[Bacongirl]

Today DS managed to slice through the skin at the base of his thumb where it mets the palm while cutting open a Sunny Boy with scissors. Lots of blood and a bit of hysteria from DS (and DH!)

I took DS to the local ER as it was obvious he was going to need stitches. I grabbed the ipad for entertainment as I figured with the heat in Sydney today, we would have a long wait.

Arrived at Sutho hopsital and was triaged within 3 minutes. Was then sitting in the children's area and talking to a Dr less than 10 minutes later. After a short wait for a procedure room, the Dr had a good look at the cut and called in the registrar. He was concerned that DS may have done two things, 1) chipped the bone and 2) cut a tendon or nerve, as the cut was cut deep.

We then waited for 3 hours to get our turn at x-ray. The Dr and nurse both checked on us regularily and kept us informed of the queue at x-ray and made sure DS was comfortable. Lots of elderly in with the heat and 2 accidents, so we knew we were not a high priority.

Within 3 minutes of seeing DS's x-ray result was viewed by the Dr we were back in the procedure room with the registrar again. The x-ray was clean. DS was given nitrous and they had a good look at everything. The registrar could find no other damage and after 3 stitches DS was wrapped up and we were out the door.

Thank you to the Intern, Registrar and nurses at Sutho today. You made what could have been a very unpleasant experience, that much easier!

[Sallystwo]

EB needs a "like" button

[soontobegran]

So glad all went smoothly for you but what a fright it must have been. That part of the hand bleeds so badly.
Hope he recovers well and that the good treatment eased the trauma.

[meggs1]

Glad your son is on the mend.

More thanks for the staff at RNSH.

DS tripped and collided with the garden bench, and split his lip badly. He was triaged immediately and saw a doctor within 15 minutes who decided he needed the plastic surgery registrar. Obviously we had to wait for him but the nurses kept me updated as to how far away he was.

[GoBack2Bed]

Loved your op! There would have been plenty of other people who put this in the venting section complaining they had to wait three hours+ .... Goes to show that courtesy both ways can make a very scary and challenging situation much easier to deal with. I'm sure ED's everywhere wish more patients were like you and your son

[ednaboo]

I was expecting this to be a vent ("thanks for nothing!" style). Your poor son, must have been very scary for you all.

[Bacongirl]

DS is good thanks . We both slept really well last night. We were exhausted.

Luckily the cut only hit some muscle and no tendons or nerves. I sliced my own thumb open many years ago and required micro surgery as I got both nerves, so I was very anxious yesterday. If he had chipped the bone or a tendon or nerve, we would have had to go to Sydney Childrens.

I know how hard it can be for parents to sit and watch their kids in pain (and very bloody) and have to wait. But I also know we weren't anywhere near as urgent as some of the other kids there. Maybe the Dr wanting x-rays and a goot look in the cut was overkill in hundsight, but I'd rather he was over cautious then just stitch him and send us on our way.

The difference between this visit and the 6 hour visit I had a few years ago with DS was that we were kept informed. Last time the Dr looked at his head injury (about an inch from his eye) and said it needed to be glued, then disappeared for 5 hours! We had to wait for the shift change, the next Dr on duty took at look at DS rushed us into the treatment room and we were done in 15 minutes. The nurse who had been there with both Drs said the first was too scared to touch DS' cut, due to it's location, but was too cowardly to tell the Registrar and ask for help The second Dr was head of peads and was really peeved that we'd been left waiting for so long so I have no doubt the first Dr got a bollocking.