"Somebody call 9.1.1."

If you were young and cool like me, you would know where that song title comes from.

Listen, trapped in the minivan with the kids, sometimes you pick up on contemporary music.  And while listening to it, all I want to do is to switch back to All Things Considered.

But I'm not here to trash today's music or to glorify NPR.  I'm here to talk about a real life emergency that happened on Tuesday night.  I had nothing plan to do that evening so I was hoping to come home and blog about, whatever, and enjoy my glasses of wine knowing that I didn't need to drive anywhere.  But I barely had a good swig in me and I heard screaming coming from up above.  Mind you, we have four kids.  Not a day goes by without a kid running into the kitchen screaming about something.  I listened in.  But then I heard Fred panicking.  That was it!  I ran upstairs to discover blood flying everywhere around my spotless kitchen and dining room.  Side-note:  yes, sadly, being an anal retentive freak, I did wonder about how to remove blood from my wool dining room carpet.  Please don't judge me.  I try really hard not to be so uptight and Felix Unger like.  It's a journey.  Anyway, I find that Johnny tried to repair his bike chain while actually riding his bike and his finger got stuck between the chain and the sprocket.  FYI, I just learned what a sprocket is that night.  True, I have been riding a bike since 1972 but still, why should I learn such things?

Fred grabbed one of my napkins to apply pressure to the finger.  Second side-note:  Not thrilled that my cloth napkin was ruined by gobs of blood.  But still, my 2nd thought was to call 911.  They were excellent.  They walked us though everything until the ambulance arrived, which happened not more than 5 minutes later.  They were all calm which Johnny totally needed at that moment.  They wrapped Johnny's hand and ushered him into the ambulance.  I instructed, because I'm bossy, shut-up Lauren, Fred to go with Johnny and I would deal with the house and the other three children.  Third side-note:  All three kids were crying on the sidewalk.  Kuddos to all the neighbors who rallied around my babies to calm them down.  I owe you, big-time!

Calling Nanny 

Fred left with the ambulance and I shut down the house and corralled the children into the car.  Side-note #4: If you ever need someone to stay calm and collected during an emergency, it's me.  Some(Fred) may call it cold and heartless, but others(me) call it necessary.  With the kids in the jeep and my Johnny on my mind, I made it to the hospital.  Johnny was already being checked in and attended to.  For a boy whose finger was dangling by a thread, he was surprisingly calm.  All he wanted was food.  And as you can see, our dinner that night was Doritos.  Cool ranch.  We're fancy like that.

Within 20 minutes, Nan an Pap arrived.

Two doctors came in and examined him.  Both of them were professional although one was cold and didn't get my humor.  I hate her!  But the other, not from this country originally, may end up my best Facebook Friend ever!  But still, after X-Rays, it was discovered that his bone was intact and that only everything surrounding that bone was severed.  See, all good news!  The plastic surgeons were called in.  Immediately, I was thinking about about Liposuction but then had to refocus on my baby.  Cuz, you know, I'm a good parent and all.

My Dad showing Johnny his scars from the war, called, Life.  They're best buds.  I'm Jealous!

So the surgeons came in and were terrific.  They performed the re-attachment right there in the the emergency room.  The worst part were the shots to numb the area for the operation.  Sorry, but I have no photos of Johnny's pain and agony from those shots.  I was in comfort mode at that point.  But seriously, after the numbness kicked in, he felt nothing and I was free to photograph.  What?  You think I'm weird to have my  camera on hand for this?  Listen, my camera has become an additional appendage.  And like all of them, I'm very proud.

Nail still on. 

I know, this looks awful and believe me, it was.  It took everything I had in me, at that moment, to think about how I'd compose this post.  Seriously, it was difficult.  But in all honesty, Fred had to go sit down and Johnny was watching Loony Tunes while all this mess was going on.  I really was free to document it and these doctors were cool with me doing that.

He is threading the needle in this photo. 

Within 20 minutes, they were done.  It was bloody and horrible but my boy came out fine.  His finger is reattached and his follow-up appointment is next Tuesday.  There is a possibility that the tip won't make it.  But what's important is that my boy will and we we'll make it through this.  My hope is that the worse he'll have is a scar and maybe a great story to tell his grandchildren.

He's a trooper!

Your Friend, m.
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