Our last night in Utah, at the wedding reception, Marshall had an unfortunate encounter with a fire hydrant. Richard and my brother, Danny, had taken all six kids outside to play. A while later Richard came back in to the reception with Marshall, who had blood all over his face. Turns out the kids were running around, Marshall just stumbled over his feet as he moved from grass to cement, and face planted right into the fire hydrant.
As you can imagine, he was pretty worked up, and in quite a bit of pain. We spent the next hour sitting on the couch, keeping ice on Marshall's face, cleaning up blood, and trying to calm him down. Poor, sweet Marshall. He is so smart, but his smarts bring about a whole lot of worry. At one point while I saw sitting with him he started to cry about how head injuries are the worst kind of injuries. I asked him if his head hurt, if his neck hurt, and if his teeth hurt. He answered no to all and then said, "Well, those are all good signs." A little later he started to cry again and told me he was worried he had ruined his lips and that they were gone. I reassured him that though his lips were a bit banged up, they were still on his face. Love this kid!
Anyway, after an hour we were able to pull together enough that we packed up and left the reception. We were a little concerned that Marshall had actually bit through his cheek and while it was not a big gash on the outside, we were uncertain about whether or not he needed stitches. After we left the reception, I called our pediatrician's office in Milwaukee. The doctor suggested a trip to the ER because we thought the bite went through his cheek and not his lip. Not really wanting to pay for an ER bill, we were able to find an urgent care that was still open in Provo. At 9:00 pm we pulled into urgent care and dragged a very reluctant Marshall inside.
Marshall cooperated perfectly for the PA, which is way more than he had done for me or Richard! He was able to get Marshall cleaned up really well and it was determined that he did not bite through his cheek; it was just two separate gashes, one on the inside and one on the outside. He gave us the option of two stitches, but said it wasn't necessary so we opted not to do it. Marshall was so relieved!
Look at this face! This was taken about 10:00 pm on Saturday night. What a night!
The next day he pretty much only wanted to eat soft foods. He was on a steady dose of Tylenol through Tuesday. And by Wednesday I noticed a significant reduction in the swelling. He has fielded lots of questions about his battle wounds and has enjoyed sharing the story with all his friends. What an adventure!
1 comment:
Owie!!!! thats a doozy Marshall! (and for mom and dad too!) That kind of thing is exhausting! Glad its not too serious! Try a little vitamin E oil on his cheek as it heals it will keep any scarring down. (this from the mama whose kid fell and his glasses punctured his face!)
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