Another Trip to The ER

Well this was actually a trip to the Clinic - but in an emergency situation.

Sienna was doing her homework, and Gunnar was not so much helping her as bugging her. He (in true little brother fashion) Jumped out from beside the couch with his vampire teeth in and growled at her! She was sitting on the couch and she jumped backwards. Evidently there was a sharpened pencil sticking out from between the sofa cushions, and it stabbed her in the back!!
She began screaming ... not in the "my little brother is annoying me" way ... but in that way that you KNOW something is definitely wrong.

I ran into the room and found out what had happened. I grabbed my keys and tried to comfort her and tell her we were going to go to the Emergency Clinic and get it taken care of. She kept crying "Mommy it hurts, it hurts!" I wanted to cry too.

My neighbor from across the street was outside when we came out and offered to take care of Gunnar so Sienna and I could go. I graciously accepted and we were on our way. Little Sienna had to sit in her booster seat leaning forward so as not to further irritate the affected area.

When we got there, they ushered us back relatively quickly and began to set up for the pencil lead removal procedure. They began with the topical numbing solution and when that took effect, the doctor started poking and prodding with tweezers. But nothing was coming out. After many minutes and many tries, the doctor could not find anything and said he thought the pencil tip had maybe stabbed her, but had not actually stayed stuck in her back.

From there, we decided to do a procedure kind of like a mole removal to get rid of the big, dark black mark on her pale skin. We were moved to another room where the more intricate work could be done. The doctor injected some Lido-cane via syringe for deeper numbing, then began to cut. As he was cutting, the scalpel went "scraaaaaatch"! What was that?!

Apparently, the tip HAD completely broken off and was almost 1/4 of an inch below her skin's surface!! Yikes!

The doctor removed it and stitched up Sienna's little back with three stitches.

About a week later, after seeing no signs of infection, and having done it many times in the past (when I was an MA), I removed her stitches at home.

I obviously don't want it to happen again, and hope it does not...but between both of my kids, this is the 3rd trip to an ER in 2 years!! I wonder what next time might bring????