Three For One Day at the Hospital 




Missy licks Caroline's wounds. That's probably not a good idea. Oh well. I had to lick my own wounds.

What happens when you cross a desert tortoise, a sulcata tortoise, a teddy bear cholla, a one year old, and a neurological event? By the end of the night, all three us had been in the emergency room. Anyway, Caroline and I were out in the backyard looking at the tortoises and she saw our sulcata and went walking down the pool decking towards it. Too late I noticed she was walking barefoot towards a fallen cholla nodule. I ran to pick her up and I thought I got to her in time but as I picked her up she swung her leg and contacted the cholla with her toes and the top of her foot. As she felt the spines penetrate her foot, I grabbed for the cholla and she kicked and the cholla lodged in the back of the fingers of my right hand. She had a bunch of spines sticking out of her foot and toes. I scooped up my screaming daughter in my left arm and carried her into the house.

My first thought was pliers. I needed pliers. I carried her into the garage. I grabbed some pliers and started pulling out some of her spines. She screamed and flailed wildly. The spines are barbed and take a lot of force to remove. With only one hand there was no way to remove the spines. I tried to remove some of the spines from my hand but I couldn't do that either. I needed help.

I carried her inside, sat her on the edge of the kitchen sink, dialed Nancy's cell phone, and told her to come home NOW. Caroline sat on my lap and I sat on the couch. She screamed continuously and cried for mommy until Nancy arrived about 15 minutes later. For the rest of the story and how Nancy ended as a patient in the ER, read her blog. Today Caroline is fine except for being little bruised and bloody. She went to day care and was just fine. My fingers are a little sore and bruised and my arm is sore from the tetanus shot. Today Nancy was very tired, a little unsteady, and generally feeling lousy all day. I think she'll feel better tomorrow.  

Posted: Wed - July 27, 2005 at 07:27 PM          

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