Busted Lip

I have the toughest little 6-year old girl in the world.

On Monday morning Brent called me and told me the school nurse had called and told him Larissa fell during P.E. and split the inside of her lip open.  The nurse then told Brent that they usually don't put stitches in the mouth but this wound was different and pretty bad.  I haven't established the kids with a doctor here so I got on our health insurance's website to find an urgent care while Brent was picking her up.  The closest one that would take our insurance was in Bastrop, one hour away.

When Brent brought Larissa home I was shocked to see just how bad her little mouth was, it broke my heart.  She was at P.E. running on the track and one of her friends, while goofing around, jumped on her back.  She lost her balance and wasn't able to get her hands down and broke her fall with her face.  Her front teeth cut through the back of her lip leaving a nice size chunk of skin hanging in her mouth.  Larissa said she didn't cry until she pulled her hand away from her face and saw blood everywhere.  However she was done crying by the time the coach had walked her to the nurse's office.  When Brent got to the school she was laying on the bed with ice on her face and gauze in her mouth.

Right after getting home from school.

Her nose and chin had a bit of road rash but nothing serious.

On the hour drive to the urgent care Larissa sat in the back seat playing her Nintendo DS with her bear, Molly, in her lap, and the gauze in her mouth, never complaining.

We were seen by the nurse practitioner pretty quick.  I had written split lip on the intake form so I think the nurse thought she would look at Larissa's lip and then tell us there wasn't anything they would do and then send us home.  The nurse asked Larissa to open her mouth and the nurse says, "Oh boy!  Let me get the doctor."  The doctor comes in looks in her mouth and says, "Oh boy, you did a number!  You are one brave kid."  He then told us that they don't normally stitch the mouth but since this wound was so large with a flap of skin that he would need to tack it up.  He then explained the procedure to Larissa and got started.

Larissa laid down on the examination table and the doctor numbed her mouth with 6 shots.  She didn't even blink an eye.  He then went to work sewing up her lip, instead of one stitch she was given 3-stitches.  When everything was done the doctor told us he wished all his little patients were like her, he couldn't get over how brave and cooperative she was.

After her appointment we went and had lunch.  Her sore and numb mouth didn't slow her down any.  Dad cut her food up into little tiny pieces and she carefully ate on one side of her mouth with her head tilted to that side to make sure her food stayed where it should.  I also told her she had permission to chew with her mouth open.  After lunch we went to CVS to pick up her prescription and then bought her an Icee at Buc-ee's.

After we got home from the urgent care.  She is trying to smile but it is hard with a swollen lip.

Larissa has been doing well over the last few days.  She carries a pack of tissues with her at school because she "can't quit drooling".  She is grouchy in the mornings because she says her cut is "gooey and gross" when she wakes up.  She also doesn't like doing her reading homework (which is usually her favorite) because it is hard to talk.  Her lip is looking much better though, the swelling has gone down a lot and she will get her stitches out on Monday.  I'm sure she will be just as brave.