Playing, Together

Sometimes they play together.

Nicely.


























Sometimes, they have help.

Walden...this is not

We went for a walk in the woods on a nice day.
This was before the injury.
Henry seems to have a premonition in some of these.

Minor Surgery, on a Minor, by a Minor

So last weekend, Audrey helped Henry to trim his fingernails, and got more than either bargained for.

I was cooking and Melissa was changing laundry when I heard a scream from upstairs. When I arrived in their bedroom, Henry was bleeding all over from his right index finger and, as mentioned, screaming in pain. A quick assessment showed a stool pulled up to the basket in their closet where we still had the pediatric nail-trimming scissors available for just such surgery. Audrey was nowhere in the vicinity and Olivia was in her room. We scrambled to try to staunch the bleeding and get Olivia and Audrey someone to watch them while we took Henry to the ER. Our kind neighbors Kasha, Kelly and Keegan could come over quickly on a Labor Day Weekend Sunday, and we ran Henry in. A few hours, 3 xrays and a lidocaine-numbed lavage later, Hank's dominant hand index finger was missing most of the nail and a good hunk of meat but was well dressed and had stopped bleeding. Our clever nurse had placed tube gauze with a disposable speculum! So with no bone involved, topical abx all over it and oral abx in hand, we went home to sort things out. Our friend Shirley had come over to relieve K.,K.and K while we were out, and she had gotten the girls a nap. We returned home with Henry when the "3rd string" of NaNa and Aunt Margo had arrived to help too.
When the girls woke up, we grilled Audrey on the most likely turn of events: "Audrey, did you cut Henry's finger?" Nod yes. Henry confirmed: "Audrey CUT my FINGER!" We didn't remind him that there was no way she could possibly have cut his finger if he had not cooperated by holding still, but why bring that up during his grief. One week later, he's healing nicely, no pain meds at all, and nearly finished with the p.o. abx. Even lets us dress it with bandaids without too much whimpering.

So I mentioned to the ER Attending MD that we had Henry in a couple months prior with Nursemaid's Elbow. Same kid, ER injuries within months, and that I would completely understand and comply if he thought DHS needed to pay us a visit. I was frankly embarrassed that we had allowed this to happen, though less guilty about the elbow. He just looked at me and said: "You've got 3 kids at home. It's a contact sport. Get out of here." I really appreciated that.

I'll include more photos of the gore soon. But here he is, reliving the pain and rocking the aluminum finger splint over a picnic in the backyard AND in the swell voetbal jersey from Cousin Owen and Uncle Joel. Holland Hup Hup!