Get Thee Behind Me Hobby Lobby

So I was sitting at our local Urgent Care facility yesterday afternoon and was thinking to myself that maybe I should consider throwing our first annual Freshour holiday party right here in the lobby. They just opened in January of this year so the furnishings are in excellent condition, significantly better than our home which has had the tar beat out of it by three kids (my next sofa will so be vinyl). There is plenty of parking out front, and I know they have a great caterer because the coffee is always hot and the lollipops plentiful. We could give away Bob the Builder and Spiderman stickers as party favors. I think it'd be festive. Best of all, I'm there so frequently and my visits last so very long, that I've really developed close, meaningful relationships with the staff. There is Carolyn at the front desk, Sandra the nurse, and Dr. D. I love him. He is not at all loopy. I think he actually rivals our pediatrician in terms of child-friendliness. Which is good because Griffin had jammed a shiny red craft bead so far into his left ear that it was not visible to the naked eye and it was Dr. D's job to get it out.

When I picked Griffin up from preschool, there was actually a question as to whether or not he had anything in his ear at all. We all thought he was saying he had a bee in his ear and figured a bug of some sort had flown in there while he was outside playing. We buzzed and fluttering about, peered into his ear, and saw nothing that resembled a flying object. But Griffin was becomming a bit desperate, so he ran inside the classroom and found a blue bead on the floor. He brought it out to us and ever so earnestly asked, "Doctor get it out, Mommy?" It's a landmark day when your 2-year old can tell he has done something that is even beyond his own mother's power to rescue him.

So off Griffin and I went to Urgent Care. Actually, we made a quick stop by the house first where Jeff was packing for a trip to Virginia Tech to proselyte Wachovians. He was scheduled to leave in an hour. I was hoping the combined efforts of my friends at Urgent Care could liberate the bead in less than that so that Carter and Peyton would not have to be home alone. (Please people. Like we'd ever do that. But we did not exactly have a plan beyond hope when I left with Griffin.)

We got in pretty quickly. It helps that we're in the system and I'm on a first name basis with Carolyn and Sandra who have started reserving a time for me on Tuesdays. Dr. D came in and confimed the obvious. He also let Griffin play with the irrigator and light up his fingers with the otoscope.

As an aside, I totally just googled "Fisher Price Medical Kit" to figure out what this lighted thingy is called. I googled that after I googled a bunch of other really intelligent medical sounding words that garned me nothing. People say I'm smart. I'm not really. This proves it. I am, however, creative. But I am not crafty. I rebuke crafts and the multitude of teeny tiny bits and pieces that are required. For obvious reasons.

Also, I feel I should make note, that we found a babysitter in the middle of the afternoon for Carter and Peyton so Jeff could leave. It was something of a Tuesday miracle.

The irrigation by Nurse Sandra went okay. It wasn't working, but Griffin was pleasantly tolerating the process...until the bead rotated in his ear allowing a direct stream from the gun to go through the hole in the bead to his ear drum. He was much less agreeable after that. Dr. D tried once to hook it with some instrument but stopped mid-try because Griffin, despite being held down by Sandra and I, was squirming and crying so violently that he feared poking it down in deeper or worse. It was traumatic. At one point Dr. D left the room to call our Pediatrician and when he came back in Griffin said through his tears, "Please don't hurt me, Doctor." He got a yellow lollipop on the spot. And a festive holiday party favor.

The Pediatrican tried once to hook it and then decided an ENT could be of use right now. Dr. D found us one - and made us an appointment for 3:30pm. But that sounded great to me, because if you've tried something and failed for almost two hours, you probably do need a specialist. Off we raced to the ENT, only to sit there for 45 minutes before we met Dr. B. He took one little look at Griffin's ear and said he'd have it out in 2.2 seconds flat. He did not say it would involve a straight-jacket, screaming, and gnashing of teeth. I tried to tell Griffin the papoose was like a sleeping bag, but he wasn't buying it. It took less than 2.2 seconds to get it out. (That's Jeff's finger, not Griffin's).

Sometimes all you need is a guy with the right tools. Vacuuming up all the water from the irrigation and cleaning out the ear wax took a little longer, but now at least we don't have to worry about swimmers ear. And, he can hear a lot better now. Out of BOTH ears.

The bead we're saving for his baby BOX. Just in case he wants to get crafty and make a necklace one day.