Tobin's staples

The Tuesday before break began during 6th period, I received a phone call from the health room at QO.  They were notifying me that Tobin had cut his "forehead" and would need to recieve medical attention to take care of it.  Yikes!  It sounded so official!  So, I quickly left work and headed home.  On the way home, I called several plastic surgeons I kept in the back of my mind for purposes like this, and they were all in surgery.  So I was going to have to wait until 5:00 before he could be seen.  However, when I arrived at QO and walked into the health room searching for a glimpse of Tobin, I couldn't believe how much like the walking wounded he was!  But it definitely wasn't his forehead that needed stitches; it was the top of his head.  They had a big patch and gauze going all the way around Tobin's head.  So, while I couldn't see his cut, I knew they had taken good care of it; they meant business.

As soon as I saw where the cut was I knew we didn’t need a plastic surgeon.  So, we headed to Shady Grove Hospital.  On the way there, Tobin kept saying how mad he was because he knew he wouldn’t be able to play in his basketball game.  And he was right.  He ended up getting 3 STAPLES in his head.  Apparently they no longer give you stitches if the cut is on the head.  It wasn’t really affective.  Now they do staples-which hurts a whole lot worse!  We asked if they could put something to numb the pain, but the dr said that it would only numb the surface and not the under part where the staples was trying to grab onto.  Ouch!  I knew it was going to hurt.  I am sure my body contorted as Tobin got the staples.  Tobin sort of curled up into himself.  He clenched every part of himself to brace for the pain.  He didn’t care that if he relaxed it would be less painful.  He had to prepare for it.  I could tell it only got worse for him as they did staple 2 and 3.  It was like it compounded each time.  I was almost ready to tell them to stop because I knew it hurt.  But then it was over! 

Here’s how it happened:

For most of the year now, they have used a bench to prop open the door to the weight room.  You have stepped over it, probably 100 times.  An on this day, you decided to step up onto it.  What you didn’t think about was that as you stepped onto the bench, you become about two feet taller.  And with all of the force you were using to walk, you hit your head on the door frame you were trying to walk through.  Yep, not glamorous!  But, true.

Two weeks later on New Year's Eve, Bradley fell down the stairs and needed 4 staples to the head.  You completely got his pain and Dad made the joke that while Office Depot wasn't hiring that Staples was.