Trauma Drama

Yesterday, Madison wanted to change her earrings. Todd sent her to me because he was confused by the entire earring back procedure. Only there wasn't an earring back. Not to worry though, I'm sure you are thinking the same thing I was-she's just lost the earring back. Once I start poking around, I noticed a bit of an infection. Eww. Even still, I was beginning to think her earring back was still there-inside her earring hole.

You read that right. Madison's earring back was stuck inside the lobe of her ear. Part of her body basically.

Madison started to freak out. I did some good self talk, and tried desperately not to freak out too. In my calm-yet-on-the-verge-of-losing-it-state, I called my pediatrician's emergency line and explained the situation. She heard Madison wailing in the background as she explained how this would all work out. We had 2 choices. 1-Go to the ER and have it cut out. 2-Come to her office ASAP in the morning. Madison almost passed out at the thought of going to the ER, so we chose to wait it out and have the doctor we love and trust do the cutting and stitching. In the meantime, she gave us a few at home remedies to prepare the ear for all the cutting and stitching. We also used that time to calm Madison's mental state.

That gets us to this morning. We arrived early and waited. Madison kept repeating "I'm scared." ... "Why did this have to happen?" Over and Over. I told her to focus on the positive, so we snuggled and gathered our courage. The nurse called her name and we were summoned to the back rooms. I called Todd so he could be part of the moral support. Our doctor met us and gave us a wink of encouragement. She looked Madison's ear over, and wasn't sure where the earring back actually was. That was so encouraging-let me tell you. At that point Madison was beginning Freak Out Mode again, so we tried to calm her with stories of our own injuries. I told her they cut me and pulled out a whole kid-so surely an earring back would be ok. :) Not sure if that helped or not-but it made her laugh for a second.

We positioned Madison on her tummy and the Doctor began that cutting and digging I referred to earlier. She had to numb her ear with a syringe-something that caused her ear lobe to swell to the size of a grape. She asked if we were ok-apparently, sometimes parents have a hard time watching that kind of thing. Through my rapid blinking I assured her I was good-watching blood flow freely from the front of the earring hole, the back of the earring hole, and every single syringe hole. Whew. Madison hated that part. I did too. We talked about our beach vacation this summer, specifically the jelly fish and hermit crabs. She was so engaged in telling the story that she didn't notice the Doc cutting her ear with a scalpel and digging around her ear lobe with some tweezers. 10 minutes later the earring back was out.

One stitch later she was good as new. We celebrated with donuts and milk before sending her off to school. I'm not that mean-I was prepared for a day of recovery at home, but Madison was adamant to get back and catch up on her work. No cutting and stitching would slow down her academic responsibilities. Or social life-take your pick.

Now that it's over-I've completely lost it. Stress after the fact is my specialty. Her earring back was freakin' swimming around in the abyss of her lobe. How does that even happen? What else is in store for me and my children? I'm scared to think! With my background in accidents, sky's the limit. Good grief.