Samantha is in STITCHES!

Samantha had a new adventure - stitches! She was in the backyard, playing with the dogs and her sisters when she came in the house howling! She had fallen over a brick and gashed her knee. She had taken a chunk out of her knee about an inch long. I soaked up the blood and got out the camera... Samantha insisted that she didn't want stitches, but, the doctors felt differently. She had a laceration - see? - injuries are a learning experience in so many ways...

We went to Children's Hospital in Little Rock-love that place. There was maybe a ten minute wait to be seen. The staff was friendly and Samantha got to ride in a wheelchair. Here she is holding her laceration together.

While the doctor was waiting for the anesthetic to work its magic, the ladies played checkers. We also got to talk to a wonderful lady named Ms. Denise, who is a Child-Life Counselor. Her job is to answer any questions that the kids have about their injuries and explain what will happen to them. She was fantastic. Samantha had a lot of questions, and Ms. Denise brought a set of all the tools the doctor would be using to put in her stitches. Samantha got to put stitches in a doll's knee and use a syringe.

I snapped a picture right after the doctor was finished with the stitches - four of them - and Samantha will now proudly tell you that stitches are not that bad. They have slowed her down a bit, but, she was back jumping on a trampoline with five of her friends just three days later! Very brave! At nine years old, Samantha is the first in our family to visit the Emergency Room for stitches!