The Joker

Samson's school called on Tuesday afternoon to report that he had tripped and fallen, hitting his chin on a table and biting through his lip. Mama rushed to school to assess the damage and found Samson and three teachers with blood spattered shirts and shorts, yet Samson was as cheerful as ever. Since the deep cut went into the white part of his face (yikes!), stitches were in order. Off we went to our first visit to the ER across town at Dell Children's Medical Center.

Here Samson enjoys the waiting area, watching cars in the parking lot and the fish in the aquarium. Tough guy seemed completely oblivious to the gaping bloody gash on his face.


The staff and protocols at Dell Children's were as kid-friendly as could be, so we were as comfortable as possible given the circumstances. The wait in the general waiting area was no more than 10 minutes or so, then we were whisked into our private exam/procedure room, complete with cable TV on a flat screen. Samson was as cool as a clam while the kind doctor looked him over, peeking in ears, eyes, & nose, and then even touching all around the injury. A child-life specialist came in next to show us what would happen during the stitching, giving Samson the chance to see and touch many of the tools to be used and to see Mama & Daddy pretend to get operations.

Of course, no amount of tender preparation could head off the awful shrieks and tears once our poor little buddy was wrapped onto the papoose board and a giant needle was inserted into his upper gums to block the nerves on that side of the face. As Samson screamed, the child life specialist coached Mama on distracting him with some books, toys, and favorite songs. Three stitches were put in place and thankfully we were out of there within two hours of our arrival.

Here's the result. It's still a little swollen, but we expect the lip to heal up nicely and show very little scarring.