Ever since I was little I have always wanted to do something big for New Year's Eve. I used to love watching Dick Clark, and counting down to the ball dropping. This year looked like it was going to be pretty quiet. Megan had stayed at the farm this week (although she went to spend the night with her cousin last night), Barry had to work (he always works on New Year's Eve), and Kayti and Josh were invited to a friend's house for a party. That left just me and Kyle to come up with something to do. I asked him what he wanted to do, and he decided that we should go see Twilight. I was only more than happy to do that! (And yes, that does make the 3rd time that I have seen the movie... is that a problem? hee hee!)
After the movie we ran some dinner by to Barry, then ran to pick up the other kids from their party (it was over at 10:00). We came home and settled in for a movie, snacks, and our own countdown to the new year.
A few minutes after 12:00 my phone rang. I saw that it was my nephew calling (this would be the nephew that was keeping my daughter for the night), and assumed that it was Megan calling to wish us all a happy new year. I answered the phone, the kids blew their nose makers into it, and we all yelled "Happy New Year!!". Instead of hearing Megan's voice I hear my nephew, Troy, respond with the following:
"Happy New Year to y'all, too!
Hey, who do you have insurance through?"
Can I tell you, my heart stopped for a moment? NOT the thing I was expecting to hear.
When I could finally talk again, I asked him what happened. They were at a friend's house at a party, and the kids were all goofing off, resulting in Megan putting her hand through a window on a door. He said she had a cut on her arm, it didn't look that bad, but she was probably going to have to have stitches to close it up. He asked me which hospital I wanted them to take her to, and of course I said the closest one, which of course was Fayetteville. I talked to Megan, she seemed ok... a little upset, but she wasn't crying or out of control. That calmed me down, and I told them to call me when they got to the hospital.
I called Barry, told him what happened, and then told him I was headed up to the hospital. Shortly after that I got a call from the mom of the house, Kay, and she was not as calm as Troy had been. She told me the cut was about 5 inches long, and it looked deep. She was apologizing to me for Megan getting hurt... and I was aplogizing to her for Megan breaking window!
There were several more phone calls back and forth between me and Troy, one of which was actually the doctor, asking my permission to sew up her arm. I asked him if he could give me some info on the cut, and this is what he tells me:
"It's about 2 1/2 inches long on the length of her left arm. It is superficial, but it will require stitches. Do I have your permission to sew her up?"
Of course I tell him yes, and get off the phone with him feeling very relieved that it is a "superficial" cut. I called Barry and filled him in on the situation, and he felt a lot better, too.
Can I tell you that my definition of superficial is very different from this doctor's? To me it means a scratch, or a rug burn! I'm thinking that she has a 2 1/2 scratch that is deep enough at some point to need a stitch or two to sew it up. To the doctor it means that she didn't cut any tendons, arteries, etc. I guess it's a good thing I didn't know that as I'm driving down the highway at 60+ mph... the cops would have stopped me for sure!
Anyway, by the time I got to the hospital, the doctor was sewing her up... 3 internal stitches, and 10 external ones! Yep, 13 stitches total! This gives her more stitches in one cut than her brother Josh has had in 3... she feels so proud!
As a mother with a semi-overactive imagination, I keep seeing in my mind Megan crying, and being scared and anxious. This makes me even more anxious, and I can't wait to get there to her. I rush into her room, she smiles up at me, and lovingly says:
"This doesn't mean I have to come home, does it?"
The little toad! She didn't cry through any of it; in fact the doctor said that he had never seen a kid be so brave through stitches before. She laid there watching him stitch her up. I can't watch when I have to have blood drawn!
We had quite a gathering in the waiting room when we were finished... my parents, Troy and his daughter (his wife, who is a RN stayed with Megan until I got there, then she took their son home), and Kay. I appreciated them all being there. Kay told me that as soon as the ball on tv dropped, they heard the crashing of glass, so Megan had impeccable timing!
I made Megan come home with me (that, actually, was the only time that she cried... yes, that did make me feel so special!) so I could keep an eye on the cut. I knew once the numbness wore off she would be in pain, and of course she was.
I hope this is not a sign of things to come this year.
And, if this counts as "doing something big for New Year's Eve", count me out. I'll take a boring, "sit in front of the tv night" any year!
