Ira's First 5 stitches

Last Tuesday, while I was doing my sewing project at 11am my phone rang. I got worried the moment I saw the call was from the school. It was Ira's form teacher informing me that I need to pick Ira up. 

Apparently, Ira had an accident and fell on the stairs while in the theatrette. The teacher said he had a cut on his knee and probably needed stitching. Once I heard stitching I was almost in a panic mode. I took a bath, got dressed and went to the school as fast as I could.

On the way to the school, I called the clinics near our place to inquire if they did stitching of cuts. Unfortunately, I was not able to reach the other clinic. When I got hold of the other one, the clinic assistant said they don't do stitches. Plan B, bring Ira to KK Hospital just in case he did need stitching.

When I got to school, Ira was waiting in the office. He was calm. Not crying at all. His knee was already bandaged. First question was (after asking if he was ok or in pain) if anyone pushed him which caused his fall. He said no one pushed him. Next question was if he was running when he fell. The answer was yes. I knew it was not the time to scold him, but I had to know the reason.

Then I told him we were going to KK Hospital to have his injury checked. I was thinking of taking the train to Little India first then from there take the taxi so he didn't have to walk. Then I decided to just take the cab from the school to KKH. It should be faster.

We got into a taxi and headed to KKH. Then took a queue number from the machine and waited for our turn to be attended to.

Ira still flashed a smile of sorts while we queued at the hospital

I checked how deep the cut was. I was shocked to see how big it was,

and amused at how he was able to handle the pain.

After a few minutes, our queue number was called. The nurse checked his injury and asked how the accident happened. Upon seeing the cut, she immediately said it needed to be stitched (ouch). She also said he cannot eat or drink until the wound was stitched. It was about 1pm, and we both haven't had lunch yet. Good thing I already gave him something to munch on while waiting. The nurse explained that he'd be given an anesthetic or put to sleep (if he couldn't handle the pain). Upon hearing the word stitch, Ira got nervous.

change of mood once we got out of the nurse's station

He was worried and scared. He had so many questions to ask. Why did it need stitching? How big was the injection (syringe)? Were they going to use the same sewing machine I use at home? With this last question I laughed (also to lighten the mood). I told him they weren't going to use a sewing machine to stitch his cut. His leg wouldn't have fit on it. 

I knew he was scared but I told him it must be down for his wound to heal properly. 

Hubby came a few minutes after, to give moral support. He was trying to tell Ira to be brave, and that it wasn't going to be that painful. Ok, maybe just a little bit. Good thing there were TVs in the waiting areas. Ira was distracted by the cartoon shows.

Another hour or so and we were called to see the doctor. He checked the wound again, asked Ira how it happened and said he needed to stitch it. But first, an anesthetic ointment has to be administered to his wound. Then we had to wait for 30 minutes for it to take effect.

After an hour, we haven't been called yet. I checked with the nurse and she said there was one more patient before us. We were worried the anesthetic might wear off cause it's already been an hour.

Then finally, we were called to enter the "operating room". Ira was teary eyed. He was asked to lay on the bed, and we were asked to leave him with the doctor. Now i didn't know what to think - was that helpful or not? I'm sure he was going to cry and it was going to be painful, so I / we (hubby included) wanted to be there for him. On the other hand, he may be braver if we weren't there and the doctor could perform well if we weren't around.

We did what we were asked to do. We left Ira there, but not without a kiss on the forehead and some encouraging words. Then headed to the pharmacy to get the prescribed medication.

When we were done in the pharmacy, we went back to the operating room to see that the procedure was already finished. Ira was sitting on the chair, smiling a bit. 

The nurse explained what happened while the doctor was stitching his knee, the medications to take, and how to take care of the wound. Ira seemed to be doing better. He was eyeing the jar of sweets on the table. When the nurse said it was ok to take some, he knelt on the chair to reach the jar on top of the table. The nurse and I both almost screamed in worry. We told him he cannot lean on his right knee or exert too much force on it. He was clueless - you know, anesthesia still kicked in. But I'm glad he was feeling better now than when we entered the room.

We headed home and he was back to being himself - talkative and active.

My husband and I were just talking about Ira not having accidents that needed stitching even though he was quite active. Hubby was an active child and he got stitches and scars to showcase.