She was wearing some strappy heels of mine, and she got tangled up and fell on the kitchen tile (which wasn't layed very well and has kind of sharp edges). She already had a bruise in that exact spot on her chin (I'm wondering if that made it weak?), and it split right open. At first, I just cleaned it up and put a couple of butterfly bandages on it. We decided to call the nurse line at Joanna's doctor's office, and she advised us to take her to a minor emergency room. So we did. It was still oozing, and you'll see in the next picture that only one butterfly was left.
Joanna was a little scared about the whole process but had fun playing in the exam room. She grabbed a pair of gloves (which were a favorite toy until bedtime tonight) and played doctor a little bit. She even fixed up Daddy's knee (with a kiss!).
A closer look before it got all fixed up:
The doctor said we could choose to do one of three things: 1.) Nothing -- least risk of infection, likely worst scar; 2.) stitches -- most trauma to Joanna, neatest scar; or 3.) Sterile strips with super glue -- only a little trauma to Joanna, pretty clean scar. He recommended and we opted for number 3. If it'd been on her leg of something, I likely would've done nothing. I was thinking a little about her future vanity.Not that she'll be vain. :)
Joanna enjoyed some goldfish and juice while we waited for everything to be ready for us.
The most traumatic thing for Joanna was having to lay still on her back for a while! We had a very nice nurse helping the doctor; she was very sweet and understanding with Joanna. Her name was Lisa, and Joanna was very excited that now she has two Lisas. The doctor very precisely placed three steri-strips (spelling?) across the cut to close it up, then he covered the area liberally with three coats of Dermabond (the glue). Unfortunately it takes awhile for that stuff to dry, and Joanna had to hold very still in order to not glue her chin to her chest, or clothes, or towel, or whatever.She wasn't really up for pictures after all that hard work, but she let me snap one as she looked herself over in the bathroom mirror.
You can barely see the "special bandaid" in the picture. It's supposed to fall off on it's own in 5-10 days! I wonder if it will last that long on a 2 1/2 year old...
You can barely see the "special bandaid" in the picture. It's supposed to fall off on it's own in 5-10 days! I wonder if it will last that long on a 2 1/2 year old...
way to go joanna! Josh did something similar when he was about 15 mos old. tripped and fell into our doorframe in germany which was really sharp on the corners. Split open his forehead pretty wide. he screamed for only about 5 min. however, AJ made me drive all the way to the hospital while he sat in teh back taking care of Josh. I was sooo mad! i could barely drive b/c i wanted to be back there caring for my son so badly...he did NOT understand maternal instincts! i won't let him forget that!
ReplyDeleteHowever, josh did ok, they put the glue on his forehead, too, and the worst part for him was them having to hold it closed (the skin was really tight) in order to close it, clean it, and deaden in. he survived, though we didn't have the camera to get any pix...but he has a nice little scar on his forehead to show the ladies when he gets bigger!
his fell off after about 5-7 days, i think...it started flaking off a little before, but most of it was still on for about a week.
Hope Joanna is ok. glad you had a good nurse!
Takes after her Uncle Josh. He had 2 chin scars, not to mention the infamous marshmellow scar on his jaw. Ahh, the joys of childhood!
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