Poor Little Guy

Isaac went in for his 2 year checkup on Friday morning, and the doctor told us that he is apparently suffering from a raging ear infection. Of course, we had no idea - the guy isn't crying, he's not particularly cranky, and not tugging on his ears... he was somehow bearing this burden quietly, while maintaining his happy personality. We shook our heads in amazement, and thanked our stars that this was caught before it got worse. We considered ourselves somewhat lucky.

This morning, Isaac and I played hooky from swimming - his ear didn't need that chlorine for sure. We ate together, had a shower, wrassled, read stories, and generally had a great time. Bella came home from HER swimming (with Grandma) and we three went out to meet Pamela, who was just finishing a Pilates session.

We went to our favorite garden store with the fabulous restaurant inside, and I ordered up quiches for us while Pamela wrangled the kids. Isaac was running around, and Pamela was chasing him. Just as I came to the table with the appetizers, I heard Isaac screaming and Bella ran up saying "Isaac FELL!".

I rounded the corner to see him with a face full of blood: Pamela was carrying him back to the table and tripped - Isaac caught the edge of a stair with his mouth and bit through his lip and cheek - an inch long hole - and had knocked the teeth too - one chip, one pushed up into the gums...

We ran to Children's Hospital where they got us right in and the poor little guy was just wracked with sobs. They gave him a sedative and he chilled out a bit. In the meantime, Grandma and Grandpa raced to the hospital to fetch Bella and give her an afternoon that didn't involve sitting in a hospital looking at her brother's face. For that we will be forever thankful.

Isaac wound up getting 23 stitches to close the wound - some inside, some outside. It's not quite as bad as the Joker's scars in Dark Night, but it definitely extends beyond the lip line. Through it all Isaac was actually pretty brave - when he cried, we all (including the doctor and nurses) sang songs like Itsy Bitsy Spider, Twinkle Twinkle, and ABC, which calmed him right down. He even tried to sing along. He told every new nurse "Hi!" as they arrived, and "Bye" as they left. And they had a TV with Spongebob on over his bed so he was telling us about "BobBob" as he watched.

I spent the whole procedure right at his side. I couldn't hold his hand, since he was strapped into a papoose for safety purposes. In a very strange moment, the EMT who was holding his head firmly but gently had her pager go off, and it was a man's voice saying "are you there?" over and over. Which reminded me of a 1990s techno song by Josh Wink that used almost the same sample.

He should have the stitches out by Thursday, and may or may not have a little scarring - it's very dependent upon the person. The teeth will wait until early in the week, when we'll see a dentist.

We got Isaac home and watched Mister Rogers, feeding him a vanilla protein shake for strength, read a few of his favorite stories as he held his diddos (blankies) and I held him until he fell asleep.

Through it all, even though he was clearly in pain, Isaac tried his best to be his usual friendly self. As I watched him in the late afternoon, he was trying to be normal, but his balance was off (still a bit drugged), and would suddenly notice the stitches again, and be worried.... the next few days will be VERY hard for all of us I think.

What's worse is that Sunday is Pamela's birthday: I had hoped to let her sleep in and pamper her for the day, but instead it's all hands on deck. And I'm sure she's feeling some guilt for the accident, for which I hope that she forgives herself, as no one could ever blame her - it was simply a terrible accident. And we're going to have to remember that Bella needs a little extra love in this time too.

Extra love all around I say. We're going to need it.