My first encounter...

...with getting stitches on the injuries. Not on me but on my son. And I hope never again. It was dreadful enough for me.

Monday around 3:45 PM, I got a call from Betu's daycare. The supervisor told me that He had got hurt while playing and got a little cut. She went to tell me there was some bleeding but now the bleeding has stopped. Somehow the way she was telling me I thought it was a small injury so I did not think too much into it. Then she told me that while they were bandaging him he was continuously asking for "Mumma..". So I asked her to put him on phone so that I can talk to him and he will feel better. But when she told me that they have made him lie down as the bleeding was a bit too much that's when I realized the situation was not as simple as I had thought. It was a bit more grim. So I told her I shall be there in 10 min and she said responded by saying "Yes please."

When I reached the daycare and saw him lying on the bed with his head bandaged, my heart skipped don't know how many beats. I tensed up and walked towards him. And when he saw me he just hugged me tight and I saw 2-3 tears trickling down his eyes. I reciprocated his hug by hugging him tighter and tried not to show my tears to him. It was really a painful sight to see him like that.

The head of the organization was also there and they both told me how brave and strong Anirudh has been. Besides initial tears and that too for only a short while he hasn't cried at all. I was surprised (I will talk about why I was surprised in some other post.)

After picking him up from the daycare I took him to the nursing home where his pediatrician sits and took him to the casualty. The doc on duty took a look at his wound and said he needs stitches. I could feel the ground slipping beneath my feet. However I still managed to ask the Doc "why?" and "Why can't we avoid it?". He gave his reasons and I asked him to go ahead.

So they cleaned his wound and gave him local anesthesia. Betu was getting a bit nervous looking at the syringe but I talked with him to distract him that it won't hurt much and that he is being such a brave boy. I felt like a liar while I was telling him that its OK and that it won't hurt. I'm a person who is scared of needles. REALLY REALLY SCARED. I'm not scared of wounds or big injuries or blood but needles..I prefer to stay miles away from them.

He flinched his eyes when the Doc inserted the needle but he didn't cry. I could feel my eyes brimming with tears but I held them back. If he wasn't crying how could I? I had to be strong enough for him. But I think he still did see through my dark black glares which I refused to take off lest he sees my tears. And while the doc was giving him anesthesia he was softly patting my cheek.

The Doc then started stitching him up. And suddenly I felt a wave of giddiness come over me. I felt strange and wondered why. And it kept growing every second. I was feeling numb. For few seconds I was not aware of any sounds around me and everything looked hazy. The Doc looked at me and I at him and he could sense something is wrong. He asked me if I'm alright. I responded that something...some smell...is making me giddy. He asked me to just go and sit down and explained that it was because of me looking at the wound and the stitches being done. (This condition is called Vasovagal Syncope which I figured out after some basic search on the net.) I was surprised as I didn't find the wound or the blood repulsive. But I didn't leave Betu's side and just sat with him on the bed holding his hand and tried not to look at the Doc working on him. I realized what the Doc said was right because every time I would look there I would feel a sudden enormous wave of giddiness come over me. But there was no way I would leave Betu's hand and go away. I tried to take deep long breaths and that helped me a bit for sure. I continued to feel giddy but the degree was marginally lower.

Till now I had only seen on TV about people fainting on seeing surgeries or blood. It was the first time I felt it first hand. And trust me it sure was a very funny/weird feeling. Very VERY weird.

Anyhow, coming back to Betu's injury, it was about a 1 cm cut on the forehead and he got 4 stitches. Its healing up fine and we need to go every 3rd day for getting the dressing changed and shall need to go for getting the stitches removed on 8th day. We are just hoping it heals up quickly as his school re-opens from next week. Plus his big birthday party is scheduled this Sunday where he shall be sporting this little bandage.

It may not be a big deal for some but I guess it being the first (and hope the last) was a bit traumatic for me.

Edited to add:
Update and pictures on Betu's blog...read on...