Father's Day at Urgent Care

Yesterday was the fourth Father's Day we got to celebrate in our household.  While the first one back in 2011 will probably always be the most special I think 2014 might end up being one of the most memorable.

It started out just fine (except for Elliot waking up screaming at 4:00 AM in a pukey crib).  We got up around 8:00 and I went and fed Elliot.  I then took him into Andrew's room and I got the gift bag and card for J. I was practicing with him to get him to say "Happy Father's Day, daddy!" and give him the gift.  When he came in from letting the dogs out Andrew gave him his gift:

After that we made breakfast and the boys enjoyed some waffles:

Elliot had to eat his dry since I don't think butter would go over well.  After breakfast J went out back with his dad to start cutting the dead palms out of the trees. Once they finished and cleaned them up I went out back with the boys to play a little in the yard while J and his dad moved to the front yard to start on those trees.  We were in the back blowing bubbles and enjoying the breeze:

All of a sudden my father-in-law came running over to grab a towel and was motioning me over.  I ran to the front yard to see J crouched down with the towel wrapped around his forearm.  I asked what happened and he filled me in.  He had climbed to the second rung from the top on the extension ladder that was leaned against probably the tallest palm tree in our yard. He had the hand saw to cut out some of the dead palms (thankfully he didn't have the chainsaw) when all of a sudden he heard some buzzing and realized that there was a hive hidden under some of the dead palms.  He decided to take the fastest way down the ladder, grabbing the sides of it and sliding down.  Unfortunately it was an extension ladder and the part that doubles up has an edge. That edge caught the inside of his right arm, knocking him off the ladder so he fell the final 10 or so feet.  A neighbor witnessed it and came running over. He asked if J was ok and said "Dude, you were like a cat - landing on your feet!".

He unwrapped the towel so we could have a look at the damage. It was clear that a trip to urgent care was going to be necessary.  He rinsed off in the shower and we wrapped it in guaze before heading out.  I was surprised at the number of people there on a Sunday, but we got called back pretty quickly.  While we waited for the doctor J was sitting there googling bees to try to figure out what kind they were:

Soon the doctor came back and took a look at it.  It wasn't pretty:

10 cm gash that luckily missed any tendons or arteries.  The scratch extends up into his palm, but it didn't gouge it.  His wrist and thumb were pretty swollen so there was the fear of a break, but first up were the stitches:

23 total stitches to close it up.  The doctor (who had a great sense of humor) let it be known that he is no plastic surgeon and this will definitely leave a mark.  After he was all patched up it was off to x-rays to make sure nothing was broken.  We waited for the results which thankfully didn't take long:

After about five minutes we got the thumbs up to go home with prescriptions for pain, inflammation and antibiotics in hand.  He'll have to go back in 12 days to get the stitches out and is supposed to take it as easy as possible (no heavy lifting or flexing those muscles) while it heals.

So yeah, not the relaxing Father's Day that most people would have in mind, but it will definitely go down as being a memorable one...