Why was Aidan puking for a medically related issue?? Well, Liam and I were being silly tonight while Josh was making dinner – having a dance off and just a good time. Apparently we had too good of a time and every good time must end with an injury. I don’t even remember exactly how it happened but the end result was Liam falling flat on his face with his chin connecting to the terracotta tile in the villa. The blood immediately started to spurt out much to my absolute fear.
At first I thought he smashed his nose. Then, I’ll be honest, I thought he cut an artery (yet I couldn't figure out how he could have cut himself in the first place since he landed on nothing sharp) since the blood was coming from what looked like his neck (it turned out to be below his chin). There was just that much blood coming out at once, at least as far as I was concerned. How he would have cut an artery is beyond me but that was my first thought. My next move was to get him to lay on his back so I could control the blood. Josh and I disagreed on whether he needed to go to the hospital or not but I won out.
And so dinner prep was halted to go down to Sorrento to the ER. Liam was covered in blood and Aidan was freaking out the whole way down thinking Liam was dying or something. He worked himself up pretty good and apparently after he and Josh dropped us at the ER, he puked 3 times along the side of the road. Ah the joys of kids.
Liam and I went into the hospital and it was pretty much dark. No receptionist, no interpretation booth (there was a sign for one), no nothing. We just started to walk down a hall until I saw someone. I showed him Liam’s chin and he pointed to a room and another man came in. He asked if we spoke Italian which of course, I don’t. Another person came in and they just had Liam lay on a bed. This guy spoke some English which was good – and told me Liam needed 2 stitches. I’m pretty sure we were on the only patients in hospital but at least that means we were the first ones seen!!
I saw them prep the needle and thread and immediately asked if they were going to give him a shot of Novocain to help with the pain. He gave me a look like, seriously???? So he was going to have to deal with the stitches without any medical assistance. My poor baby!! He was so brave!
And of course, his mom, who has just a terrible stomach for this kind of stuff, started to feel nauseous part way thru. This is the second time this is happened (Aidan had stitches at age 1) and I feel like a total failure as a mom that I can’t even be there to support my kids when they need me. Though it makes me feel slightly better to know that Josh would have passed out long before me ;) So I’m not the only one.
In the end, there were 4 men holding Liam down for his 2 stitches. He was given some iodine on a bandaid and they guided me to the sink to wash off all his blood (we left with him covered in blood and I’m thinking the cute Boden tee he’s wearing is headed for the trash). I met with the doctor in his “office” (I use this term very loosely) and he asked if I had Liam’s passport with me which I didn’t. I gave him his medical card instead which seemed to do the job.
The doctor told me that I should give Liam antibiotics. Ummm… ok, there are about 5 million antibiotics out there, which kind??? He asked if I ever give him any antibiotics. Again, ok, for what? He asked for a fever and I told him I give him Tylenol / acetaminophen. He gave me a blank stare. I mentioned penicillin. He said, yes to that… so apparently I’m to give him penicillin for a few days. He didn’t write me a prescription and just told me to go to the pharmacy and if there is an issue to come back to see him.
Liam was acting pretty sleepy at this point and I felt I needed to point out that he fell on his face and should he check for a concussion?? I know, overreacting mom here, but still. He gave me a look like I was crazy and waved me off. So I guess we’re good there??
Off to the pharmacy I asked her for penicillin for Liam. She asked if amoxicillin was ok and I said fine as long as it’s the same thing (which I was pretty sure it was but needed her to reassure me on that). She handed it to me for 2,30€ and didn’t say another word. So I had to ask how much to give him and how often, etc. Seriously what do people do here when they need medical assistance????
Anyways, Liam was fine on the way home and kept telling us “poor liamy” which I’m sure he will continue to use for as long as he can milk it. Aidan is fine and Josh is finally getting to making dinner at 8PM. Ah well, never a dull moment when on vacation with the Marcus family!!!
Liam with his battle wound this morning... I had to double up on the bandaid (good thing I brought some on the trip) since he was bleeding thru the original one...
Besos,
Julie
