband to come help drive us and watch my daughter while we went. I also called the clinic to see if we went there or to the ER and changed us all into dry clothes.

Then it was off to the Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania(CHOP) and their Emergency Room for the first time. It took more effort and time then usual to get there since it is move in week at the University of Pennsylvania which lies between home and CHOP. This meant more traffic, people double parked, people not sure where they were going, and rerouted traffic due to streets closed to accommodate unloading at the dorms. If the injury had been more serious I would have been stressed but it was fine and only added a few minutes.

I was very pleasantly surprised when we arrived. They had a large waiting area with crayons, coloring pages and other things to keep kids occupied while you wait. The wait was fairly short and the processing efficient. Everyone from the Nurse to the, Doctors to the guy who came in to refill the paper towel dispenser were so nice, polite and helpful. They talked directly to Andrew when appropriate, not just to me and Paul. They also used language appropriate to his age to make sure he understood what they were going to do to him.
Since its a teaching hospital we saw 4 or more different interns/residents who asked the same questions and looked at the wound to assess the options. (hey, what's a little extra time in the name of educating our future doctors).
In the end we were there for almost 3 hours, partly because we had to wait 15 mins between each of the 3 topical numbing medication applications and partly due to a shift change that occurred during our visit. But once the attending/head doctor realized how long we had been waiting for a final decision on treatment she saw to it we were finished up ASAP. (It's all in how you handle the problems, not the problems themselves)

The coolest parts were these:
-Instead of traditional stitches they were able to use "doctor glue", liquid adhesive/stitches to hold the skin together. The deciding factor was the placement of the cut in relation to what moves when you chew and talk and if it would be sufficient to hold or not. Seems to be doing ok, I guess so far and was definitely less traumatic for my son.
-They have a person who comes around to make sure that the kid is not freaked out, help answer any questions and provide books, or other appropriate entertainment/distraction tools if needed. She also gave him (and my daughter) stickers and a popsicle after we were all done. She was very nice and helpful and made the visit fun for Andrew.
-We got to have McDonalds for lunch since there is one as part of the hospital complex. It made dinner fast and easy and a treat for the kids. I had never gotten my lunch so I really needed to eat by the time we were done at 5:30. I even bagged the low carb habit I am trying to keep and went straight for a quarter pounder.

All in all I was very impressed by the hospital, the staff and the fact that they were so friendly, helpful and informative. It was especially great that my daughter could come back with us the whole time. Maybe next time (though I hope that won't be soon, often or serious) I will feel more able to handle the whole thing by myself and not make my husband leave work and come along. Though it was great and helpful to have him there I would have been fine alone. (Thanks Paul for coming and being so patient with my lack of clear thinking on the issue.) We are blessed and fortunate to live near such a quality facility.

Andrew seems to be doing fine, but is a very active kid so please pray that it will heal well and quickly and that he won't fall and knock it open or scrape off the material while horsing around.