Sunday, September 7, 2008

Why so sad?


This is the long-winded tale of how Lissy became the Joker, or as we put it in our house, how Lissy will never be our prom queen. (Ouch! Not, really. Of course, she'll be our prom queen--just like in that movie Carrie. No, no, I'm kidding--more like in a Tim Burton cartoon.)
Around 3 p.m. on Saturday, two hours before our annual luau, Lissy was playing downstairs with Lilia and Ben's kids. "Good," I thought. The kids will be out of my hair and playing nicely by themselves in the basement. We were working like mad when Lilia emerges from downstairs, her face white, and saying, "Mom, mom, I don't know. It's scary. Come quick. It's scary." Having never heard that dialog out of Lilia's mouth--and judging by the look on her face--told me this was going to be bad.
I ran to the stairs to see Lissy walking up, blood gushing from her mouth. As per my usual posture when panic sets in, I freaked.
"Oh no! Kuhia! Kuhia!" I screamed. I was too afraid to pick her up, as I might do more damage. Kuhia, my brother-in-law who is an anethesiologist and happened to be at our house, came running to see how he could help. He picked her up and took her to the kitchen sink. I cowered in the corner on the couch. He cleaned up her lip a bit and told us to go directly to the hospital. Kulani was concerned, and in usual Fisher style, thinking up the worst-case-scenerio. I managed to calm down and carried Lissy to the car to run her to the hospital. Kulani stayed back to finish up the luau prep. Lilia stopped me before driving out of the garage and asked if she could go with me. She was really afraid for her sister. I told her to stay with her dad. Now I wish I would have taken her. Lilia was so scared for her sister the entire time we were gone.
The ER was busy this Saturday afternoon. It took about an hour and a half before the doctor could stitch her up. Lissy was a trooper. She didn't cry much and even managed to fall asleep. I found that People magazine's crossword puzzles are extremely calming during times of stress.
The doctor came in and examined her. She lost one tooth that he could see, and possibly another. He asked if I knew of a dentist who could see her today. Luckily, our neighbor Brandon is our dentist, so I gave him a call, and he said he could see her after the doctor stitched her up at the hospital.
They wrapped her in a papouse and held her head. The doctor tried to prepare Lissy by saying, "This is going to sting a little bit, well, it's going to sting quite a bit." By the sounds of Lissy's screams, it hurt like hell. I had to sit down and concentrate on my crossword puzzle. The shots lasted entirely way too long. The shots went directly into her lip where a wide rip was beginning to swell.
The screaming stopped, and the doctor stitched her up. It took 7 stitches. My neighbor friend Ellen James (if she had an Indian name, it would surely be "Walking Saint") stopped in to check on me and Lissy. She offered to go fill the prescription the doctor gave us.
We met Dr. Brandon at his dental office conviently located next to the hospital. He x-rayed her mouth and found she'd lost two teeth, but the other teeth would probably be okay. He gave us some gauze to help soak up the blood. He was just great and so helpful. He's a really good dentist. and has always showed the kids a lot of TLC. His dad, who is also a dentist, was also there to help. She had great care.
We left for the luau. We stopped at home for a quick change of her bloody clothes. My other angel neighbor Lindsay Horne stopped in to ask if Lissy would like to stay with her at her house. Lissy's dad wanted to see her, so we had to turn down her offer. At the luau, once things were calmed down, I asked Lilia and Simon, Ben's boy, to tell me what had happened. From their story I deduced that they were placing the stuffed animals on the treadmill and watching them fly off. Lissy apparently wanted to take a ride with one of the animals and went flying into the elliptical machine face first.
So many people were concerned and showed us love. Thanks to all of you! Lissy felt pretty special with all the attention she received. And thanks to many of you who helped Kulani during the luau! Next post, the luau.

8 comments:

mariann and Tory said...

Oh my heck! She is so lucky that she only knocked out a couple of teeth! I think I would have passed out from the sight of all that blood! Good job for staying some what calm! I would have been a mess!

Angela said...

Wow! She's quite lucky! what a trooper!

Angela said...

I had to go back for a second look and noticed that she still has the bloody shirt on. The picture must have been taken right after it happened. Poor thing.
By the way, she's still such a cute little thing! I see prom queen in her future...Chucks and all!

MarySquare said...

C-ster -- when Minnie got stitches in her forehead, the strapped her to the papoose thing too and she screamed bloody murder. I almost passed out!

Oh, poor Lissy! When Min sees her again, they can trade stitches stories.

Leo and Jill said...

I am so bummed that we didn't go. Leo had made other plans to watch the Utes game. But I didn't say that out loud.
I too have a stitches story. Don't we all. Only I had to be Kayla's papoose because Leo thought she would be tough enough to not have one. She did well after the shots.
Melissa is still going to be a Prom queen. She is beautiful.

Aundrea said...

Poor baby girl! I'm glad you got all the care she needed so quickly! She sounds like one tough little cookie!

Treadmills are not our friends either. When our Maika was 2 she basically got her fingers rubbed off because they got stuck in the back of the treadmill. She had to receive skin grafts.

Heats said...

Poor thing!! Kisti's little guy Carter has a huge scare on the front of his hand from a treadmill! Hate those things! Maybe in a few years you can laugh at it.

Amo said...

I can't believe I am only now finding out about this trama -- sounds awful! But, like true Christenson (well, at least partly Christenson) women, she sounds like she came out of it like a champ. She and Hetty can compare losing teeth stories.

I'm sorry we missed the luau, our "dates" did not have that in the plan. Can I come next time?