
Well, as I look at this picture now, it doesn't look as bad as seeing it in person. The story behind this picture... Last night while I was in the shower {Bug} runs in and yells, "I poked {Skunk} with a stick and he got a sliver". I roll my eyes and think, "great, I get to fish another sliver out". A minute or so later my mom peeks her head in and asks me if m'boys have health coverage. Really? Now I'm hurrying a bit more as she tells me that the sliver is more like a stick and it's stuck in his arm and she can't get it out cause it just pulls all his skin up and it's just really stuck, plus she doesn't know how far it's in and she's scared that it punctured a main vessel that will shoot everywhere if she pulls it out. It was a lil swollen & red from irritation and you could see a lil blood trying to come out. Another moment later I hear the bathroom door open and then shut. I peek out of the curtain and see {B} standing there with fear, guilt, & genuine concern all over his face. He had a lil puppy whine going on and he was biting his fingers and holding back the tears. I asked him what the matter was and he expressed that he was sad that {S} was hurt and that he didn't want him to cry when the Dr. takes it out of his arm. I tried to comfort him by telling him that everything would be okay and that {S} & I still love him and it's okay to feel sad for {S} right now. I tell you that kid put teeth marks in his fingers all the way to the Now Care and up until the stick was out of {S}'s arm. It was a good learning experience to have him along. In fact when the Nurse Practitioner first saw {B}, she thought that he was the injured one cause of the pain on his face. {S} on the other hand was a brave lil trooper. From what I was told he screamed pretty loud when the stick went into his arm, but the rest of the time he didn't cry, even when the Nurse Practitioner pulled it out. The stick was a lil' skinnier than a match stick and 1/4" long, 1/2 of which was in his arm plus an additional 1/4" of frayed sliver size fragments attached to it (a total of 3/8" in his arm past the skin) that all came out in one piece, to the relief of me and the Now Care physicians. They almost thought they were gonna have to give him a numbing shot but it worked out fine without. Both my boys got suckers in the end for both being so brave and I'm almost positive that sticks won't be used by {B} to poke with anymore... knock on...stick? ;) A bit of an expensive lesson, but one well worth it.