Road Rash

I just want to point out before I explain what happened that we are a helmet family. We've put helmets on the kids since they were riding in the bike trailer. Mom and dad always wear helmets when appropriate as a good example, and my children have even been known to police their friends about skating/scooting/riding without a helmet.

Today was gorgeous the first really-warm-throw-open-the-doors kind of day we've had this year. Luke really wanted to play video games today but he had used up his allotted 1/2 hour (I'm pretty stingy with screen time and they only get 1/2 hour on non-school days and none on school days). So I told him he could either play outside just for the fun of it or do outside chores to earn a little more time (see I'm kind of nice). He chose play. He was however not happy with the choices and was sulking and not in the mood to go put proper shoes or a helmet on when he grabbed his scooter and started down the hill. I did not see this. Apparently you can not stop a scooter properly without shoes on. so I heard screaming and my hubby saying from the bottom of the stairs "Luke's hurt get off the phone please" (yup I was on the phone, to my sister in Canada... ) I hung up (literally, poor Nancy) and raced down to see my six year old with half his face covered in blood. I can handle this...mostly. I got clothes and we put him in the tub to see what it looked like under the gore and decided a trip to urgent care was probably in order. I was worried that he had broken his cheek bone because he had blood dripping from his eye and he was complaining about his cheek. My very darling neighbor who works for an eye surgeon asked if she could come with me. Since my husband had elected to stay with the other kids I was very happy to accept her offer. They took us right into a room when we got there (I think because the sight of a little kid with blood on his face was disturbing to the other patients, and I had called ahead). I made the mistake of mentioning that the room they had us o into was the one where Lucybelle had gotten her stitches a couple of years ago (duh!). Luke insisted he .did. not. want. stitches. Poor guy. He was really hurting but did really well (though he kept insisting that if I had just let him stay inside and play video games none of this would have happened-so much for healthy fresh air). The doctors and nurses cleaned and prodded and x-rayed and then gave him the good news: nothing could be stitched. Also that he hadn't broken anything. And he could go to school the next day (not likely, He deserves at least one day off after that kind trauma).

Its Monday morning now and he actually looks worse. His eye is completely swollen shut and stuff is draining from his wounds. Plus I've been slathering them with ointment (as directed by the doctor) and the shiny goo makes it look even more frightening.

This our third big injury (unless I'm forgetting one and its not including the minor two stitches mentioned earlier). The first two happened to Max within a couple of months of each other when he was three (eight years ago). So our safety track record isn't terrible (maybe it is, do these things happen to everyone?). But I feel terrible, he's suffering and I can't make it go away. My heart hurts for him.