Old Post: (Lilo) and Stitch

From Wed June 22 (Last Wednesday)

So this is a day late and I apologize, but here's post two about my eventful day yesterday... jsut because this deserved it's own post as it was the biggest thing to happen at camp today.

SHORT VERSION: While at the pool, and in a completely unexplainable fashion, my co-counselor Kimberly managed to get a quarter inch long puncture wound on her right shin. It literally looked like someone took a metal rod or like a pen and jabbed it in her leg. Due to the odd nature of its appearance she was taken to the ER at St. Joe's to have it looked at. The thought was that it appeared something was lodged in the wound and there would be an obvious need to pull it out to avoid infection. A lifeguard drove her and I went along by Kimberly's request for support (she has serious issues with needles and hospitals and all things related). It turned out to be void of any foreign object and was just a really deep insertion wound (it's literally like a trench in her shin). We returned after a few hours with a single stitch in her leg. She has now been dubbed stitch (and I Lilo by default) and will have it for 10 days before it's removed.

The Long Version: So at about 11:25 (20 minutes before lunch), my co-counselor Kim had an accident at the pool. Some kids were trying to push in counselor Dave and in the process Dave grabbed Kim or something ... or whatever, somehow Kim got pushed in too and in the process she scraped her leg against the smooth drain that runs around the pool (and all pools for that matter). She nearly took the chair in with her. Mos tof the pool missed the incident, it happened so fast and was a pretty quiet event. After a bit I was told about it so I went to see Kim in the lifeguard office. I could't understand why like two-three guards and two-three counselors were int he office as I was under the impression it was just a cut. In fact I was one of only a few counselors allowed in at the time. So I went in and I glanced at this small quarter inch to maybe a half inch long (really really short!) cut on her shin. She was crying so I gave her a hug and tried to comfort her while thinking, "Not sure I understand the big deal here guys ... maybe she just doesn't handle blood well." I then got a better look at it (from a bird's eye view) and realize that it was less like a cut and more like a hole with a dark center. It really looked like something was actually in the wound, which was just bizarre. I held her hand and made jokes and tried to be there for her in whatever way seemed appropriate as she has serious issues with all things hospital related. She really was getting upset by just psyching herself out.

At first lifeguard David Biggs was going to drive her and I told her I would handle the tribe with no problemo (they are a great group of kids), but after a few minutes of her being upset it seemed like she was going to need someone close to her go with just to help her through it, even if the wound was small and the trip more precautionary in nature. I offered to go or to go get a counselor she'd want to go... after a few more minutes, and in mid-sob she asked me if I'd go, so I talked to a few other counselors about taking over until we were gone.

It should be known, through the whole ordeal ... hugging, and making her laugh, and being the support and having people take care of our kids and everything that was included, I waaaaaaaaaaay felt like we were a married couple. Haha, it was so weird. Not becuase of romance or feelings, or anything but because of the situation and just the words being used with camp and the campers we're in charge of.

So David, Kimberly and I entered St. Joe's ER and it was so bizarre. Like the desk attendant was talking on the phone and told us she'd be right with us (she wasnt anywhere near the desk, I actually had to ring a bell!) and Kimbo was having issues because she wanted to get in and ge tout. She kept saying, "What if I had a serious injury or was like gushing blood, I'd just be waiting." Haha, so finally the attendant told her to fill out some paperowkr and we sat down. Kimbo and I were both in our swimsuits (wearing shoes with no socks ... I mean who has time for socks when counselors have trenches in their shins!). It was sooooooo cold, and Kimbo spent the whole time wearing the towel like a dress/skirt....after about 20 minutes we went to a nurses office where David and I continued our smart eleck tear. It turns out we're both huge smart elecks with lots of funny things to say and neither of us were big fans of Kimbo being upset/crying, so we did our best to keep her laughing at all times. In fact the first few minutes in the nurses room the nurse (a very nice lady) told Kim that she did have the right to have us removed and not be there if we were being too harsh or something. Thankfully Kim took what we said as jokes and told the nurse we wer ehelping not hurting the situation.

We then were taken to a real ER room where two nurses came in. One was really young and a nurse in training and one was the obvious real nurse. It was bizarre it was like being at a restaurant and having the server in training with the real server standing by .... except at a hospital. Anyway the two nurses turned a light on and started examining the wound. It was sooo funny because they literally said word for word whatever everyone in the guard office had said. Like, "Wow, that's odd" .... "Looks like a puncture wound" ... "It seems like somthinhg could be stuck in there" ... I just wanted to be like WE KNOW, That's why we came here, to have someone check it out. haha... it was really humorous, they left and then I took off for the bathroom only after Kimbo was all like, I just know that u're gonna go to the bathroom and the doctor will come in and stitch me up and u'll be gone (my whole reason for being there was to hold Kim's hand while she dealt with being stitched up)... I thought, if the doctor can come in, check it out, and stitch you up in the time it takes me to pee he deserves a freaking nobel prize or something.

Anyhoo, it should also be noted here that the nurse in training was really really cute/hot. OMG! It should also be noted that no, I did not flirt with her or get her number. Aside from the fact I am dating Megan, I didn't feel like I should be using Kim's plight to further my own interest. It seemed pretty wrong to me, so I held off. Hahahaha...but fair game, if u go to the S.t Joe's ER during the day it'll be worth ur time (As long as ur not the hurt one!)

So then the doc and the nurse came in and the nurse was awesome (always are!). She talked with us a lot and was also really fascinated by the wound. THen the doc shot Kim's leg up with whatever they use to numb it and within like 5 seconds he had taken a pair of medical pliars or something and dove into the wound hardcore. I mean, he jabbed those suckers in there and twisted them around so much and moved them a ton ... it was apparently an extremely deep wound. He was really really going to town. I didn't flinch over anything, any of the blood or the stitching ... but when he did that David and I both sort of flinched and looked away at first. The nurse even commented to David, you don';t have to look you know. It was pretty crazy and Kim, who had been an emotional mess most of the time, was giggling like a school girl and cracking up the whole time. She said she knew what the doctor was doing and that it should hurt, but she couldn't feel it and it was sooo funny to her.

Haha...so the doctor put one stich in and then wrapped up like half her leg in a hefty amount of gauze. It looked like she was coming back from 'Nam with 30 stitches, not the one she had. In all fairness it was a crazy wound considering it was sooo deep, but because it wasn't wide it only required one stitch which just makes her seem wimpy. Haha...the best part is the doc wraps her leg up crazy like that and then says keep this on till tomorrow and then put a band-aid over it. I aske dhim, "Just a band-aid?!?!?" Becuase it lwas like, let me get this straight we're gonna wrap her leg up like that so it looks like she just got a shark-bite patched up and then tomorrow she needs a little band-aid. It was a humorous ending.

We then returned to camp, about 2 hrs after we left and everyone rushed to see Kim and to hear if she was alright. At one point I was walking back from our little hut from dropping things off and I saw this like swarm of cousnelors around her asking about things and it was like ... all this buzz for a single stitch. Haha ... and everyone nicknmaed her stitch after that (and by default I was given the name Lilo so we could be Lilo and Stitch). Haha...

It was a crazy day and while we had good times, I am in no hurry to rush back to visit good 'ol St. Joe again.

Rock on Camp Wa-Nik-Ska-Ka. Yeah for Single stitch days in our Normal Life!

-Jungle Jim-