Finn's lip, part 2

Just wanted to update you on Finn's lip. It is truly amazing how quickly kids heal. Lucky little suckers!

Here are some progressive pics of his injured lip. I was trying to take these to show the progression of healing, but they are all different lighting and sometimes even different cameras, not to mention how hard it is for a 5 year old to sit still long enough to get a macro of his lip. Anyway, long story short, it's been less than 2 weeks and it's pretty much healed.

The stitches have dissolved and/or come out, the swelling is mostly down and it is looking great. Today as he was crawling past Burgundy to get out of the car, I guess her foot came up and her shoe caught him on the lip and a tiny tiny area re-opened and had a pin-prick worth of blood there. But, I gave him an ice pack which I think he held on there for all of three seconds, so I guess he was ok.

We go back at the end of the month to get his lip buffed out, they use a little rotary tool to buff up the scar so it heals better. I hope they will use a topical anesthetic for this.

Taken: Monday, 8/23/10, right after stitches

Tuesday 8/24/10, this was the worst of the swelling (not to mention a funny-looking picture)

also Tuesday 8/24, see the ouchie inside
(ps, i was trying to keep the flash out of his eyes, not subdue him with a death-grip, as it appears)
Wednesday 8/25/10, already the swelling is down (shiny from Neosporin)

Friday, 8/27/10

This was today, Saturday 9/4/10. The little red spot is from getting whacked with Indi's foot. Otherwise, looks pretty much healed, doesn't it?

Finn's slip and clipped lip.

Today didn't turn out how I had planned it at all. Here was the plan: take the kids to the park, eat lunch there, change into school clothes, take Finn to school, do a few errands, pick up Finn, etc etc.

Here's what actually happened: we went to the park. The kids were having a great time and we had been there about a half an hour. Burgundy came over to me crying because she got sand on her hands. I was brushing her off and Finn walked over to me crying with his hand over his mouth. I saw a little bit of blood and thought, uh oh. So I told him to let me see and he moved his hand. There is this moment, as a mother, when you go from thinking, "oh let me kiss it better" to "oh shit". I had that moment today. He moved his hand and there was A LOT of blood. I was trying to see if he had knocked a tooth out (which luckily he didn't) and I could see the HUGE chunk missing from his upper lip. oh shit.

So, at this point I kick into high gear, remaining calm, I gather our things and say ok, let's get in the car. Of course at this park there was no parking lot and we had to walk about 200 hundred feet or so to our car. Finn was crying, but I think he was more worried that his arms were full of blood. So I just kept saying to him, "it's ok buddy, let's get you cleaned up and take a look at it." So I drove (quickly) home, brought him in, cleaned the blood off, got him an ice pack, all the while trying to figure out what to do, take him to the ER? the doctor's office? I called his pediatrician who was luckily in the office and said bring him right over. Finn was calm and not crying at all after it had initially happened. As we were driving to the office I was calling Paula, who was luckily in the neighborhood and could come meet us to watch Burgundy while we got checked out, Cody, Finn's school, my mom who I was on the phone with when it happened and I basically hung up on, etc. Telling everyone what happened, don't know if he'll need stitches, whatever. When I hung up, Finn's little voice from the back seat, "mommy, what are stitches?"
So i explained to him just like mommy sews up a hole in a pair of pants, they would sew up his lip. he asked, "are they sharp?" i told him they would numb him up so he wouldn't even feel it. he seemed ok with that answer.

So we get to the doc's office and he came in and looked at it. I asked, "will he need stitches?" he nods his head like "oh yeah." shit.

So, I was going to ask him about going to a plastics guy since it was on his face, but he told me that before I could ask about it. So off we go to the Layton Tanner clinic. Finn was doing fine, I was still doing fine at this point. Luckily I thought to ask for a topical anesthetic before the shot. The nurse put it on, telling me they normally don't do that because the lip is usually numb anyway. While I do buy that, once they start sticking needles in it, I'm thinking he's gonna feel that. So they put it on there. Good.

I told Finn, when the doctor is working on your lip, try to stay super still and quiet. You can close your eyes and picture yourself walking on the beach at Disneyworld, telling him all these things and I guess it worked. I will save you the gory details, but the jist of it is 11 stitches. 3 interior, 8 exterior. I know because I was there holding his hand the whole time and I counted them out loud for Finn as the doctor put them in. They kept looking at me, like are you sure you're ok to watch this? If you feel woozy, sit down. And i'm thinking, just fix my kid.

So, Finn was a champ. A totally brave little trooper. I thought he would cry when he got the numbing shot. Nope. He sat perfectly still, though that was the hardest part for him, which means he just kind of curled his lip up and squeezed my hand. He was perfectly calm and still the entire time. The doctor said he was by FAR the bravest 5-year-old he'd ever met, and was braver than most of his patients, regardless of age. He also remarked to the nurse at one point it was like working on someone under anesthsia, he was that calm.

Afterwards, he really wanted to look through the doctor's microscope which they let him do. Then he ate lunch because he was starving. Later we went out to dinner. It was hard for me to watch him eat. But it didn't seem to bug him at all. His biggest worries were, missing his "learning" since he missed class today, and he was also a little worried that everyone will ask him about it tomorrow.

Of course, after I put him to bed, I burst into tears. I think I had mild PTSD. Or maybe just a super stressful crazy day.

Here are some pictures, in case you're into that sort of thing.

These first few were with my phone so not super quality, but this is the missing chunk before stitches.
I told Finn he could tell daddy he was like a fish today with a hook in his lip and the nurse told me I should take a picture. So i did.
Looking through the doctor's microscope
And here we are post stitching.

First Day of Kindergarten

No tears were shed. I think we got all of that out of the way on the first day of preschool (me, not him. He never cried). It might be a different story when Burgundy goes, I guess we'll see.

We took our annual "first day of school" pic in front of the peach tree, then headed off. The kids lined up in the lobby and the teacher led them off to the classroom. Finn gave a little wave and off he went. The parents were asked to follow to the classroom for a couple announcements, at the end of which, Ms. Sessions said, "ok kids, say bye bye to your mommy or daddy!" At this point Finn, looked for me, like oh my mom is still here? Then gave another wave and off we went.

They had a "boo-hoo brunch" in the cafeteria to meet the PTA or "POQA" (parents of quest academy). Then Burgundy and I ran around for 3 hours until it was time to pick him up. They tell us the parking lot will become less chaotic at pick up time in a few weeks. That remains to be seen.

So Finn came out and said he had a great day and lots of fun. Yay! My little boy is a kindergartner. Wow.

first day of school picture at the peach tree

in front of the school

waiting for the teacher

oh, you're still here mom? see ya.

after his first day. what a cutie.