2006/03/08
Bloody Victory
I am one of those peevish gals who faints at the sight of blood. I can't help it. My body just does it involuntarily. I remember once I was supposed to bring our dog "Puppy" (aren't we creative?) to her follow up vet visit after she was spayed. I was twenty or so years old. Well, all I remember is the doctor pushing on her incision, a spurt of something, and being told to sit down with my head between my knees.
Another memorable fainting moment was when my sister, who was newly pregnant, called in hysterics because she was bleeding everywhere. I thought, "pull yourself together, she must be miscarrying." When I walked in the door, she had a blood soaked towel up to her chin. Her dog, a Chow, had bitten her. I started getting woosy. Karyn said with a bit of disgust, "oh great, an emergency situation, and you're the only one available. Sit on my step and put your head between your knees!" I did manage to get Karyn to the hospital...eventually.
Well, yesterday, a miracle happened. I did not faint at the sight of blood. Let me back up. You know, mothers of sons especially, how you hear things in the next room that clue you in to the fact that you need to intervene right away. Like when Izzy says to Josh, "tell me if this hurts..." I run in and yell, "whatever you're getting ready to do - don't do it!" Then there are various crashes, cries, etc. Well yesterday, I was sitting here at my computer reading the Girl Talk blog when I heard bang. I waited to hear if there was a subsequent cry. Instead of "ouch" I hear Caleb wailing, "I don't want to go to the hospital!!!! It doesn't really hurt!!!" That is the one sentence following a crash that I don't like hearing. I ran downstairs to find Caleb holding his head with blood going everywhere (I'm nauseated just typing it). Poor guy had piled up pillows and cushions at the bottom of the steps and jumped with a little too much gusto from the landing and hit his head on the bulkhead above. There is a crack and a dent in the wall to attest to the force of the hit. Now I have seen my share of blood having three boys about the same age. We have been stapled, glued, and butterflied as much as the next boy family. But I have to say, I have never...even in the busted lip toddler phase, seen as much blood as yesterday. As much as it bled, it really wasn't too bad. Just the way head/face things go, I suppose.
I felt God's grace. I was able to calm him down, clean him up, and call Jason, who was very impressed that I hadn't fainted. We took him to the hospital and he got a few staples - really amazing how they do that. Caleb is fine. I'm still recuperating.
Post Script: Izzy was racing Josh about an hour ago. He hit his toe on our metal frame hamper. He is still hopping around on one foot, and insists that he can't walk on his hurt foot. I don't think there is much you can do with a broken pinky toe, but what if he broke the little bone below the toe? Am I headed to the emergency room again?!
These boys are committed to aging me prematurely.
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11 comments:
That is truly God's grace. Isn't it amazing when He sees your weakness and gives exactly what you need to get through the situation. It's obvious that it's not our strength that rises to the occasion, but something completely outside us.
Two years ago, Noah had a similar incident involving pillows and the corner of a wall and that was likewise the most blood I had ever seen. Head injuries are not exactly my favorite boyhood pastime
My brother, when he was in college, hit his head on a bulkhead when he was jumping the last couple of stairs. H was ran out the door of the doors and felt his head and saw tons of blood and ended up passing out on the college lawn. He had to be taken to the emergency room for staples.
I have some passing out stories myself . . . although few of them involve blood. I, unfortunately, can't claim that to be what sets me off.
Glad Caleb was okay! He'll be so proud of his scars later :)
Danielle, I faint easily for more than blood. Too much sun, too little water, PMS, you name it. I haven't fainted as much lately. What makes you swoon?
Laurie, how exciting to see God at work, giving you His strenth during your weakness!
Can I join this new club, too? The Swooners? Mine doesn't come at the sight of blood, but "stress" on my body, as the doc once said....adolescent chicken pox, heavy period, dehydration, early pregnancy, childbirth.... to name a few.
Bryan never heard those stories before we married, I guess. So he was shocked, early in my first pregnancy, to hear me calling for him from the shower (I knew I was going out), and right as he came in the bathroom to catch his dripping, naked wife as she passed out. He thought I had died.
When I came to, I said, "Oh I always faint." Obviously NOT, since we'd been married two years and dated two years without any swooning episodes. Now when I do it postpartum, he hardly bats an eye. :)
Wow...you crazy fainters!
I have fainted, almost like clock work when I give blood. I think it's always been of my own stupidity, though...not have eaten enough before I went and getting up too quickly afterward.
I give blood in record time, too, so I think it's somewhat a shock to my body or something.
The first time I fainted was at my college alma mater. I didn't know what was happening, but the last thing I remember thinking before passing out was, "why are they rolling that dolly so quickly in my direction?"
I haven't given blood in a couple years, but now I know how to set myself up for not fainting.
Oh, Laurie, I am so sorry about Caleb's accident. My head hurts just thinking about it. Does he have a stiff neck or sore back from the impact? I knocked my head on the closet door jamb this morning and saw stars. There is a bloody lot of blood when boy's head meets man's wall.
I think my family wishes I would faint at the sight of copious amounts of blood. At least it'd shut me up. Instead, I shreik and call 911 and start asking how it happened and then interrupt the explainer with more shrieks. I think they call it hysteria.
However, once the bleeding has subsided, I am no wuss. When Ben jumped out of a tree a few summers ago and landed on a
piece of plywood, the wood snapped it two jagged pieces about 3 feet long, and one of the jagged edges slashed Ben's upper leg through many layers of dermis. What really grossed me out (are you near a paper bag?) was the sight of bugs crawling toward the open wound. At the hospital I actually watched the surgeon put in 27 stitches and saw what true fat tissue in the leg looks like. Pretty cool yet disgusting at the same time. Do I get a trophy for watching a live version of "ER"?
Laurie, you inspired me to post my own swoon stories. Come on over!
I have never passed out, but I have jumped off the last two stairs of the basement steps and hit an edge that left me with a big knot and a headache (no blood).
I, too, (when I was about Izzy's age) have broken a pinky toe, by knocking into a 25 pound weight that fell over. It hurt me a lot more having it bandaged because everytime the gauze had to be changed, it peeled my skin or something.
I wonder if the step jumping thing is a rite of passage in young boys. My nephew set up a bean bag chair at the bottom of our steps and took a flying leap off the top of the steps. He missed the bean bag and landed rear first on the floor. We thought he broke his tailbone! Just the type of injury you want to take to the Emergency Room!
Follow up report concerning Izzy's toe: it is not broken. It has a lovely purplish hue to it, though. And Josh was the only member of the triumverate who could play soccer on Thursday. Never a dull moment indeed!
I feel faint just reading this post ... I don't even get my own blood drawn without feeling woozy. God bless mothers of young children!
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