Some Journey

Ethan's Splinter

So here are some photos from Ethan's Adventures in Splinterhood:

Before: The original splinter was about 3 inches long. Ethan pulled out almost an inch of it, and we thought that was the end of it. Here's how it looked just before we left for the hospital (the small opening on the left is the entry point, and the redness and swelling is difficult to see, but travels to the right about 3 in):

Here's what the surgeon removed:

*****WARNING***** The next photo is of the wound****GRAPHIC BLOOD

The surgeon had to leave the wound open, because the splinter has been in there several days, and had begun to get infected. Due to the clean, precise scalpel cut, it should heal up okay on it's own, as long as we keep it clean. Here's what it looked like this evening when we pulled the bandage off to replace the gauze:

update

The surgeon gave E 2 options:
1)wait 3 hours until she does a trauma surgery, then she'll take him to the OR and put him under general ana.

or

2) get an injection of local and get it over with now

So they are getting things ready to do a minor surgery on Ethan's thigh. He's fairly nervous, though the surgery itself doesn't scare him as much as the fact that they've told him that tetanus shots are only good for 10 years if you don't have an injury. If you are injured and it has been more than five years, you must have a shot. So he gets a tetanus shot, too.

"Mom, I think I have a splinter"

Ethan came home from school Thursday and told me he had gotten a splinter in his leg from sitting on the bleachers during PE. I sent him to the tub to soak it (and to get him clean) before I looked at it. Later I dug around the opening in his thigh a bit with the tweezers but couldn't find anything. He told me he had pulled a 1/2-3/4 inch piece of wood out his leg right after it happened, but it still hurt. I didn't see anything, so I told him I thought he must have gotten it out, it was just still sore.

Friday was a long day. Ethan had a track meet in Cleveland and we finally arrived home at about 9 pm. On his way to the tub, he asked if I would check his leg again because it had still been hurting badly enough that he had trouble sitting properly at school (it's in the back of his thigh). Stephen began to examine it, and realized that from the opening to about 1/2 an inch away, there was indeed nothing there, because that was the chunk Ethan had pulled out. However, the piece he pulled out apparently had broken off from a much longer piece. . .maybe 2 inches or so, that was still in there. Stephen is really good at getting splinters out, but after 15 -20 of trying to get to it, he couldn't begin to reach the splinter.

So now E and I are spending our Saturday afternoon at TCThompson's waiting ot have his piece of bleacher cut out of his leg. Since E insisted that I bring my laptop (so he could play games if there was nothing good on tv. . .and since he's already finished his book for his book report next week), and there is public internet access here at the hospital, I thought I'd take the opportunity to blog, since I've been blog-lazy lately.

Perhaps I'll post pics when we get E's trophy splinter out.

In case you were wondering. . .

Forecast for St.Augustine Fla:
Mon
Apr 9 Partly Cloudy
70°/52° 10%

Tue
Apr 10 Mostly Sunny
76°/58° 0%

Wed
Apr 11
Mostly Sunny
82°/58° 10%

Thu
Apr 12
Scattered Showers
80°/58° 30%

Tides for St. Augustine Beach starting with April 9, 2007.

Day High Tide Height Sunrise Moon Time % Moon
/Low Time Feet Sunset Visible

M 9 High 12:50 AM 4.8 7:05 AM Rise 1:34 AM 68
9 Low 7:28 AM 1.1 7:48 PM Set 11:30 AM
9 High 1:11 PM 4.1
9 Low 7:17 PM 0.9

Tu 10 High 1:43 AM 4.7 7:04 AM Rise 2:26 AM 58
10 Low 8:26 AM 1.1 7:49 PM Set 12:32 PM
10 High 2:05 PM 4.1
10 Low 8:23 PM 0.9

W 11 High 2:44 AM 4.7 7:03 AM Rise 3:11 AM 48
11 Low 9:26 AM 1.0 7:49 PM Set 1:36 PM
11 High 3:08 PM 4.2
11 Low 9:31 PM 0.8

Th 12 High 3:51 AM 4.8 7:02 AM Rise 3:52 AM 37
12 Low 10:24 AM 0.8 7:50 PM Set 2:43 PM
12 High 4:15 PM 4.5
12 Low 10:37 PM 0.6

F 13 High 4:56 AM 4.9 7:01 AM Rise 4:29 AM 27
13 Low 11:19 AM 0.4 7:51 PM Set 3:50 PM
13 High 5:19 PM 4.9
13 Low 11:41 PM 0.3

Update: The "10% chance" of rain on Mon and 0% chance on Tues translated into two days of rain. But a good time was had by all in spite. . .well, maybe not Jason. But the rest of us enjoyed the company.

Who could resist?

Noah Can Swim

(*Note: this entry is a duplicate of the entry on my multiply blog)

Noah started swimming lessons last week at the South Chatt rec center. He has been our most reluctant swimmer (well, E was very reluctant, then just decided to do it and did. . .but that's another story). Noah has been a die hard fan of his floaties and/or a life jacket, and has refused to even try to swim without them. It's been easier for me just to let him stay in them, because he requires less supervision. But we decided to put him in swim lessons, mostly because he and Syd didn't get to do a sport like the other kids have this year, and partly because I am ready to know that if he accidentally fell in water he wouldn't drown.
So we enrolled him in swim lessons, and last week he was very out of sorts with the whole thing. I didn't bring hie life jacket, which made him mad, and he was at a new pool, with people he didn't know. He cried and refused to get in. Sam finally got in with him, and he was fine after that.
This week, he jumped right in and was having a great time. His teacher suggested that he try taking off his "bubble" (floatation device) and try swimming to her without it. I thought he would freak, but to my surprise, he took off the bubble, jumped in, and swam about 12 feet to his teacher. Then he swam back. And that was that. He swam the rest of the lesson without the bubble, and after class the teacher asked to move him up to the advanced class. I think he was probably capable of swimming last summer, but was afraid to try. He has pointed out repeatedly that he can touch the bottom at this pool, something he's never been able to do before. I think knowing he could touch the bottom if he needed to gave him the confidence to try to swim. That is exactly what happened with Ethan when he was four. Kids are funny.