No More Stitches!

Rebekah's stitches are out and her gash looks so much better! Dr. Rodgers believes there will be no scar once it has healed and fades. Now, it will take a long time to fade, but I can deal with that.

Every morning and night we changed the bandage, cleaned it up, and medicated it. Every evening Rebekah asked for us to take a picture. Here is a photo log of how the wound healed every two days.

Day 2



Day 4



Day 6



Day 8 (Five of the six stitches removed)



Day 10 (Last stitch removed!)

An Eventful Day

For the last several weeks Rebekah and I had been trying to work out a time to go shopping for her ballet and tap shoes. Something always seemed to interfere, the kids would be tired while we were out before we got to shoe shop, we had scheduling conflicts, or Rebekah would lose the privilege to go shopping. We finally got to make that shopping trip to Payless on Wednesday. Payless is on the same road as the pediatrician’s office, and as we approached our destination Rebekah asked about Dr. Rodgers and if we would see her today since we had just seen her on Monday for Joshua’s ears. She asked if Dr. Rodgers was there today and a number of other questions about her. Little would I know how prophetic this would be.

So, onto Payless we went. Joshua also needed some new white shoes since he had already outgrown his. I was going to buy some cheap ones at Payless as well, but they don’t come in the toddler sizes. So, after we found the right sizes for Rebekah’s dance shoes and made our purchases we headed over to Stride Rite to buy some shoes for Joshua. It was already 12:30 by this point, so I asked Rebekah if she would rather eat lunch first or get Joshua’s shoes. She wanted to finish shoe shopping, so we headed straight to Stride Rite. My plans were to hit the food court for lunch afterwards then let the kids play in the Play Area if it wasn’t too crowded. (A number of roads had flooded the night before due to all the rain and many schools were out of session.)

My plans changed drastically! No, they were destroyed…

No one was in Stride Rite while we were there, so the kids had fun playing around exploring, and Joshua would even run to the exit and stop where the carpet ended. I just knew he was going to run out into the mall, but he didn’t. He stopped and looked at a nice young woman sitting in the mall across from him who smiled back. I brought Joshua back in to try his new shoes on. As soon as they were securely on his feet he was off running again; this time he went out into the mall. Rebekah ran over to him to help me guide him back into the store. As soon as I picked him up Rebekah turned and ran back in and kept running. She had her new tennis shoes on that most likely were not quite broken into and she tripped over her feet. Her face was right near the edge of the bench. She got up crying, but she ran off like she normally does when she is hurt. I usually let her have her space then she will come to me. So, as I let her run off to a corner of the store the sales clerk told me Rebekah was bleeding. At this point I ran over to find blood coming out of Rebekah’s forehead. She had hit it on the corner of the bench leg which was wooden and had a sharp 90-degree corner. It had left a pretty good sized gash above her left eye in the middle of her forehead.

The sales clerk brought out some paper towels for the bleeding, and as I put them on her head I guided her over to sit down. I had Rebekah sit there while I got Joshua strapped in the stroller. The nice lady that was sitting out in the mall saw what happened and came in to offer her assistance. Her husband was getting a massage in the mall, and she was just waiting on him. Let me tell you, this woman was a Godsend! She was so calm, unlike myself because I was just in “task mode” trying to get done what needed to be done, and she spoke really softly to Rebekah and calmed her down while I got Joshua strapped down and called the pediatrician’s office.

At this point I knew that I wouldn’t have time to change Joshua’s shoes back, so I handed over my credit card while the sales clerk rung me up and I talked with the doctor’s office staff. Oh, how I hate when they go through all the necessary questions: patient’s name?, how old is she?, what’s wrong? (which she didn’t seem to listen to anyway), any siblings?, date of birth?. Then she asks, “So, was this the eye?” “No, it is her forehead, and I think she’s going to need stitches!” “Oh, my! OK, hold on…” Dr. Rodgers’ nurse is out of the office due to knee surgery, so I talked to the substitute for the day. After getting the details she told me to bring Rebekah on in to see Dr. Rodgers.

By this time, the sales clerk had brought out a first aid kit and the nice lady had taped a gauze over Rebekah’s gash. The bleeding had stopped by now. I noticed that the lady’s shirt said “Physical Therapy” on the front, so I asked her if she was a physical therapist. No, it turns out she is a former ICU nurse! God was so good to bring her along to help me. I HATED that I was not the one to comfort Rebekah and to tend to her, but this lady was an amazing help so that I could tend to the other things I had to do. I look back on that and think how much Rebekah wanted and needed me to just console her, and I had to be on the phone and couldn’t tend to Rebekah. Sometimes I feel really bad about that, but I know that I did what I had to in order to take care of Rebekah too, and that is why this former nurse was there to help me.

After Rebekah was bandaged and ready we headed out, Joshua with his new white shoes on because I didn’t have time to change them. It felt like it took FOREVER for us to get loaded, coats on, back out to the car, strapped in, and to the pediatrician’s office. Thankfully, her office is within viewing distance from the mall, literally, just around the corner, so it’s not far at all, but it took time to get there. On our way I called Darrin to let him know what happened and he immediately got off work to help me since I had Joshua with me.

Once we signed in and I put our bags down in the waiting room they called Rebekah’s name. We settled in the room and Dr. Rodgers joined us pretty quickly. She assessed the wound and told me that Rebekah would definitely need stitches. She said she would be glad to do it, but she also gave me the option of taking Rebekah to the ER since she wasn’t sure what kind of scar she might leave. It was a pretty straight stitch, so she felt better about that, but she was also more concerned since Rebekah is a girl and will be more self conscious about a scar than a boy would. So, I asked her if she was saying that Rebekah would not have a scar if we were to go to the ER. Well, it would be luck of the draw. We could get someone with lots of experience or someone with little experience, like an intern. After consulting another pediatrician in the office Dr. Rodgers agreed that since it was a straight stitch she should do fine. In hindsight, Darrin and I both are really glad she did the stitching. They may have rushed at the ER, and the wait there is HORRIBLE! We really hate the ER! I also asked her how often she does stitches, and after finding out that she generally does them once over two weeks I felt confident that she would do a good job.

So, Dr. Rodgers put some numbing solution on a thick pad and taped it to Rebekah’s wound to prepare for the stitches. While it was soaking Darrin arrived. All the while Joshua was really good and played quietly in the room. We weren’t sure if one of us would have to take him out of the room, so we asked Rebekah who she would like to stay with her. I was really heartbroken when she chose her Daddy, but Darrin assured me that she just wanted protection. She was probably just scared. Joshua continued to be really good, so I was able to stay in the room with him while Dr. Rodgers stitched Rebekah’s forehead. At one point I picked up Joshua and he noticed a picture of koala bears with “KOALA BEAR” at the bottom. He kept saying, “…dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot…” I finally noticed that there were a number of dots inside the letters, and he was touching all the little dots while he said that. Too cute!

After Dr. Rodgers got several of the stitches in place Darrin took Joshua so that I could stand with Rebekah. She was so brave the whole time! She cried some, but she handled everything so well and did exactly what Dr. Rodgers told her to do. I was so proud of her!

After all of this Rebekah, Joshua, and I were very hungry and tired. We got home at 2:30 and ate lunch, and Joshua and I took a nap. This event had wiped me out completely! Rebekah, though, that afternoon was playing as if nothing ever happened. She was dancing in the living room and went on and on about her new ballet and “chap” (tap) shoes.

I changed her bandage for the first time yesterday and took pictures. She had a bruise developing that first evening, but it was nearly gone yesterday, and any swelling that showed on Wednesday was gone by yesterday as well. I’m adding links for the pictures because some of you may have a really weak stomach. It is not super bloody, especially like it was at Stride Rite, but it is a wound. If you are interested in seeing it you can click on the links below.

Stitches Photo #1

Stitches Photo #2

I just received a call from Dr. Rodgers this morning as well. She first asked me how Rebekah was doing and then proceeded to give me the results on a RAST blood test Joshua had on Monday. I'm not sure if I posted about this earlier, but Joshua had allergy testing done to see if he might be allergic to gluten (the protein found in wheat, barley, etc.) or casein (the protein found in dairy). It turns out he is not allergic to gluten (although he may be sensitive to it if we were to try a urine test that Dr. Rodgers was not aware of), but he is allergic to casein and will most likely outgrow it. So, now it appears that we know what has been causing Joshua's chronic ear infections. For now I'm going to pursue a casein-free diet and do some more research on this. I'm thankful I had some testing done so that we know what to eliminate from Joshua's diet immediately. But do you know how hard it is going to be on Joshua? He LOVES dairy products - milk, cheese, and yogurt are among his favorites. This is going to be difficult, but hopefully we'll rid him of these ear infections.