Lydia Lyin' Low

Lydia had an accident on her scooter in January that got her an ER visit and four stitches (and cost her parents an arm and a leg!). She rode the scooter over the bumpy pavers in the back yard and hit a bump that knocked her off, but as she fell the scooter handlebars tipped up so that the metal rim of the handle cut into her nose. Her nose and mouth were so bloody initially that I couldn't tell what had happened. Once we cleaned it up a bit and I saw how deep the slice was, I knew we'd be headed out for medical help. Josiah had a friend over to play, which complicated matters, but I figured I didn't want to haul the rest of the siblings to urgent care or the ER unless absolutely necessary anyhow. I finally got a hold of Jeremy at work. He came home and drove Lydia to the ER after we called urgent care to find out if they would/could stitch up children (answer: no).

Smiling for Daddy on the way to the hospital!

Jeremy and Lydia spent about five hours at Phoenix Children's. Lydia was thrilled with the chance to watch a bunch of movies: Lady and the Tramp, Minions, The Good Dinosaur, and probably a couple others. She wasn't so thrilled with the shots of lidocaine (one of which wore off before they started stitching--so she felt the needle--and then when the staff gave the second shot, she jerked and the needle bent in her nose) or the stitching up. Jeremy wasn't too thrilled with the delays that caused the lidocaine to wear off or the inexperience of the resident who did the stitching (he had to redo a stitch or two, causing more trauma). Thankfully her scar looks pretty good, so the resident must have done a reasonable job.

I've made the scooters off-limits til Jeremy fixes the handles somehow so the sharp metal isn't exposed. I know the kids could do a score of other activities to land them in the hospital, but at least I'll eliminate that one.

My sister Elisabeth (Aunt Bobo to the kids) sent Lydia a TJ's card that said, "I hear that you are lying low." It had a picture of a nurse mouse ministering to a sick one with some other "helpers." Aunt Bobo wrote in that she was the nurse mouse and Lydia the sick one. Lydia proceeded to name the others ('Siah and Ab) and memorized the card greeting. She delighted to "read" it to everyone.

Poor Lydia has been "lyin' low" quite a bit lately. Though the nose injury didn't keep her down for long (amazing how quickly little kids heal!), she (and the others) caught a cold at the end of January. Just as that started to subside, she got another virus with a bad cough and lots of congestion. A week and a half ago, she had a fever and complained of an earache, and woke up a few nights with coughing, bad dreams, or earache. Thankfully the coughing is lessening and her chest congestion sounds better.

Her teeth evidence the thumb-sucking, and she's supposed to have sunscreen on her nose to prevent bad scarring

In the midst of that illness, Lydia also contracted a case of pinworms. She complained one night of her bum "tickling" and persisted enough in her complaints that I thought it might be more than a random itch. I mentioned that Aunt Rach had gotten worms quite often when she was little and explained the basics of the condition. Poor Lydia, driven to distraction with her bum itches and wounded in pride, said, "That's not for real!" I assured her it was. Then she said, "That's not a very nice joke."

Sure enough, we discovered (in a quite unsavory way) that Lydia did indeed have worms. She cried and cried about the tickles in her bum until a dose of over-the-counter medication did away with the disgusting creatures. Now she's sensitive to every itch in her bum and is very worried she might get worms again. It's actually motivating her not to suck her thumb (sometimes). She came to us in tears the other day to confess she "ate some dirt" that apparently "fell in [her] mouth." She was sure this meant worms had once again infested her body. We hope not . . , They have been a real tribulation to her!

Now we're just hoping she (and the other two girls) don't get strep, since Josiah came down with that last Thursday. And I'm praying against another strep cycle like we had two years ago--but so thankful we've had two years being strep-free!