James, James....

I would like to take this moment to note that I never had to go to the emergency room in my life....until I met Sean (literally, it was the day after).

That said, let me regale you with yet another ER trip we had yesterday:

James was playing with the kids in the hallway while I was straightening up our room and Sean was trying to get the virus off of my computer. All of a sudden we hear screaming. I rush into the hallway to see James standing next to his bedroom door.

His closed bedroom door.

His closed bedroom door with his finger stuck (hinge side).

I quickly opened the door, swept him into our room and whispered words of comfort while I tried to get a look at his hand.

His pinkie finger was completely flat. About as flat as a piece of paper folded four times.

I yelled for Sean and we both went into panic mode, quickly followed by first aid mode. We got him ice, wrapped it in a kitchen towel, held his hand above his head, and hustled the kids into the car for (yet another) ER trip.

We were in and out of the ER relatively quickly, considering it is an ER in So Cal (just above 2 1/2 hours), but it seemed forever while we waited for nurses, then the doc, then the radiologist (x-rays), then the doc again (no, it wasn't broken), then the nurse (please sign these papers), then the doc again (going to put in two stitches, be back soon), followed by the doc and nurse again to sew and glue the finger shut, followed by more paperwork and signing.

I'm not sure if it was James' screaming that moved them along so quickly, while others sat in the waiting room, or if it was just the grace and mercy of our Heavenly Father. In either case, I'm extremely grateful!

He is now on a very strong antibiotic and tylenol. What a trooper, though. He's pretty much back to his normal happy self (though he still favors his right hand) and is grabbing things and bracing his fall with his left hand as though there weren't a bandage covering a nasty looking pinkie.

BTW: Please, tell me - anyone! - how to keep a band aid on a 16month old's pinkie finger!

I took pictures, but I don't think I'll post. They are pretty gruesome.

Tuesday: Ok, I should make note: after several attempts we thought we finally had a great bandage - antibiotic cream, band aid, gauze and tape. We wrapped it around his pinkie, over to and around his thumb, circled the wrist, then back to the thumb. It stayed pretty well until he got tired of it being there and tore it off! (Actually, he bit it off....)

Our Dr. appointment today went well. Doc said he could have his stitches out on Monday when he goes in for his last immunization. Ohhh, poor James! He screams now when we enter the waiting room at the Dr. office!