ER

Today was all planned. The kids were going to come home, change clothes, fluff hair, etc and we were planning to meet Rob to take pictures on this BEAUTIFUL day. It all changed at 11:00am when I got a phone call from the school. Hudson fell down at recess, his chin is busted open, and it looks like he needs stitches. So, I immediately left class, jumped on my bike and called Rob to meet me at the school.

If you are a reader of this blog, you may remember that last year we had a similar occurance, but Rob just superglued Hudson's head back together. After we arrived at home today, we discovered this was NOT a job for super glue. We would be heading to the ER for stitches.

I can't even begin to tell you all that went on at the hospital becasue it is so confusing and long. Everything is more difficult when the language and culture are foreign to you. And when it comes to your child's health you want to understand all that is happening and make the best choices. We are so thankful that our language has improved enought that we could have him taken care of!!

The biggest thing I learned today was that post stitches it is customary here for you to get a tetanus shot. (a word that wasn't in my vocabulary until today) However, we went 9 rounds with the doctor trying to explain we didn't need this shot since we, Americans, keep this shot "up to date". Actually we finally told the doctor we would get it, than left the hospital....that is how we avoided the shot. We also skipped out on the customary IV that is common to all who visit the ER.

Rob stuck my camera in my purse on the way out the door today, so for your viewing pleasure.....a trip to the ER.

Did I mention the customary IV?? EVERYONE gets an IV here. That is the remedy for everything. This is the ER. Can you count how many IVs are in this pic? And yes to the right, that is a lady on a gurney just laying there for who know what reason. Here is a dad and a child out in the ER. Just waiting around.

Ah yes, room number 6 where we would be seen . This is the best hospital in our city. We were thinking about this time that we needed to go elsewhere to have Hudson's chin sewed up. We thankfully were sent to the main hospital for stitches, or "surgery" as they called it. Rob and I had to ask to see the room where he would be stitched up to check for sterility, use of clean needles, and to make sure everything came out of a bag and was not being reused. This is BEFORE, can you tell he is nervous?? (He listened to my ipod the whole time to relax)

DURING. AFTER. Thanks so much to the nice doctor who very carefully answered all of our questions and made sure we understood everything.

In case you were wondering.....this was the 4th time Hudson has "busted open" his face requiring some sort of attention.