If you have a weak stomach...Do Not Read This Post!

Well, it was only a matter of time before this happened.  Joey said he's been waiting years because it was inevitable.  My biggest girl plays very very VERY aggressively on the soccer field and tends to head quite a few balls, as well as collide with other heads, during each game.  She has had more goose eggs than I can count and man, that head of hers is tough!  Until Friday night that is...
She had a bit of a mishap when she went up for a ball.  As she came down, another player went up and they smashed heads.  Don't look at these pictures if you are squeamish, but I just have to post!!  Some day we will look back at this and thank the Lord for our amazing insurance when it comes to keeping this girl healthy.  Oh, wait - we already thank the Lord for that!  
Friday night we thanked him for keeping her safe from harm worse than this.  
And on Saturday morning I ordered my sweet baby girl head gear. 

 Her eye was not affected at all, but there was so much blood when it happened that it was all over her face.  We did our best to clean it up while we waited at the Emergency Room, but she couldn't really handle anyone touching her face.

 After she was triaged we were sent back to the waiting room.  
For 2 1/2 more hours!!  OK this is crazy but my friend Kim stopped by - She is a nurse so she had no problem asking why a patient with an open wound was still sitting in the waiting room after 2 1/2 hours.  When they triaged her they didn't clean it - just taped on some gauze and sent us back out to wait.  They told Kim, and I quote, "It is first come, first serve."  Ummmm... Are you kidding me?  I was expecting a little different answer - like maybe there were quite a bit of patients with heart pain, or difficulty breathing, or whatever - but First Come First Serve?? - in an emergency room??!!  I didn't expect Lauren to be seen any sooner than someone with a worse emergency, but apparently there is no scale of emergencies here.  I will not head to this particular hospital if I ever have chest pain or difficulty breathing!  There is a happy ending though so hang on...

 After 3 hours of sitting, I asked - not so patiently - could someone please at least clean it so we don't run the risk of infection??  They - not so nicely - took her back to triage and - not so gently - butterfly taped it.  She was not doing very well at this point.  When I asked for something for pain or just to calm her, they - not so sweetly - said, No can do.  She had to wait for a bed. Ummmm... I was about to come unglued!
BUT, FINALLY the angels in charge of frantic moms and bawling 15 year-olds took pity on us.  ( I think my mom had seen enough and sent a speedy little guardian angel down to intervene!) 
 Into triage walked the most competent and calming person we had seen that night... a Physician's Assistant with expertise in pediatric surgery!! Which means she knew exactly how to stitch up a 15 year old's face and do it well!  She took a look at her face, calmed her a bit, and immediately found her a bed.  And then, hallelujah, sent in a special nurse with MORPHINE (yay!!!!) who GENTLY and NICELY cleaned her all up.   
Looks like a needle, but really just saline solution...

 And the morphine kicks in...

 Now for the worst part...  Lauren is Deathly afraid of needles...  Yep, she needed about 10-12 shots (inside the wound) to numb it all up.  I'll keep this part of the story short, but suffice it to say, morphine euphoria was long gone and had Joey not been with us, there is no way I could have kept her in that bed.  She tried to jump out, screaming and crying...I kinda thought security might come see what was going on :) 
Once again, our special PA calmed her, prepared her, and she and Joey (the Lauren Whisperer) put her in a bit of a trance so she could receive the shots.  I took this picture without looking because I was almost on the floor myself.  It is a gut-wrenching pain watching your baby hurt.  I know we've had lots of practice with her, but this whole process was a doozy!

 With the lidocaine working, it was time to get stitched up.  And here is a wonderful part of this story.  Laura (the PA) told us that she had scrubbed in on many many surgeries - something about Iowa hospitals not having many interns - and she was so happy to be able to take the time to stitch Lauren up properly because sometimes in the ER there is no time.  Get this... her shift was over at 11...she didn't come in to Lauren until 11:15.  Instead of passing her off to someone else, she stayed after her shift just so she could stitch Lauren up with no distractions.  She spent at least an hour with us.  She wanted to stitch from the inside out (gross I know) to ensure minimal scarring.  

 Take a look at this!  

And this is what it looks like today!  

Can you believe how great that looks?  There is some dermabond glue on it right now in an attempt to keep it even straighter, but I'm thinking you won't even be able to tell in a couple of months!

Lauren seems unaffected by the potential scar.  Maybe she figures it's a cool looking battle wound.  And she figures she wears bangs, so no big deal :)  She's mighty tough, my big girl!  Well, except when it comes to needles!

Her head gear arrives on Wednesday and she wants to be back on the field shortly after that.  I'm not sure I can take it...