Our first trip to Urgent Care

Last night, while salmon steaks were baking in one oven, battered fish portions in the other, and the spinach was awaiting its trip through the microwave, it happened. I was upstairs at the time, reading the latest edition of WORLD magazine, when Gavin ran into the room and announced somewhat calmly: "Dad, as soon you get finished, could you come downstairs? Aidan hit his head on the fireplace."

On a list of things I least want to hear, that's gotta be somewhere near the top.

I came downstairs to find Amy holding Aidan in the kitchen floor, trying to apply an ice pack to his bleeding and swelling nose. Seems the boys were running around playing "rocket cars" (which unfortunately seems to require great bursts of speed best experienced outdoors), and Aidan-the-Rocket-Car crashed bridge-of-the-nose-first into the front edge of our very hard, stone fireplace. Fortunately, the cuts on his nose weren't bad at all — in fact, they appeared to be no more than abrasions. But out of concern that he might have broken his nose and that his injuries could impair his breathing, we packed the family up and headed out to an urgent care facility a few miles away.

Aidan was pretty upset (understandably) as we tried to get into the car, and dozed off a couple of times during our trip to the facility. Once there, he quieted down, but mostly out of fear of this new place. Fortunately, the nurses present were able to assure him that he would be treated well. They took a pair of X-rays of his head that didn't reveal anything alarming, and as expected he wasn't in need of any stitches. We were sent away with a recommendation of some Children's Motrin (for the pain and swelling), the promise of a follow-up call from the radiologist, Tootsie Pops for the kids, and a smiling little boy with a busted up nose.

So, after this, our first trip to an urgent care facility, we say, "Thanks", to the fine ladies at Expressmed's Concord Mills location, and to God for protecting our little guy from what could have easily been a much more serious situation.