Mitchell got "itches"

11:30 am Monday – I got back to my desk to discover 2 missed messages on my cell phone, a voice mail on my work phone and an email from Dave. The email said to call him immediately because Mitchell had fallen at school and they felt like he needed stitches. I called Dave first but he didn’t know many details. So I called the school.

He was in the office with the director and co-director and they were able to stop the bleeding, but they felt like it was a bad enough cut to need stitches. They said he was trying to get into his chair and fell and hit his chin right on the corner of the table. I thought surely they were overreacting and it was just a cut that wouldn’t require stitches. But I told them that one of us would come to pick us up.

I called Dave and he left work to pick him up and we decided to meet at the children’s urgent care where we’ve been plenty of times. Mitchell fell asleep on the way there, but when I went to get him out of the car, he immediately perked up and pointed to his chin where the school had applied some gauze to stop the bleeding. He was loaded down with Dr. Suess books as well.

We went inside to register and he kept saying, “Mommy, let’s go.” I guess he didn’t understand why he was there! The nurse called us back to the triage area and took his information. Then she took the bandage off and this was the first time I saw the cut. I knew immediately that they hadn’t been overreacting. He definitely needed stitches. As the nurse was talking to us about the procedure for getting stitches, Mitchell said, “I need itches, Mommy.”

The doctor came in and confirmed that as well. The nurse went to mix up a glob of medicine to apply to the cut and it would numb the area. She taped the glob to his chin and we had to wait for 25 minutes while they kicked in. He played quietly in the waiting room and was perfectly content and didn’t seem to be bothered by the cut.

After 25 minutes, they called us back to a room where they would be doing the stitches. They laid Mitchell down on the table and gave him some anti-anxiety medicine. He hated it. They sprayed it up his nose and since it was bitter tasting, at the same time they squirted something sweet into his mouth. He had to sit in my lap after getting the medicine because he would make him groggy and they didn’t want him to fall if he tried to walk. So he sat in my lap and watched “Charlotte’s Web.” I could tell that the medicine was working because he got pretty limp and he was drooling. His speech was also a little slurred.

After about 20 minutes they decided the medicine had kicked in and they were ready to start. They laid him on the table and wrapped a sheet around him…the sheet went from his neck to his knees. Then they wrapped a huge brace around him that would keep him confined during the procedure. He didn’t put up a fuss at all. The doctor cleaned the cut and then started with the stitches. By the time he got to the 3rd stitch, Mitchell realized that he was all wrapped up and he started complaining about how his arms were stuck and he got a little agitated. But we were able to keep him still for all 6 stitches. He was fine as soon as they released him from the brace. I still had to carry him and hold him because they didn’t want him to walk around.

When we got home, he was agitated again and wanted to walk on his own. But I was finally able to get him to lay in our bed and he watched a movie and eventually fell asleep.

Now, he keeps telling everyone that he fell out of his chair and he had to get “itches”. We go today to have them taken out.