What's going on? Well, this morning after our yummy breakfast of homemade rolls, fresh pineapple and mangoes, Josh and Andrew still weren't dressed. It usually takes Josh hours and hours to finally get around to being dressed unless he has some sort of incentive. So, today's incentive: Let's see if Andrew can beat Josh getting dressed! What fun! So we all ran from the dining room, through the living room, and headed up the stairs, where Josh slipped on the wonderfully clean and slippery marble stairs and biffed it. He began screaming and as I helped him up off the stairs, I noticed that he was dripping blood everywhere. "Great," I thought, "another nose bleed." So, I ran and fetched him a roll of toilet paper, laid him down on the sofa in the computer/reading room, and just told him to relax. I asked if I could take a look at his nose to assess the damage, and when I lifted the tissue, I realized that this was no nose bleed. He had sliced his nose open. Oh, fantastic. Well, lucky for me, it put me into panic mode, because otherwise, I would have fainted. I ran for my phone and called Devin to ask him what I should do. He called back seconds later and told me to bring him in. Ok. So, as I hung up with him, Pascaline walked in, helped me dress Joshua, and Josh and I left for the health unit.
At first, I thought it would just be taped together or 'glued'. Well, because of where it is, it can't be glued. They tried tape, but it was bleeding too much and knowing Joshua, the tape wouldn't have stayed anyway. So, he's getting stitches. I'm not allowed to be in the room, because every time I go in, I start to feel really nauseous and things start to grow dim. It would be better for Josh if I didn't pass out, I think.
We've now been here for 2 hours, and they're still working on starting the stitches process. Josh is very....passionate... about not wanting shots. So, he got rather worked up. It took them about 1/2 hour to calm him down enough to discuss the issue. Then they're going to give him Tylenol with Codeine, put a topical anesthesia over the point where they're going to give the shot for the anaesthetic so he won't feel it as much, and then start the stitches. My poor boy! I wish I could sit there and hold his hand like a good mom, but I don't want to throw up on him. I'm such a baby. Thank goodness Devin has a stronger stomach than I do. He's in there with him helping him. I just run down to the commissary and stock up on sweets to help him look forward to the time when he's done.
Well, after waiting for another hour, Josh just wasn't holding still, so they sent us to the Yaounde hospital. Well, that was definitely an adventure! I might say that I liked the colorful walls...and it was all handicapped accessible as I don't think I saw any stairs at all, just a lot of ramps. It most definitely was not a sterile environment. Oh boy. And this is the NICE hospital of the area...reserved for Diplomats and Government workers... Oh dear... (since I spent most of my visit there staring at the floor, I noticed the state of it...ummmmm... And I thought it was really funny there near the end when it started getting really warm in the tiny office, so they turned on their floor fan...he he he...that helped me quite a bit, though, to stave off the waves of nausea!) The receptionist of our health unit came with us, and she brought all the things that the specialist would need (gauze, needles, thread, tape, salt water, iodine, numbing stuff...) so that we knew it would be sanitary and safe.
We spent about another 1/2 hour trying to convince Josh that it would be ok...that it would be fast and then we could go home. He refused to cooperate, so there were 5 of us holding him down while the dr. sewed him up. Luckily, it was only one stitch...AND since he was being so uncooperative about the whole thing, they decided NOT to give him any anesthetic...so he got a stitch without any numbing!! MY POOR BABY BOY!!! Again, I thought I was going to pass out. I cried as he screamed while the dr was sewing up his little nose. (One nice thing about the hospital here, though...we made an emergency run to the best hospital in the area to see a specialist for almost an entire hour, and our entire bill was 25,000 cfa, which is equivalent to $50! I don't think our insurance will put up too much of a fight in reimbursing us, do you??) I feel like the whole thing is my fault...since I wanted to race him up the stairs... except that we do it every single day, multiple times a day! Oh well. Just another good story to tell, I suppose.
Here he is 'happy' with his load of candy:
He looks pretty cool with his 'mustache', and the nurse at the health unit was trying to convince him that the scar he will have will be 'macho'. Josh laughed. My poor little kiddos! But, now we are home, Josh and Claire are watching a movie while Andrew 'naps' (he's just talking to himself in his room right now) and I'm going to take a nice break!!!!
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