Bringing Up Burns: In Stitches

Wednesday night I went to a movie with my book club (we recently finished reading The Other Boleyn Girl.) Upon returning to my car I found several texts on my phone from Matt, the most recent of which read "I am at Hoag in South One Urgent Care if you come looking." Panic began to set in. Immediately there was a huge lump in my throat and I could hear my heart racing in my ears. What could have happened to one of the kids that would have sent them to Urgent Care?!

Then I remembered that the kids were at home with my parents because Matt was at his weekly softball game that night. Guiltily, a sense of relief came over me when I realized that it was Matt who was most likely hurt and not one of the kids. While I was still worried, I knew he could handle it. I called Matt and found out that he had taken a ball to the face and busted his upper lip pretty bad. One of the park rangers where they play had driven him to the hospital's ER. When I found him he had been waiting for almost 3 hours to get stitched up. I'm not one who is fazed by guts or gore, but the cut looked pretty gross. His face was bloody and swollen, and his upper lip on the left side was split about half way up to his nose. To my surprise, he said he wasn't in much pain. 5 hours and 9 stitches later we were back home. God Bless my parents for staying with the kids until after midnight!

Matt was told to keep the cut clean and to talk as little as possible. Being a teacher, he decided to take the past two days off and let a sub do his lecturing. He is such a do-er however - it's been hard for him to sit at home and chill. The girls and I went to preschool this morning and I left Wyatt at home with Daddy. When Wyatt napped, Matt cleaned the whole house - even the bathroom! I think I'll pay the other team to aim for him every week!

Too bad I didn't have my camera with me at the ER to get any good shots of the open cut. But here's a close up of it today. The swelling is almost all gone and it doesn't look like much of a scar is forming. The Dr. told him the best way to prevent a scar is to keep the cut completely out of the sun for at least 6 months. Coaching football should be interesting this Spring and Summer then. Maybe Matt will finally wear a hat on the field. He's good about using sunscreen - but I beg him to do more at the beginning of every season!

Megan has been very protective of her Daddy ever since he got his "big owie." She is constantly saying to him "I am sorry you got hurt, Daddy" and has been a fabulous little go-fer running to and from the freezer with an ice pack. She also loves to snuggle him when he's resting on the couch. Here's how I found the two of them a little after dinner tonight. Melt a Mother's heart.