21 stitches

This morning Clayton climbed on this portable heater to light a candle on the entertainment center. To which he then realized that standing on something with wheels is never a good idea.

He must have had enough weight on one side or something, but anyways he ended up braking some of the plastic off, which exposed the metal.

As you can see in the picture, the metal is bent pretty good. I think that as the plastic broke it caused him to fall & the metal sliced right through his skin. 

I turned when I heard him cry out. He had a very deep gash below his right knee & you could see blood & plenty of white stuff (skin, bone, who knows). There was also blood on the entertainment center & rug, it was awful. It kind of freaked Clayton out when he saw it & realized what had happened. It freaked me out, but I couldn’t let Clayton know that, he needed me to be calm & not a nut case.

I grabbed some kitchen cloths & wrapped them around his wound & told him not to move. I told him that everything would be okay & that I would take him to the ER & they would stitch it up. I told him that I realized it looked bad, but that once he was stitched up & healed it would be no big deal, as if it never happened (except for a lovely scar of course).

By the way, I didn’t take any of the heater or bloody entertainment center pictures until home from the ER. I obviously rushed him in, rather than stopping to take pictures.

Anyways, I told the other kids to jump in the Tahoe & I carried Clayton out, which is a miracle since he is almost as tall as me now. I kept calling Laun, but he wasn’t answering his phone. He only works a couple minutes away from our house, so I drove to his work & got a hold of him right as I was pulling up. Once Laun climbed in he gave Clayton a blessing as I drove to UMC’s ER. I tried to prep Laun for what happened, since he hadn’t seen Clayton’s wound yet. As I was telling Laun that I could see white stuff, lots of blood & that it was deep & going to need a lot of stitches, I guess it was too much for Porter. He started complaining that he couldn’t breathe & then threw up all over himself. Well I figured from my description & Porter throwing up, that I prepped Laun pretty good, but he said it was worse than he thought.

Once we got to the ER Laun carried Clayton in & I found a parking spot. As I am walking into the ER (still in my pajamas, with no makeup on & my hair a mess) a man comments that I am wearing flip flops & it is cold outside. Ha ha ha- couldn’t he tell from my appearance, Marlee’s ratty hair & likely mismatched outfit & Porter covered in throw up that maybe we weren’t planning on going anywhere today?! I run in to the ER & Laun takes home the other kids while I stay with Clayton. They take us back & Clayton is in a wheelchair & throwing up & I am sitting behind him with tears streaming. It is so hard seeing your child in pain & worrying if they are going to be alright. I could not let Clayton see me crying, so I sucked it up & stayed calm. Then Laun came back to the ER (with a clean smelling Porter this time) & we switched again until Jonathan & Darleen came over to babysit. Then I headed back to UMC so Clayton could have both of his parents. A lady who works at the hospital let Clayton use her I pad to distract him.

They took an x-ray of Clayton to make sure he didn’t brake any bones. Once they numbed him up they cleaned it out & got ready to stitch him up. The numbing shots were the worse part. It hurt Clayton so badly, but the stitching part went pretty well & lasted around 35 minutes. Laun took some before & after pictures, I still have a hard time looking at it.

21 stitches later we headed home & Clayton will have one nice scar. I am just so overwhelmed with gratitude for: not passing out when I saw Clayton’s leg & keeping him from passing out, Laun holding the priesthood & giving Clayton a blessing, Porter only getting throw up on himself & not all over the Tahoe, the doctor who did a great stitching job (the dr. even asked if we would email him the before & after pictures of Clayton’s wound), family-Jonathan & Darleen watching Porter & Marlee so that Laun & I could be with Clayton, health insurance, and Clayton being okay & not having anything life threatening or requiring surgery. I have a lot to be thankful for. I love Clayton so much & I am glad that everything is okay. I guess Laun’s long time nick name of Crash for Clayton is quite appropriate.