Sunday all of us went to Pickett's Mill State Park to hike the trails, at the invitation of a fellow homeschooler working her way through "60 hikes within 60 minutes of Atlanta" (I think that's what it's called). Rob and I figured it would be a good way to work up to our hike to the Len Foote Inn on Friday. And although we got lost on the way there, arrived late and seemed as though it may start to pour at any second, we ended up having a fantastic time! We hiked miles of beautiful trails, some wooded--winding and steep, others wide and passing by vast wheatfields and meadows.
Pickett's Mill was the location of a Civil War battle and the visitor's center had an interesting collection of Civil War artifacts. While hiking the trails we saw several excavation pits in the location of supposed civil war camp sites. Cool, eh?
The nice old lady at the information desk asked where we were from and I realized that Lillian was wearing her Gettysburg sweatshirt and Luca his Martha's Vineyard! I swear I didn't do that on purpose although *smile* we can't help that we're northerners!
With our new acqaintances we discussed technology, the TED conference, genetics, religion, homeschooling and Roald Dahl while the kids ran the trails, made fairy houses and discovered all sorts of cool things with their new friends Forest and Phoenix. Needless to say, there's another invitation going out for Luca's Birthday party!
Well, we were sort of on a roll and decided to keep up the outdoor play by going to Glenlake Park on Monday to run around and splash in the creek with Kimba, Taran and Lucy. The weather was warm and we ended up bumping into other friends there. Luca's friend Kai caught a salamander and Kimba packed a lovely picnic. All was right with the universe until "cherrybomb into the creek" started. It was just a pretend thing, but Lillian's hop turned into a slip, a fall on the bottom, a blood curdling scream. She came out of the creek and I caught a glimpse of her foot and saw A LOT of blood. I guess she didn't realize she was bleeding, so when "oh my GOD" slipped out of my mouth she really freaked out. She was flailing so much I couldn't see the cut and she wouldn't let me wipe it with a alcohol swab, so I wrapped it in what I had (a sanitary napkin and Luca's t-shirt) and headed home to get Rob, which was on the way to our dr.s office.
Our doctor, who is wonderful and matter-of-fact, said that it wouldn't need stitches as it was a puncture wound and needed to drain. They cleaned it up, but since Lillian's foot (and entire body!) was caked in clay she would most definitely need a tetanus shot. Thus, round two of Lillian's wailing "I'm gonna die!". We calmed her and I had already explained the whole tetanus thing to her before, but the problem was that she couldn't get a regular tetanus booster as she had never had the original vaccination as a baby. I knew the drill and told the Dr. that we would need the Immune globulin instead. She went to go look it up in her book as they don't usually deal with these kinds of things (unvaccinated kids). Well, she came back and told us we would need the Immune globulin : ), BUT they don't carry it there. They were checking with the pediatrician next door to them to see if they had any. Nope. The health dept. Nope. After about an hour they located some at Childrens Healthcare of Atlanta. They gave us a prescription for antibiotics and sent us to the CHofA Emergency room.
Lillian was happy to go to Children's Health Care because of the "great time" she had there when her appendix burst. We actually ran into one of her old nurses, who had been a real emotional lifesaver for Rob and I at that time.
We ended up waiting for a short period and had to explain the situation to several nurses. No, we don't need urgent care, we need a shot. No, it doesn't need to be x-ray'd for possible debris. No, it doesn't need to be irrigated. Yes, we are sure it doesn't need stitches. They applied a numbing patch on Lillian's arm and finally got us into a room. After about an hour the nurse came in and said that it would in fact be two shots, the I.G. and a regular tetanus booster. I questioned her because when we chose not to vaccinate I vowed to get informed so I'd have this stuff straight in case something should happen. I was told by our previous pediatrician and read other info that the Human immune globulin is what needs to be administered and that the booster is only effective as a preventative. I thought they may be trying to get her vaccinated (which we had already made plans with our dr. to do at a future date) while in the hospital, for 100% vaccination compliance is their mandate. They explained it was their protocol for absolute immune response for this cut and so we agreed. All Lillian needed to hear was that they'd be giving her two shots and she fell apart (Luca had a very bad experience with two antibiotic shots at an urgent care center that we all remember very well). Oh, and add to this that they planned on giving them at the same time, one in each thigh, and not in the numbed arm (just like Luca's infamous aforementioned shots).
Two more nurses and a Dr. entered the room and Lillian clung onto Rob for dear life. They didn't want to give her numbing patches in the legs because it would take 20 minutes or so to work and they were only topical anyway. We tried to get her to lay on the bed but she wasn't having it. One nurse had ramped up the energy level to such an extent that Rob had to ask her to be quiet so we could talk with Lillian. The crazy nurse then suggested we just leave the room so that they cold hold her down and get it over with , to which we said "no way". They ended up leaving the room and we found out that Lillian would stay still for the shots but REALLY wanted the numbing cream. We told the nurses who weren't all that happy to wait and they brought it in. I think by that point, having had a chance to calm down, Lillian agreed to just go ahead and get the shots while they were in the room. It happened pretty quickly and tear-free, and with the noticeable exception of crazy nurse. She got her dinosaur band aids and had her foot re-irrigated (ughh, although they let her keep the cool "squirt gun " they did it with) and we made our way back home. Now to the next challenge of having her stay off of it for the next 2 days!
