Monday, November 2, 2009

Halloween Tricks

Blood. Gore. Hearts racing in panic. Frantic 911 call. A race to the hospital. No, I am not describing the latest teen-horror movie, this was our Halloween night - only for real.

We started out with a great weekend- going to Ethan's Kindergarten class party and Halloween parade (so cute!), carving our Jack-O-Lanterns, planning our Halloween night party and Trick or Treating route. The kids were almost as excited as we were - especially with both sets of Grandparents visiting that day.



As we were getting ready to leave with my Mom and Dad for trick-or-treating (literally walking out the door), Austin comes running in the house holding his hand, which is dripping blood. We both rush to the bathroom in shock as his hand is literally gushing blood all over the sink. I have never seen anyone bleed so much! Of course, we weren't sure how bad the cut was, as we had hand towels covering it and didn't want to remove the pressure, but when Austin soaked through 2 hand towels in about as many minutes and passed out cold on the floor - I grabbed my phone and called 911. Thank goodness we live 2 blocks from the Police station! We had a Police Officer, an Ambulance and a Fire Truck there within 4 minutes. By that time, Austin was awake and being attended to by our "Heroes" as Ethan calls them. Needless to say, I was nearly hysterical!

We were so grateful that he wasn't serious enough to require an ambulance ride, so I rushed him to the ER. While we waited in triage, Austin was white as a sheet and passed out 2 more times - which made the Doctor rush us back to a bed where Austin could lay down and get an oxygen mask.  So there began our 4 hour wait in the ER. Austin felt much better & joked & laughed like he always does, which helped the time pass and ease my extreme anxiety.

When he got cleaned up and we finally saw the doctor, we found out that he had a deep, 2 inch laceration on his thumb. So, 7 stitches and a Tetanus shot later, we finally left and drove home to a quiet house, though both of our hearts were broken at the memory of Ethan and Aubrey's sobs as we left. I will never forget the scared look in Ethan's eyes and the disappointment he felt that we were not going Trick-or-Treating with him (for the first time in our own neighborhood!) Most eternal thanks to my Mom and Dad for being there, taking the kids Trick-or-Treating, and making their night lots of fun and just a little more normal.




Thank goodness we took photos of the kids' costumes (or partial, in Aubrey's case) a few days before, or we wouldn't have any! Emergencies don't leave much time for snapping pics.

So, I have had my fill of Halloween terror and gore for the rest of my life, and greatly look forward to a normal, blood-free and HAPPY  Halloween next year!!