It all started out pretty well. The boys and I ran out and had dinner at Ruckus pizza. While we were waiting to be seated, Phoenix was in major show off mode and kept everyone entertained with his dancing around. The boys and I filled our bellies then headed home.

Talon ran ahead to get out of the rain, while I scooped up Phoenix to keep us both under the umbrella. As I was walking down the first flight of stairs, my foot slipped and we both fell about 5 steps. I landed on my left knee and elbow while still clutching Phoenix and the umbrella. We landed in a heap at the bottom of the stairs.  Phoenix was screaming. I assumed he was just shocked by our sudden collision with the landing area, I was wrong. Blood was pouring from the side of his head. I couldn’t make out, at first, where it was coming from because of the lighting. I stood up, still holding onto him, and saw immediately, because of the light behind us, what the problem was. He had ripped his ear on something. There seemed to be a small gash missing out of his right ear.

We made a run back to the truck and drove to the Emergency room. I had Talon ride in the back to keep paper towels on his ear, in an attempt to stop the bleeding. The hospital is only a few miles from where I live, so the drive wasn’t long.

We ran in.. arriving around 9pm on Friday evening. We were checked in. Talon was a wreck; He was so worried about Phoenix that he went through a ton of tissues.

We waited. We waited. Oh.. and we waited some more. At this point Phoenix was running around playing games on my phone and talking to everyone.  I don’t recall exactly what time we were brought into the back, but they had told me they wanted to get a room with a door rather than just a curtained room for him. When we got in the back, I asked them if they could give him something to ‘take the edge off’. They gave him some hydrocodone and a bit of numbing gel that they placed behind his ear. From there… we waited.

And waited some more.

Talon (not a fan of blood… and a very squeamish young lad) informed me that when they start, he will be leaving. And that he did, as soon as the doctor walked in.

It gets worse. I had to literally lay on top of Phoenix while they injected his ear to numb it up. He screamed and screamed. It was horrible. He screamed for Talon so I went out and got him. I told him, “You don’t have to look, or listen… just be in the room” So Talon came in… covered his ears, and kept his eyes on the television. They had to do a small bit more of lydacaine (sp?) and sutured him up as we tried to keep him distracted.

After it was all said and done, they were able to sew it all back together. The piece that looked like it was missing was just a gap from the tissue and cartilage hanging down a bit. They gave both boys popsicles. I hope those don’t turn up on the bill.

The next day.. except for the blood, etc… you probably wouldn’t even know that something had happened to the little guy.

When we finally arrived back at the apartments (around 1:30am), I went to get Phoenix out of the truck. He looked at me, and said, “It’s ok… I’ll walk”

what do you even say to that, huh?