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So, a recap of today’s events seems to be in order.

The day started with a call around 9:30 from a person I was looking to buy an old Nordic Track machine from. I broke mine recently and wanted another one. We agreed for him to stop by later in the day for me to take a look at it. About a minute later, my phone rings again. I was thinking it was the guy with the Nordic Track again so I wasn’t expecting Brooke when I answered the phone. She tells me that Shayna’s hit her head on a table at daycare and will need stitches. I jump into some more presentable clothes and get in the car and run over to her daycare. When I get there Brooke is coming out with a very dazed and puffy looking Shayna. They had bandaged her up really well, but I could tell that it was a big cut just by how much gauze they had used.

I follow Brooke to the hospital where we look for a parking spot somewhere near the emergency room and can’t find anything. We finally found some spots in the parking garage that’s at the other end of the hospital. We walk to the emergency room and are told to fill out a form and take a pager to let us know when they need us at the desk. About a half hour later the pager goes off and we are called into a room off to the side of the waiting area. There someone asks us a couple more questions, takes Shayna’s temperature, and tells us that she has no idea when we will be able to be seen as more rooms won’t be open till 11am.We both look at our watches thinking that she can’t mean what we think she means since it’s only 10:15 at the time.

About 15 minutes later the call us up to the desk and have us fill out more paper work, I guess to actually admit us to the hospital. Two cups of tea, a muffin, and a bagel later it’s 12:30. At this point Shayna has ripped off her bandage and I finally get a look at this gaping hole in her forehead which is about an inch long and is now bleeding again. I try to get the bandage back on with Shayna yelling and screaming the whole time. That doesn’t work so Brooke has a great idea and goes up to the desk to ask for more bandages and gauze. They go in the back and get her an oversize band aid. We put that on Shayna cause it’s better than nothing and we watch it fill up with blood. At this point I wonder aloud weather our primary care might have an opening. I was half kidding but Brooke thinks it a good idea to ask so I call up the office and tell them what happened. They say no problem, come in and they’ll take care of it. We go up to tell them we’re leaving and find out we’re next, though evidently we’ve been next for awhile. We both figure it’ll probably be another hour before they get to us anyway so we take off and go to our primary care office, though not before they “require” us to fill out *another* form saying we are declining assistance. We left the emergency room 2 and a half hours after arriving having never seen a health care professional.

I read recently that Oregon ranks among the bottom of all states for emergency care. Shocking.

On the way over to the primary care office, I get a call from the guy who I was buying the Nordic Track from. I had called him back earler and told him the situation that I was in. He was really understanding and told me he would just drop off the machine and if I liked it to send him a check. I was amazed and heartened by how considerate he was and how much faith he had in me as a person. Craigslist is not normally known for such people.

Once we were at the office, we were seen right away and given the best care. She gave Shayna some local anesthetic and then did a great job of stitching up Shayna as Brooke and I helped hold her still. They put in 5 stitches, but 2 can come out in a week so she has less scaring. They said that it was a clean break in the skin and came together well, so it shouldn’t scar very much.

When I got back to the house at about 2pm after getting some lunch for us, I found the Nordic Track waiting as promised. I’ll send him the check tomorrow.

Update– 1/20

Shayna is doing great.

The hospital sent Brooke a letter a couple of days ago asking for money. They said we didn’t pay the copay before we left. Nothing like adding insult to injury.

Last weekend we took Shayna to see Santa for the first time. We went to the Fire Station museum on SE Belmont. It was a lot of fun. She enjoyed playing with the equipment she could reach. I’d like to take her back there when it’s fully open to the public. They have a fire engine that has a steam driven water pump. It looked very steam punk. They have a firetruck simulator that they promised felt “just like the real thing”. They also had firefighting equipment old and new that was fun to check out. Here’s the picture they took of her on Santa’s lap. She cried the whole time.

Shayna's first trip to see santa.