Stronger Than Your Fear

Well look who decided to work today. Blogger, how I loathe you, you moody, tempermental piece of junk. I get the time and material to blog, I come here and you let me down time and time again. But today you have surprised me by letting me post. Oh happy day. If I had half a computer brain I would have left ages ago. Ages. But alas, I am not very computer savvy. So here I sit. Tickled pink that I was able to post pictures in my my post about Finn's Birthday, and eager to catch you all up on this crazy train called life.

Last week we had the CRAZIEST thing happen. Seriously, I have been a Mom for a little over 8 years. In that time I have seen some really crazy stuff. I had a 2 year old who walked around on a broken foot for days and I never knew. I have had a child suffer 3rd degree burns on his hand that required "scrubbing off the burned skin" for days and days. I have seen roughly 40 concusions if I had to guess. I have seen fainting, barfing, cuts, blood, bruises (FYI: I do not beat my kids in any way. I don't even spank them when they deserve it, I just have wild animals for children... lest you all start thinking much less of me...) I have seen it all... or so I thought.

We went to Walmart (that was my first mistake, I am a slow learner). Ethan had a big campout to get ready for so we were in a big hurry. We were walking through the dirty parking lot and Tyler and Ethan were walking on the islands and jumping off. He stepped up on an island and stepped on something. Just as he was jumping off the curb of the island, he realized that whatever he had stepped on was still there, stuck in his flip-flop and poking his foot. But it was too late, he had already jumped. So the foreign object was rammed, far, into his foot upon landing. His knees buckled and he fell to the ground screaming. Sometimes Tyler is a little dramatic (which is wierd, I don't know where he gets it...) and so I said "get up Tyler, we are in a big hurry, let's go....I will get it out in the car, come on!" . I was walking ahead of him so I didn't really know what had happened yet. I finally walk over and look at his foot. I knew immediately that he was not being dramatic at all. He had stepped on a toothpick or skewer or something of the sort and it had gone in his foot, far. I said "Holy Crap" and I think I might not have really said "crap", it could have been something else in it's place, but I said something of the sort. I carried him to the car and got all the kids in and when the last door shut, before I got in the car, I panicked just a touch. I had never seen anything like it. And I had never heard anything like Tyler. He was beyond crying, he was screaming in pain. The toothpick had broken, so I only saw a broken end sticking out, but just barely. It was right in the arch of his foot. It looked like, in sewing if you pull a string with a knot in the end really tight it lifts the fabric up and puckers it, that was the only way I could describe it to Ryan. It was stuck in there so good that it had pulled and puckered his skin and I was afraid the skin was gonna give up and just come up over the end of the toothpick. We raced home, and since Tyler was so hysterical, everyone else was too, and I left all the kids in the car while I grabbed the tweezers. The whole way home he was begging me to make it stop hurting and starting to go into shock. Plus I am sure all the screaming was makig him light-headed, or atleast it was making me light headed. So I push on his foot near the port of entry so I can get a good hold with the tweezers, it didn't budge and he starting throwing up. So I knew that was my cue to never touch it again and make a b-line to the ER. I called Ryan who told me "if it is as bad as you say (which in times like these is questionable, I tend to be a little, um, dramatic....to say the least...) then stop trying and go in". I actually called because I mean, do you take kids to the ER for a big sliver?

I took him to the Urgent Care located across from the hospital but part of the hospital, so if I got there and they needed to they could just send us across the street. I dropped Ethan of at my brothers house and Thanked him for getting Ethan off to camp and finally got to the Urgent Care. Tyler was totally hysterical and I could not get him calmed down. I was doing okay keeping my cool, until I called Ryan...again... to tell him we had made it to the urgent care. Ryan said "Okay, well I already left work so I will be there in about 45 minutes...". I totally started crying, I didn't realize how badly I needed him there until he said that he was coming. Thank goodness. Have you ever tried comforting a hysterical child in a quiet waiting room with 3 other LOUD young kids. No fun. I was on the verge of admitting myself to be seen by the doctor because I was about to have a total breakdown, would that have been a good reason for drugs? Hmmmm...... Anyway, they looked worried when they saw it and warned us that if they weren't able to get it out, we would have to go to the hospital to have it surgically removed. They took an X-Ray and put a topical numbing gel on his foot to prep it for a shot of anesthetic. Unfortunately, the toothpick absorbed the gel and it seeped inside his foot and started burning him, so they shot him, FAST and twice with the anesthetic and he finally could relax a little. They had also given him something good, tylenol with codeine or something, I asked if I could have some and they said no for some reason. Wierd huh?

The Doctor came in and with ALL her strength finally pulled the thing from his foot and we all gasped. None of is were expecting (or prepared for) what came out. It was indeed a toothpick and it was BI-IG. Big. It made me throw-up a little in my mouth. The med student helping also looked pretty quesy, she told me later she had seen a lot in her years at med school but that was the first time she got really woozy. In the x-ray they could tell the "object" was big enough that it had tore through his entire muscle and lodged itself in his bone. In. His. Bone. It hurts all over again just thinking of it.

So he is on double doses of Anti-biotics and Ibuprofen. His muscle is begining to heal and he has been able to walk finally. But it is still extremely tender.

We have this thing in our family called "Stronger Than Your Fear". Whenevr we are trying something new or getting hurt or doing something we are afraid of, we say to each other "stronger than your fear" and it has seen our family through a lot. This was no exception. Tyler was tough. When I saw that thing come out of his foot I couldn't believe he had handled himself as well as he did. He had it stuck in there for almost an hour and a half befor he got a shot and he was tough. He was so strong and he kept saying over and over through his tears "stronger than my fear, right mom?". Later that day I made him a t-shirt with that iron-on computer paper that said STRONGER THAN MY FEAR. He has wore it every single day since.