(((((CAUTION!!!!!! There are graphic photos at the end of this post. If you don't like graphic, medical photos, don't look!!))))
This weekend was a whopper. Saturday night, Jonah took a shower. He tried to turn off the water but it kept coming out of the faucet and the handle! I dashed across the street to our neighbor who happens to be a plumber. It was kind of funny because I hadn't actually met them yet and it was 10pm. He was really nice and came back to look at the problem. As we got to the house, Ronan came out in a panic, saying Jonah had fallen and hurt himself really badly. Knowing Jonah's habit of taking tumbles, I didn't think it was worth Ronan's panic. I went upstairs and found Jonah crying, my father-in-law with him (which is scary because he doesn't walk really well and he climbed the stairs) and a big towel around Jonah's arm with blood on it and his hand. The blood got my attention pretty quickly. Poor Kip (the plumber). He was there to look at plumbing and he got a whole lot more than expected!!
Jonah later told me he had been kneeling by the tub, looking at the handle, trying to see if he could stop the leak. His left hand was on the back wall. His knees slipped, his elbow came down. Above his elbow caught the soap dish and broke it. Then his lower arm scraped across the jagged edge. The lower gash was much worse because of it.
I unwrapped the towel from Jonah's arm and immediately saw that it was worthy of a trip to the ER. I showed Kip where the problem was and left him and Dad to deal with it. I put a sterile dressing over Jonah's arm and off we went to the ER. I really like Madison Memorial for their lack of wait time. The nurse brought us to a room immediately, took the dressing off and started cleaning the wounds. The doctor came in within 5 minutes. I didn't even have time to give all of Jonah's information to the receptionist before the doctor was there!!!
Despite Jonah's hatred for needles, he did really well holding still while the dr. numbed up his arm and then put 12 staples (total) in the 2 gashes. I, on the other hand, did super well right up to the point that the nurses took over. I was holding Jonah's hand while the shots were being given and started feeling really light-headed. I asked the nurse to take his hand and sat down. I put my head between my knees and breathed deeply. :-) And I did NOT pass out!!! :-) I was fine by the time the staples went in.
Kip turned off the water to the entire house and pulled the valve out. It was broken and needed to be replaced. He left it open and we left the water off. Until Sunday morning. I *needed* a shower before Church and Kip said it would be okay to turn it back on. So I put tin foil around the valve to keep the water from leaking into the wall and turned the pump back on. I've never seen water shoot that hard in a house!! I closed the curtain around the tub and that kept the bathroom from being flooded. I showered as fast as I could, filled up all the pots and pitchers with water to have during the day and then turned the pump back off. I thought it worked pretty well. Until about 10 before we were to leave for Church. The twins came upstairs yelling that there was a "bubble on the kitchen ceiling". I immediately knew what it was. Dang it. So there I was, totally dressed up for Church, climbing on the counter, holding a bowl in one hand and a screwdriver in the other to pierce the bubble and let the water drain out. Mission accomplished, we got to Church on time.
Monday morning, a plumber from Kip's company (found out he's the owner of the company not just a plumber) came and replaced the valve, faucet, handle and shower head. Yay!!!! We had water again!!!
And here are the photos------------ Taken just after I got really light-headed. But, hey, I needed documentation!! LOL
