A foreign body and a tour of Riley

Ok, so it's been a while since I've written. And I have a million valid excuses. But basically I should just be trying harder.  I also need to apologize that my writing's been a little off lately, to put it nicely. I just can't seem to put my thoughts into coherent sentences on "paper" lately. But oh well, we still have stories to tell and I don't want to ignore them, however awful my writing may be.

So, apologies aside, we had ourselves a little adventure at the end of last week. Let me preface this story by assuring you that everyone is fine. The drama all started about two weeks ago with a broken wine glass.  We seem to break a lot of wine glasses around here for some reason. And no, I wasn't drinking at the time. I was cooking or doing dishes or something one afternoon and knocked a clean wine glass off the edge of the counter.  Whoops! Guess I should have put those away first.  So we went to great lengths to keep the kids out of the kitchen while we cleaned up all the glass.  We even made them wear shoes to walk in the kitchen the rest of the day.  So I guess it was the next day or day after, my memory isn't so good and it really doesn't matter when, we were sitting down to dinner when Kaelyn cried out and then sat down on the floor and started crying.  You guessed it. She stepped on some glass that we missed.  And let me tell you, right after it happened I got out the alcohol and tweezers and was all set to do a little surgery and pull some glass out of her foot.  But we couldn't see anything and well, to tell you the truth, my sister and brother must have gotten all the medical genes in our family and I couldn't stand the thought of digging around in her little foot when she's already bleeding and crying. The poor thing. So we cleaned the wound and bandaged her up and after a couple days it didn't seem to bother her at all. I figured if there was anything still in there her body would reject it and start to push it out on it's own.

Fast forward a week and half and suddenly her little "owie" isn't looking so good and she complained that it hurt her.  So now I'm worried that there is still glass in there and it's infected. Part of me thinks it's not a big deal and we just need to try to keep it clean and keep an eye on it. But part of me, the worried, paranoid, overreacting mommy part, starts imagining drastic scenarios where she ends up needing to have her foot amputated because it got too infected. So I call the doctor to be on the safe side, pick her up early from school and head up to the pediatrician's office which is a good forty-five minute drive.  We don't have time for lunch before the appointment so I feed the kids a couple snacks and figure we can stop at McDonald's after for a little treat (healthy, I know).  If only I could have foreseen what our day would turn into.

So the pediatrician (not our regular doctor but one in the same practice) couldn't feel if there was anything in there. But she was at least a little concerned being that there was some stuff oozing from it, it was colorful and it had been close to two weeks since the initial wound. Not wanting to cut her open and dig around if she couldn't feel anything, but also thinking there was a good chance there was something in there trying to push it's way out, she ordered an ultrasound of Kaelyn's foot and the nurse called to schedule one.  We wait to hear when and where to go. At one o'clock we find out we have a 1:30 appointment at Riley, which is downtown.  We are on the west side.  So we go straight there. No lunch. And Bren has only had a fifteen minute nap in the car so far (have a I  mentioned that he won't take a nap for me anymore? Just me.  Fine for Dad. Real fun for mom who's the one home with all day).

We get to the desk to check in about two minutes late.  No biggie.  I'm still hopeful that we can grab a late lunch and get home for Bren to take a nap.

Now let me just say, other than the lady that registered us, everyone was super friendly and nice to the kids.  They really know how to treat their little patients.  Which is a good thing, being they are a children's hospital. One of the best.  I guess I should fess up and say this whole ordeal is probably my fault.  I jinxed us.  Twice in the last couple months I had conversations with people about Riley and both times I said, "I hear they are excellent but I'll be perfectly happy if we never have to step foot in there." Guess I should have knocked on wood. Still, if this is the most serious thing we have to go there for I'll consider us blessed (knocking on wood this time, at least I hope this is real wood).

Her special bracelet. The girl does like to accessorize.

So the ultrasound shows something that looks like it's close to the surface. The doctor definitely thinks there's something in there.  I'm positive it's glass but they just keep calling it a foreign body. Now I know there's a good joke in there somewhere but I'm no comedian and won't attempt to craft a joke. But I will take this time to mention one name.  Colin Farrell. My favorite foreign body. Hmmm...

Oh, what? Sorry about that. What was I saying? Moving right along...

Call to the pediatrician. She wants us to go down to the ER and have them take it out.  Ultrasound tech walks us down to the ER. Fifteen minute wait. Get checked in. Take all her vitals.  Super nice nurses. Kaelyn got to have a princess light on her finger. It glowed red. Very cool. We're led back to a room. Another nice nurse. Take vitals again. Another glowing princess finger.

So I guess it's like 2:30 now. Kids are doing great so far, all things considered.  Kaelyn is being super brave and by this time she says her foot is better. It doesn't hurt any more. Bren's a little squirmy, but who can blame him.  I have more snacks in my purse but there are signs everywhere that say "No Food or Drink." I figure water in a sippy cup is ok though.

We wait a little longer. Two residents come in.  They are very nice to Kaelyn. Look at her foot but they're not sure what to do and have to check with their boss.

Waiting, waiting, waiting.

Orthopedic NP comes in. Not overly friendly, but nice enough.  Looks at Kaelyn's foot.  Tells me the Orthopedic surgeon is in with a pretty bad accident and is very busy. She's going to go check what the surgeon wants to do.

A surgeon?! Is that really necessary? I guess I'm not the only one hesitant to dig in her foot for a little piece of glass.

More waiting.  By this time Brennan is beyond exhausted and just wants to keep running out in the hall. Which I feel bad about, being that there are true emergencies going on all around us. We have a little wrestling match. He almost falls asleep in my arms. Then he gets a second wind.  Less crying but he still wants to go in the hall and "peek" Kaelyn through the glass door.

NP comes back with the ER attending.  Look at her foot again.  Attending is super sweet and nice to Kaelyn.  Surgeon is too busy.  They'll schedule us to see her Monday up at the North side office and prescribe her an antibiotic to make sure there's no infection. "Oh, and try to keep her off her foot as much as possible over the weekend."
"Oh, yeah, sure.  Piece of cake with a three-year old.  I'll get right on that." 
"And let's get an x-ray before you leave."
"Perfect! We just finished paying for Brennan's delivery. Like literally today. We need more hospital bills to pay."  Ok, I know they are just doing their job and it's good that they're being cautious and thorough. I'm just feeling a little snarly since I haven't eaten and I have a crying one-year old running around the ER halls.

Waiting, waiting, waiting again. Kaelyn's hungry. I'm sure Bren is too. I sure am.  I'm not one to skip meals very often. Like ever. Kaelyn keeps reminding me that it's taking a long time.  Orderly finally shows up to take us over for an x-ray, which is right back where we started for the ultrasound.  Super nice tech. Kaelyn was especially brave since I couldn't stay in the room with her. And then back to the ER to be discharged.

Whew! I feel like I ran a marathon. I can only imagine how the kids feel. Finally back to the car at five o'clock. Now some of you might not think this is very long for a hospital visit.  But I am not used to this and when I left the house was totally expecting to walk back through the door within two hours.

Now while all this was going on my amazing husband went home early to get dinner ready so I wouldn't have to deal with it when we got back. He wasn't going to be home because he had to run a rules clinic that night but he had everything ready for us. Unfortunately Kaelyn didn't forget that I had promised her chicken nuggets and pink shake for lunch. Her first tears of the day. So I resign to getting McDonald's and saving Matt's dinner for the weekend.  Thank you though, honey, it was super thoughtful of you.

Not surprisingly the kids fall asleep in the car.  Didn't even wake up in the drive through.  Didn't wake up when I stopped at CVS to fill the prescription and was shaking them.  CVS is another little story, but I'll spare you the details.

Foot soaking. Water was involved so Bren had to get in on the action.

So, to make a long story even longer... it's impossible to make a three-year old rest her foot for very long, especially when the whether is even a little nice.  I even try getting her to watch a movie but she only wanted to watch an episode of "Little Einsteins," her new favorite show.  We soak her foot several times over the next three days while she watched her shows, and I keep trying to remind her to rest it.  Finally, Sunday morning, after soaking her foot during the entire movie "Up" Matt can see the glass sticking out a little. Sure enough, there it is.  I run and get the alcohol and the tweezers.  I squeeze Kaelyn's hand while Matt pulls. And pulls. And pulls! Ok, I may be exaggerating a little but this thing is quite a bit bigger than I was expecting based on the fact that none of the doctors could actually feel it in there. Dr. Dad to the rescue! We had another five minutes of drama when I dropped the glass in the carpet while trying to take a picture of it. We were frantically combing through the carpets. Hmm, when was the last time I vacuumed?  Dad to the rescue again! Phew! That was a close one.

The intruder. I would have been much happier to find Colin Farrell.

The patient. She only looks like she's scared and in pain. She was fine. That's just how she looks when she tries to smile.

So... in conclusion... drum roll please! The surgeon still wants to see her next week. But hopefully this will be a shorter and less expensive visit than it would have been to have her take the glass out. And apparently Matt missed his calling as a surgeon.