From the Green Room to the Trauma Room

We're back! Though this year I won't have the photo shoot beach pictures...because due to unforeseen circumstances, we weren't able to get back onto the beach after Friday morning. But, for the first time in three years, not because we were evacuated because of a hurricane. 

What happened was this: Friday morning, Cody and I went for our sunrise walk and collected a giant bucket of shells for show-and-tell. We had a fantastic morning at the beach, with lots of surfing. The kids learned all sorts of surf terms from JVL, and were running around saying things I didn't totally understand, like, "It's tube time!" and "Reservation for three in the Green Room, please!" 

They took a (brief, sadly) nap and then we were just about to get ready to sunscreen up and go back to the beach. I was getting a snack for Cordelia when Cody ran out onto the deck to check to see if his shells were dry. In bare feet.

A second later we heard a bloodcurdling scream. Cody had gotten a giant--giant--splinter from the deck lodged deep into his heel. It was about an inch long and spanned his heel. We did the best we could to calm him, though it was clearly painful, and tried to get it out with tweezers after soaking it in warm water. (Cordelia barely made a sound during all of this--as soon as she saw this was a serious situation she ran upstairs and came down carrying Bidi, Otter, and Tippy, and then just sat next to him in solidarity while he screamed and thrashed.) It was terrible, and pointless--the wood was so soft that it kept breaking off every time I managed to grasp it. I couldn't make much progress, and was worried about it getting infected. So off to the Urgent Care we went.

This was not a popular decision.

When we arrived, Cody burst into tears (again) and said to the nurse taking his paperwork, "My name is Cody and I have a giant splinter and I am really scared and nervous and will you please be so gentle?!?!" She soaked his foot in betadyne and we awaited the doctor--who, fortunately, happened to be a pediatrician. The entire, agonizingly long time that we waited, Cordelia sat on a little stool next to him, holding a sticker for when everything was over.

When the doctor looked at it, he looked pained, and said we needed to decide what to do. We could take care of it the long, painful way (sitting there for an hour or so with tweezers and a screaming child) or the short, really painful way (getting an injection of lidocaine deep into his heel to numb it, then prying it out).

Needless to say, Cody's first choice was "I don't want to do anything! I want to leave it there and just soak my foot!" The doctor wisely left. We had a long talk with him about pros and cons, and tried not to whitewash the part where the shot--though shorter--would be intensely painful. But that it was his decision. He chose the shot. It was, so far, the worst thing I've been through as a parent. My mom brought a reluctant Cordelia to the waiting room and Cody had to lie on his stomach while JVL held his legs down and I held the rest of him. I've never heard such screaming--and having had such a shot in the exact same place when I was about 10 (the pain of which was much, much worse than childbirth)--it just about killed me to hold him. It took longer than expected because it was in such a tough place and he had to go so deep in. Finally, we were able to tell him the worst was over and he wouldn't feel anything anymore. He said, "That was longer than a few seconds!" Dr. Perry apologized and said he knew, and was so sorry, because it was just so difficult to get it in. Cody stifled a sob and then said, "I forgive you. Thank you for taking good care of me. I will just lie here while Mommy talks to me now and then we will throw the splinter away." 

He is the sweetest child in the world. After it was all over, and the wound was dressed, he hugged and thanked the doctor again, then hugged and thanked all the nurses (by name) "for being so kind and for taking such good care of me even though it really, really hurt."

By then it was after 5:00. We went straight to Ben & Jerry's. Cody's head nearly exploded. We all celebrated his extreme bravery and incredible manners under such duress. Then, I took him to the toy store to buy a snake he had seen days earlier and had been longing for ever since. (At the time I demurred.) When he realized we were headed in, he hugged me and said, "Oh Mommy. I am so happy we are going to get a snake because I was so brave! But I think we need to choose something for Cordelia too, so she will not feel left out, and because she did such a great job supporting me." At which point I burst into tears a little bit. He chose a puppy and a little purse (for the puppy to ride in) for her. We paid for the snake and he told the owner the whole story of why he got the snake and said, "Isn't my mom so kind to get this lovely snake for me?"

The owner, a little stunned by this whole encounter, asked what he thought he should name the snake. He didn't really hesitate. 

"I will name her Shannon. After my mom."



All's well that ends well, though none of us are likely to forget it. And Cody chose to keep the half-splinter that survived the surgery, preserved in a tiny plastic jar of some sort of chemical. He says that when he is ready, he will take it out one morning and fling it in the back of the garbage truck and say, "Now you are gone forever, Mr. Splinter, and you can't hurt me again! You are not welcome in my foot anymore!"