"Dr. Mom and Nurse Radchet" or "Why Cruisers should have a decent Med Kit On Board" - (Monday - May 17, 2010)

I was in the middle of preparing dinner last night... shelling shrimp for fresh shrimp tacos... when Carolyne came breathlessly rushing down below.

"Mom! Come quick! Lori on 'Third Day' needs you! Jason gashed open his foot."

I clean the stinky shrimp smell off my hands as quickly as possible and head down to the docks. 11-yr old Jason is quite calm considering he has on open wound on the top of his right foot that measures an inch long and is gaping widely open to where the first layer of muscle tissue is showing . I'm pretty sure it's bleeding buckets. <I swallow a little vomit back down.>

"What happened?", I ask him.

"I dropped the grill from the stovetop on it when I was trying to take it off to clean it", he replies.

Lori, a former nurse, looks at me wide-eyed and whispers out of Jason's earshot, "He needs stitches. Will you help?" I nod my head vigorously showing her I am her friend and very eager to help out. <I swallow back and a little more vomit returns to my stomach.> I don't like blood, I don't enjoy enduring the pain of others, I close my eyes and put my hands over my face when watching a scene from a movie containing medical surgeries, and I can't watch my own blood being drawn. But sure, Lori! I'll be happy to help you put holes in your child. I'll gladly hold him down screaming bloody murder... no problem.

Dr. Lori reaches into her duffle size med kit and produces syringes, Lanocaine( topical and injectable), betadyne swabs, scissors of all shapes and sizes, sutures, hemostats, gloves, and... well, a bunch of other doctory looking stuff. We pour alcohol over our hands, snap on the surgical gloves, and give each other the "look" that means we’re ready. Jason is not privy to the fact that he will soon have multiple holes put in his foot, the first from the anesthetic and the second from sutures.

Jason is none to happy to see the dinner-plate-gone-surgical-tray full of shiny, metallic instruments. He lets out a groan. The doctor has cleverly hidden the hypodermic filled with anesthetic in the sterilized blue medical paper. Dr. Lori applies the topical anesthetic and it begins numbing immediately. Jason is very stressed, but handling the situation very well... considering. Then, the inevitable... the doctor explains that she needs to give him a shot and Jason panics... objecting immensely. As her nurse, I try not to panic, too.

After considerable "negotiation", Dr. Lori is able to administer 4 or 5 injections of localized anesthetic while I try to restrain Jason from hitting the hypodermic out of the good doctor’s hands... and talk him into calmness... and remind him that his father would be so proud of him... which seems to help. (Note: Jason's dad, our friend Rich, is out of the country trying to out-do HOTSPUR by buying a bigger boat. Another Note: It is Rich's fault we got involved with purchasing HOTSPUR in the first place. I'm not really sure how, but that's what my hubby tells me. Men.)

When Jason realizes that the worst of it is over, he relaxes a bit. <I swallow back yet more vomit.> Dr. Lori, with precision, sews the gash closed with six stitches as I swab the blood with sterile gauze... almost like a professional! Jason is so brave and is amazed that he doesn’t feel a thing, although he does instruct his doctor to hurry it up a bit! It takes about 30 minutes of stitching and Jason doesn't faint or puke... and neither do I!

After cleaning up Jason’s foot and wrapping it with dressing, tossing away the debris, giving the patient Ibuprofen and an antibiotic (Jason’s foot was filthy before the cut and the hot, humid conditions of Mazatlan rendered a ‘safe before sorry’ verdict on the antibiotic), Lori and I take a deep breath. Then, Lori and I do what only good mothers would do following a situation like that... we throw back a cold one!

NOTE: Jason is doing very well... walking around a bit (though his doctor instructs him not to over-do it) and the wound seems to be healing... no swelling or redness. YEA!