We were on a one-night staycation over the Easter weekend at Grand Copthorne with my parents and aunts. We thought it’d be an uneventful, relaxing weekend. We were so wrong!
To cut a longish story short, we were all gathered in our hotel room after a yummy buffet dinner. We already had one surprise – Asher pushing Aidan into a pond! Asher had gone for a poolside party in the morning where there was some pushing by the pool, and I suspect that’s why he did it (and he got his scoldings of course). By then Aidan was all changed, and the boys had made up. Asher, Aidan and Ellery were on the bed. Also on the bed were my aunt, Jon, and kneeling next to the bed were my brother and sis-in-law. For some reason, all of us were distracted for a moment, when suddenly…
THUD!
And then the sound of Ellery crying in pain filled the room. I rushed to his side (why oh why wasn’t I watching him at that moment?), on the way noticing that the only sharp thing around was the corner of the table (that must be it! oh no!), vaguely heard someone saying “his eye!” (ah!), picked him up, saw blood (ah!), thought maybe it was from his mouth (ah!), then realised it was flowing from higher up (where?), feared it really was his eye (ah!), then noticed it wasn’t (whew!), then saw he was covering the source with his hand (hmm), when I moved it, I saw a hole the size of a one-cent coin and about 0.5-1cm deep with blood pouring out (ahhhhhh!!!)!
A quick look and I knew it needed stiches (A&E! Will he pass out?) and needed to get to the hospital (call 995!). Jon called. I asked Ellery what his name was to suss out his state (he could answer, whew). My aunt gave me a towel (compress!). My sis-in-law passed me a cold can drink (put inside the towel!). Quite quickly the blood stopped flowing and he stopped crying about the same time. I guess the shock had passed by then.
But he said he had a pain at the side of his head, not where the wound was (oh no! brain damage??). Each time I took away the towel to inspect the state of the wound he’d tell me to wipe his forehead again (he can say “forehead” still, ok, he is still cogent). He then just want to bury his head into my chest for comfort while I applied the cold towel to his head.
The ambulance took much longer than expected to come. In the meantime, the hotel staffed asked more questions than were necessary. And the police called Jon. We think it’s because the hotel was near Zouk, so they were calling to check why the ambulance was called. Heard Jon explaining it was just an accident involving kids.
Finally the ambulance arrives.
We go in. Again. Then I start to be amazed at how hardy and tough and funny this boy really is. The paramedic tells him, “Open your mouth wide, like a lion.” Ellery lifts his head off my chest and replies, “No, like a tiger! RRRAAAARRR!!!” I cannot help but laugh! It can’t be more than 15 min after the accident.
The ambulance brings us to KKH. The paramedic says it’s the best for accidents such as his cos of a special gel they have. I quickly learn what he means.
We get there, discover that there are dedicated doctors dealing with trauma cases so we don’t have to wait long at all. A quick check and the nurse confirms he needs stitches and directs us to another nurse to get the anesthetic gel applied. The nurse calls it “magic gel”. And it is magic. She just squeezes a syringe of gel in and over the wound, we wait for 30-45mins, and he’s ready for stitches! My nephew had to have 3 anesthetic injections to his head when he had a fall and needed stitches previously! This was just a painless gel!
This is really why I’m updating my blog after so long. If your kid ever suffers a wound that needs stitches, go to KKH. According to our PD, they are the only ones with that gel because of licensing issues. Also, it expires quickly so KKH has the turnover that makes it worth their while to stock it (in the 2 hours we were there we saw 2 other kids needing stitches). The gel is totally painless! What a blessing that we called the ambulance instead of driving there ourselves. We would have gone to NUH since that’s where we usually go in emergencies. Had we gone there, Ellery wouldn’t have had the benefit of the gel.
Back to my tough little cookie. After the nurse applied the gel, she covered it with a bandage to protect the wound. Ellery thought he was done and happily declared, “I’m ok now! I can jump on the bed again!”
Had to explain to him the doctors needed to sew his wound close. Heard from the nurses that he would be strapped in a harness too, so we told him he was going to be put in a cocoon so he can become a butterfly. He sure bought into that storyline. He talked about being the very hungry caterpiller. Then talked about being a tiger moth. He was quite excited. Can you imagine?
While in the waiting area he was back to his usual self - bouncing, climbing and chatting away. I was amazed.
In the operating theatre, he happily let himself by strapped up. The nurses picked up on the story and chatted with him. And he talked NON-STOP while they stitched him up. Conversation went like this:
Nurse: What butterfly are you going to become?
Ellery: A tiger moth!
N: Oh wow! What does it look like?
E: It’s orange with black stripes all over.
N: Where did you see it?
E: In the garden! I caught it with my net!
N: Oh in the garden! Are you going to keep it?
E: Yes! I’m going to put it in a jar.
N: Are you going to feed it?
E: Yes! I’m going to give it some milk!
N: Does it have a name?
E: *silence* – can’t think of a name
N: How about naming it after Mummy? Do you know Mummy’s name?
E: (looking over to me) Who are you?
His question was really so hilarious all of us started laughing :) By then he had received 5 stitches and was done.
When the nurses unwrapped him he unveiled his wings and started flapping! It was sooo cute :)
We then headed back to the hotel since the doc said he was fine. He was allowed to do everything except swim. She advised to give panadol to ease the pain, but stop if he seemed fine. We gave a preventive dose when we got back and expected that he’d need panadol all of the next day. In the morning he seemed completely fine. I debated with myself whether to give him panadol and decided to just do it. But it quickly became clear the boy didn’t need it. So we stopped the panadol after that. He was talking, playing, doing everything normally much to the amazement of us all - parents, grandparents and aunts. What a hardy boy!
Meanwhile, Asher was so sweet and had made him a get well soon card :) When we called him from the hospital (he was with my parents in their hotel room), the first thing he did was to ask about Ellery.
Anyway, the stitches come off on Monday. The PD advised us to make Ellery wear a hat in the sun for the next 2-3 months to prevent scarring. Apparently the sunlight would cause some melanin build up and make the scar more obvious. Ellery loves playing dress up, so I had no problems convincing him to wear a hat during outdoor time at school. He actually insisted on wearing it indoors for class too. Just hoping now that the scar heals nicely. Anyway, everyone says it’s ok. He’s a boy :)
The next day: Nothing can stop me!
3 days later: Still all smiles
Can see the threads sticking out from the wound
