And Yet, Why Not See Another Doctor Today?

I'm choosing to begin this post with this picture of a bunny eating dandelions from our front grass because it's a much cuter image than the one that has been burned into my brain for the past several hours now.  The bunny was there munching away as we exited the house to go pick up N from preschool.  They are quite common here in the desert, but no matter how many times I see them, I still feel like it's a special treat.

Now, for you squeamish folks, enjoy the bunny and do not continue reading about Z's foot injury and ensuing trip to Urgent Care today.  Good day to you.

The rest of you all ... I am just getting so tired of visiting Urgent Care this year!!  I mean, granted, I'm thankful they are there and so glad that they have been so helpful to us lately.  But we have managed several other years with maybe zero to one trip to Urgent Care, even with five kids, so why this year have we been there so many times?

I even had one member of the staff stop and stare at me and say, "You look so familiar to me ... did you work here at one point?"

I do have one of those faces, though.  People recognize me everywhere.  They have even argued with me that I have worked some place -- they are sure of it -- when I tell them I have not.  All these people who know me so well are strangers to me.  But I'm becoming a familiar face in Urgent Care, not because of my face, but because I've been there so much recently.

So, Z stubbed his toe on the kitchen tile grout today.

First of all, you have to know a funny little tidbit about this boy.  He has a particularly ginormous big toe on his right foot.  It makes his right foot almost a whole size bigger, by measurement, than his left foot.  He calls it his "favorite toe."  It's been a real problem when shoe shopping, so it's not my favorite toe -- with the exception of it being attached to my favorite Z.

But he was walking in the house barefoot and he stubbed it on the grout and it hurt so he walked from the kitchen to the homeschool room, where I was helping H study U.S. state flashcards, to show me.  It was bleeding a little bit, but not so bad.  So I just said, "Stick it in the tub (downstairs) and clean it up so we can put a bandage on it."

About one minute later, I hear yelling like you wouldn't believe.  Apparently the floodgates of his toe-wound opened up and now there were pools of blood all the way to the bathroom and when I peered into the tub where his foot was, it looked like someone had been murdered.  His pulse was making things particularly worse -- not that I wanted his heart to stop or anything -- and this made him panic and cry, which made things worse even still.  You get the picture, maybe?

A stubbed toe.

Grabbing a big wad of paper towels and his slippers, I loaded him up into the Suburban.  S said, "You go with Z to the doctor ... I'll watch everyone else and call (my sister/her aunt)."

It was 45 minutes till I needed to go get L from her school, so there was no way I was going to make it.  It's Urgent Care, right?  So that usually requires at least a couple hours.  Makes good sense.

Fortunately, my sister was able to leave work early to come pick up L and take her other girls home.  Thankfully, S was willing to bridge the gap there of child care in the meantime (she's a good daughter and helper).  Soon, C would be coming home from work, so at least the four kids would have their daddy there while they were left worrying (and cleaning up the blood -- so nice of S, also) about their brother.  Good team work.

Three and a half hours later, Z and I finally left Urgent Care.  They seemed on the border about stitches, but ultimately decided that they'd glue the skin together and tape it up with Steri-strips.  He can't wear shoes or get his right foot wet for five days (at least).  I told him that means no bike riding (his favorite), since he can't wear shoes or get that foot dirty (since he can't wash it) for five days.  It's like torture for him.  I hope that doesn't mean it'll be like torture for all of us.

So ... do you wish you'd stopped at the bunny picture?  I sort of wish I had.

But Urgent Care was a blast, too.  You know?  Who doesn't like spending half the day down there with all kinds of sick people crammed in a sad little waiting room?  On the bright side, since the wait was so long, one of the staff came around with bottled water and apple juice about once an hour (for free).  So at least we didn't leave dehydrated.

And I got some one-on-one time with Z.  That's good, too.