A bad day for lips

Got a call shortly after lunch from Gray. Grayson fell down on some rocks at lunch and fell on his face: bit through his bottom lip and chipped a tooth. Gray was on the way to the doctor.

An hour later I got the call that the doctor had said stitches were in order and recommended we get them done by a plastic surgeon, since we wanted t0 be sure of as little scarring as possible. So they made the appointment for us and I met them for the drive to the office.

First of all, Grayson's lip looks like hell. I took some pictures with my phone, but now he doesn't want me to take any more because he's self conscious. He skinned his chin, and his lip is swelled up to twice its normal size on the side where he bit through.

The doctor, a nice, no-nonsense Indian man, was very straightforward with Grayson. He looked at the lip and then said (you have to imagine an Indian accent here)

"Well, I can give you a local anesthetic, clean you up and put you back together. Do you know what a local anesthetic is?

Grayson shrugged.

"Have you been to the dentist? Did they numb your mouth?"

A nod. "So you know about the shot that they use?"

He just stared at the man with the biggest, saddest eyes. A tiny nod.

"It's just like that. I will use the smallest needle that I can. You will feel a burning as the anesthetic goes in. Do you think you can take that?"

A nod. I was so proud of him. His eyes were shining like beads, but no tears welled over.

And he was brave through the shot. He just said "Ow. That hurts" and he whimpered. But he didn't move a muscle. Even though the doctor jabbed him all through the lip with that needle, and we could see the anesthetic running through the hole where his teeth had gone through. I don't know if I would have been as brave, myself. He shed not a tear.

He was quivvery through the stitching, but didn't complain or move. The doc gave him seven stitches. One inside the flesh of the lip, one on the inside of the lip, and five on the front. It was quite a gash.

Now he's at home, watching TV and holding an ice pack on his poor swollen lip. He's very self-conscious about it because it is so swollen, and the stitches are black. I told him the swelling would go down, and he won't look, as he says, "like Frankenstein" tomorrow at school.

Poor kid.