University of Virginia Health System

It was about 9 o'clock in the Peds ER and I was running between patients at the typical double-time pace for that hour. Deb the nurse brought this really cute 4 year old kid named Trevor into room 12A . His mom was holding a blood-spotted gauze bandage over his left cheek. It seems Trevor had been running around too, only he had the bad luck to run smack into a coffee table, left cheek first. He wasn't crying anymore, and lost the deer-in-the-headlights look after we bonded over Buzz Lightyear stories. It does help having a toddler at home when you do Peds ER. If you don't have one, I'll gladly let you borrow mine (and her little brother) some Saturday night.

Trevor would obviously need some stitches, and Deb put some topical anesthetic around the cut to numb it up. After 20 minutes I went back into 12A, and proceeded with the stitching. Trevor let me clean the wound without too much protest, but when I sank the needle for the first suture, it was clear the EMLA had done little to numb poor Trevor's skin. He howled and kicked and flailed and cried and thrashed any movable body part that wasn't held down by the five other full-grown adults in the room. I glanced up at the attending, and he gave me the "Keep it rolling" sign. There was no turning back. The wound closed without much difficulty, thank God, and soon Trevor was back in his Mom's arms.

After about 15 more minutes Trevor was cleaned up with a fresh dressing on his face, and I went back into his room to say gooodbye. He was sitting on the stretcher, and giving me a look as if I'd turned him and Buzz over to the evil forces of Zurg. I made a half-turn to leave, but had an instinct to help Trevor down off the stretcher. As I did so, I went into my "What a big kid you are" routine, mock-stumbling, with my knees buckling under the weight of this 4year old behemoth. "Whoa!" I exclaimed, "Your are HUGE!!! What a BIG GUY you are! Whew, I'd better put you down before I get a hernia." Big smile and a giggle from Trevor. Ready to go home, to infinity and beyond.