Blood and more blood

We had some drama at our house yesterday...


We invited a neighbor over for lunch after church, that we don't know very well. My hubby has been trying to get to know him and become friends because we know for a fact that he needs Jesus.

Joy came in the kitchen and let me know that Zach was in the bathroom and that he was 'really hurt.' I found him in there, looking pale and grim and insisting that I not scream. (not a good sign!) I did really good. I think having company in the next room helped.

We have a target like the ones they use in FCF (Frontiersmen Camping Fellowship) in the backyard. He had been practicing knife throwing with the boy next door. If they aren't able to 'stick' the knife in the wood then it usually bounces off and hits the ground. Well, Zach threw it and it bounced and came back towards him. He moved out of the way and it sliced into his heel. (he should have had shoes on!) Anyway, we don't know if he was standing too close or if he used more force than usual, but we do know that we are done with knife throwing practice around here for a good long while. (see 'Camping in your slippers' to read why he has such a strange hobby) : )

My hubby handles blood and emergencies like this much better than I do. He remembered to actually pray for him, which I didn't. After he did, Zach got some color in his face and stopped looking like he was in shock and going to pass out. Thank you, Lord. My hubby said we needed to go to the ER for stitches and so I made our guest a plate to take home and promised him that next time we invited him over, we'd actually eat together. : )

The gash in his heel was so deep. It was gruesome.

Then our next door neighbors (who are more like family than friends) came to see the wound since their son had been with Zach when it happened. They were so sweet. They brought over more gauze and offered to take Nathan, Joy and Andrew home with them.

We decided to go to one of those 'after hours' pediatric places which are so much nicer and have a shorter wait. (I hope all future incidents in the raising o our four kiddos happen on Sundays or 'after hours' from now on) What a cute, happy place it was. (This was where we brought Joy five years ago with her broken finger)
Zach was starting to wonder if he was a little too old to be treated there because of the decor, the videos playing and the other patients all being under the age of 8. : )

We only got a few raised eye brows over Zach's knife throwing explanation so, my hubby spared them his speech explaining FCF. His gash made more than one nurse gasp. The doctor said he definitely needed stitches. As we waited for the anesthetic to kick in, we took turns guessing how much this event would cost. (We are considered 'self pay' even though we are apart of Samaritan Ministries. We are responsible for paying for the first $300 of a medical need and then the shares of other members pay the rest, up to $100,000.) Just walking in was $180.00 and worth every penny if you ask me!

I made myself watch the doctor do the stitches even though it was stomach turning, it was fascinating! (kind of like owl pellets! ha ha) John laughed at me and asked if I could see OK. The last time Zach had stitches he was 8 and I didn't watch,I just held his hand. Now, he's 14 and 6" taller than I am, so he didn't need to hold my hand. : )

After that, he received a lesson on how to walk, sit and get up again with crutches. When the nurse said there was no way he could ride a school bus or carry a back pack for 5 days we were relieved to be homeschoolers. When she started going on about how he would need to find a nice girl that would carry that back pack he made sure to let her know he home schooled.

By the grace of God, all three of our guesses as to the fee, were wrong! The doctor told the nurse that he wanted to take 50% off of the bill! What a blessing! We will not need to post this with Samaritan! yay! God is so good to us!

Zach will get his stitches out in 10 days. He will have to be on crutches for 5 days. This morning, we found out the hard way that he just shouldn't even enter the kitchen! The tile was wet and the crutches came out from under him. (another SCARY episode) Good thing he's a courageous guy with a high pain tolerance level.

Andrew realized that it won't be any problem to run away from Zach this week. ; ) That's a good thing. Unfortunately, Zach had to prove to us that he can actually clear a room on crutches pretty quickly. ugh! (almost another SCARY episode) Nathan is threatening to hide his crutches since Zach broke the "crutches are not a weapon" rule. It's going to be a fun week, I can tell. My hubby says I'll probably get plenty of blog material from all this, but I have a feeling I may be too busy to post it!

~Becky