One Last Time...We Hope!

So what thoughts go through your head when you are at T-12 on the countdown of days until you move?

You think of all the things you planned on doing before you moved that you now question whether you will, indeed, get to do them--like weeding and mulching all your flower beds so they'll make a good impression on buyers.

You think of all the friends you'd like to have over to your house--one last time.

You think of special places you've been to in the area on bike rides and field trips. You wonder if you have time to climb on the tanks at Cantigny or visit the animals at Cosley Zoo one last time.

And how can we think of leaving this beloved area without one final trip to...the Emergency Room!

It's true. Yesterday afternoon, Bantam9 was playing outside on our neighbor's big property, building forts and climbing trees. He jumped from a low branch down to the ground, and a sharp stick punctured the sole of his shoe (a Croc knock-off) and entered his foot between his big toe and the next one. He started hollering and his little siblings ran in to tell me about it.

I ran out, took one look and told his older brother to help him into the car. I went into the house for my purse and car keys, and off we went. (After we left, Chicklet5, much impressed with my whirlwind response, enjoyed acting me out repeatedly, I'm told!)

At the ER, we got into a room pretty quickly and then things calmed down considerably. At their usual non-whirlwind pace, we were visited by various personnel until it was decided to numb the area first, then pull out the stick with pliers, x-ray the area, soak the wound, irrigate the hole wound, dress the wound (maddening how many games of Hangman and Tic Tac Toe we played in between each of these steps!), and finally release us with instructions to clean it 2-3 times daily, take an antibiotic, see an orthopedic doctor, and stay off the foot for a day or so.

But you know the looming question in our minds, right? I don't suppose it's the first thing most 9-year-old boys would be worried about, but we wanted to know: Will he be DANCING by next weekend?? (Y'know...Oliver!)

The good news is that this kind of puncture wound usually heals rapidly, and in fact, they said it was okay for him to be in his scenes at dress rehearsal tonight. What we need to worry pray about, they said, is any remaining splinters causing infection.

It was kind of a splintery bit of wood. Oh, and there's beautiful irony here--Bantam9 is certain that he himself, last summer, with his very own pocketknife, whittled the point on that stick! He suspected because the bark had been peeled off it, and when they removed it, it sure did look like a whittled point.

And with that trip, we realized that each and every one of our six kids have had their own special visit to the ER. Bantam17 somehow sliced the calf of his leg jumping off a stool when he was three, Blondechick15 slipped on spilled lemonade and split open her chin on a tile floor at a homeschool function when she was 11, Bantam13 had abdominal pain which turned out to be a urinary tract infection, Chicklet's mommy accidentally used a Clorox wipe to remove her Halloween mascara and burned her eye (can you believe it?) and Bitty Bantam, at 5 weeks of age, began his 2-week hospitalization for severe pneumonia and RSV with a trip to the ER, and had a few breathing episodes later that found us there a couple more times.

If we'd known that we couldn't move till all six kids had visited the Emergency Room....

(Just kiddin', Bantam9!)