A finger, stitches, and the flu

Our grand kids have had their fill of hospital visits lately (along with their parents).

It started a couple weeks ago with the youngest. He slipped on the aluminum bleachers after swimming lessons and ended up with six stitches above his knee as a result.

The oldest has had what I guess is the flu (cough, fever, aches), and hopefully is not coronavirus. She missed a few days of school this week. I sat with her one afternoon. I always feel so bad for her when she's sick (or any of them).

The day I watched the granddaughter was the day the middle grand child ended up having to go to the ER himself to have this piece of a park bench removed from around his finger (pictured above). That was Thursday.

He was at school and his finger slid into one of the holes in the bench outside (which has happened before). This time it would not come back out though! The school ended up having to call the fire department after none of them could get it out. Finally, after being stuck to the bench on a chilly day for a couple hours, one of the teachers suggested maybe the firefighters could cut a piece out of the bench so the poor kid could at least go inside where it was warm.

They ended up taking him to the emergency room. Apparently the doctors/nurses had to call a maintenance man to assist. Their finger-removing devices wouldn't work alone, and needed help from a dremel tool.

Anyway, they ended up freeing the finger, and there appears to be no damage done to the swollen digit. I can't recall if it was 3 or 4 hours he was stuck. That's a long time.

Perhaps the best/funniest/cutest part of the ordeal (which I heard about 2nd, 3rd, or 4th-hand) was when the lad was still stuck outside on the bench, the teachers asked if there was anyone they could get or anything they could do. He requested his younger brother (who was in his kindergarten classroom). The brother came out and gave him a hug and tried to assure him it would be okay. Awwww.

So, I'm with the boy above in giving the finger to sickness and injury. I think they've had enough for awhile. What a couple weeks!