Return of the ER

Yes. It's true. The ER has now become our second home (well, I guess third since we are in limbo between two apartments till the end of the month). I'm thinking we could write books about all our visits (all within almost a year too!). Here's the synopsis for each one:

Book One: A few weeks before the Barneys leave for two relaxing summer classes in Brazil (haha, yeah right) on a Sunday evening, Summer, the only child at the time, and one who is usually full of spirit and life, sat still in her father's lap. This phenomenon, never seen before, stirred in her parents the suspicion that something was wrong. Her temperature alerted them to take haste to the ER. Will the test results reveal anything? Will her parent survive the long night?

Spoiler Alert: No, the test results did not reveal anything, and yes, we did. And it sure was long.

Book Two: Not ten months later, Brittney is awoken by Rhett at five in the morning due to intense stomach pain. He was coupled over in pain, and could barely stand. Alarmed, Brittney called the babysitter on call (Heather) :) and Brittney and Rhett left immediately to the ER (after scraping frosted windows). Heather hastily arrived to stay with the girls. The unbearable pain was dramatically more pain than he had ever felt before. Will the pain be relieved? What was the cause of the pain? And more importantly, will Heather survive the girls?

Spoiler Alert: Yes, the pain was relieved with a shot of morphine, and we never found out what was the cause. The doctor suggested it was a virus and gave medication to help with the pain, but other than that, that was it. And yes, Heather survived the girls. (She's great like that.)

Book Three: It's a beautiful Sunday afternoon in April. The girls are dolled up in their dresses for church, Brittney's heading to choir practice in the YW room, and Rhett's getting ready to head home. Claire is wrapped up in her blankets, like she so loves, and Rhett begins the short journey home from church with both girls in his arms. Summer sees a bird, and excitedly pushes Claire to get a better look. Claire unravels from the blanket falling to the pavement, hitting her head. Rhett picks up Claire, leaves Summer with a bystander (thanks Lovena!), and runs in to get Brittney. They quickly walk home (across the street), pile in the car, and head to the ER again. Will Claire survive the IV's? Will she have any permanent damage? Will the carrots in the crock pot burn?

Spoiler Alert: No, Claire did not survive the IV attempts. They tried three times, and finally did an IO into the bone in her leg to give her some morphine to relieve the pain. After a CT scan, they determined there was a little bleeding under the skull, along with a small skull fracture. They transferred us to another hospital where we stayed overnight for the nurses to monitor her. She has shown no signs of any permanent damage--still our happy, little Claire. And yes, the carrots burned.

Prequel to Book Four: Summer gets her adenoids out, tubes in her ears, and her tongue clipped. Other than killer stinky breath, she is doing really well. She can breath better (now through her nose and not her mouth), and can sleep better too. Her words are sounding more like words, and we can understand her a lot better. It was a very beneficial surgery.

Book Four: Just a little more than a week after her visit to the ENT, Summer and her family are at a museum in Missoula--meeting the soon-to-be (STB) newest member of the family: Tanner Wray (fiance of Katelyn). As her parents, aunt, and STB uncle were admiring the artwork on the wall, Summer eyed the display in the center of the room--a tempting large marble ball (the size of a tub of butter), covered in razer blades. Of course, her pure spirit sees past the bad (the blades), and only sees the good (the ball), so she reaches for it. Her parents turn to see her as she says, "Owie," and drops the ball, as one of the razer blades slices her hand as it goes down. Rhett is quick to action, grabs her as the blood begins to come, and takes her to the bathroom to wash it up. He sees the open wound--a large gash, gaping open--and knows . . . stitches. He alerts the family, they get directions to the nearest ER, and head off to another visit to the doctor, needles, and, yes waiting. Will they have to wait two hours to get her stitches in? Will the nurse think it's a serious wound and alert the doctor? Will Kate and Tanner decide to spend the night in Spokane since most of their bonding time with the Barneys was spent at the ER?

Spoiler Alert: Yes, we had to wait two hours to get stitches in because the nurse thought it wasn't that big of a deal. But Summer did great, and only cried when the doctor numbed her hand and when he put the eight stitches in. (She cried, and screamed, and yelled, "Done! Done!" to be exact.) But she has been one tough cookie and has been doing really well. She doesn't like to look at the wound (when we change the bandage), but other than that, she has been using her fingers and hand to play and do whatever she needs to. The doctor said there might be nerve damage, but we had it checked today, and he said it looks really good. (Whew! I was worried about her hitting those octaves!) She is doing great (thanks to some balloons and oreos from Grandma and Grandpa K!), and will probaby get her stitches out on Monday.

The only picture of the wound we got was from Rhett's phone. Summer didn't like to have the wound exposed, so he snapped it right after the doctor looked at it and when he went to go get the nurse for the stitches. It's a little blurry, but you can kind of see how deep and fleshy it is.

Here she is at the hospital after it got bandaged up.
And here's a picture of the stitches the next day when we were changing the bandage.
Whoever knew that Brittney's life, void of the ER, would dramatically change after marrying into the Barney family??? (And if anyone did, why didn't you warn me?!?)

Up Next: More of Summer's exceptional photography skills, her ingenious "apple juice," and Thug Claire.