Eleanor's Biggest Owie to Date

Yesterday, Sunday morning was going along just fine (minus Clara waking everyone at 5:30 AM, but whatever). Ben had already left early for his meetings before church, and I had gotten the kids and myself dressed and fed and now we were just brushing our teeth before putting on shoes and getting into the car. Ellie turned to talk into her room and slipped in her little tights-clad feet and bonked her face (with toothbrush in the mouth) into her door frame. She started crying and it didn't seem like a big deal until we realized her mouth was bleeding. I figured she had bit her tongue and told her not to touch anything while I ran to get a wet rag (I didn't want blood on her favorite Sunday dress). I cleaned her up and then asked her to open her mouth so I could see where she had been bleeding from. She opened her mouth and I gasped. There was a big hole in the back of her mouth on her right side, right by where her jaw hinges together. I think I scared her with my reaction and she started crying again, holding the wet rag to her mouth. I said she's going to be okay, but we needed to go to the ER. She was devastated, and kept asking if she would still get to go to church; clearly she didn't want to miss Primary!
I tried calling Ben, but he was in ward council and didn't pick up. So I called the next person in my phone book that I knew would be there, and she did pick up. She passed the phone to Ben and I briefly explained what happened and asked him to meet me at the ER. Before stepping out the door I asked Ellie if she would like for us to say a prayer. She said yes, so I prayed asking for her to get better and be comforted and strengthened. Afterwards I took her sweet face in my hands and asked, "Do you believe that Jesus and Heavenly Father can help you?" And she replied, "Yes!" I told her that I did, too. And with that we got buckled into the car and drove down the ER on base.
It must be said that the bleeding had stopped pretty quickly, which was a huge blessing, and Ellie was so calm and brave the whole time!
So once at the ER, Ben took her in and I took Wesley and Clara to church, because heaven knows we didn't need the whole Lewis circus in the busy ER and I knew that Ben was more than capable.
Ben says everyone who looked at her mouth was surprised at how big the wound was, especially that a toothbrush could do it. It was pretty close to the jugular vein, so they did a CT scan to make sure there was no injury to it. Obviously, she need stitches but it was going to require knocking her out to do it. So they had to wait until 5 pm since she had eaten at 10:30.
After church, I came over with Wes and Clara, and when I walked in the room and asked her how she was i thought she was going to burst into to tears. So I came over and put my arm around her and told her how brave she had been and how proud I was of her. A brother from our ward (who also happens to be an anesthesiologist) came by and he and Ben gave her a blessing. We chatted a bit more, then I took the younger two home.

I think having unlimited access to the iPad helped ;)

She ended up needing 6 stitches, and stayed at the hospital overnight (mostly because she wouldn't take pain meds orally, so she was on an IV). I videochatted with Ben and Ellie after her "surgery." She did have to be knocked out and intubated, and her throat hurt really bad so it was hard for her to swallow and breathe.
Bless Ben, he spent the night in the hospital, brought her home just before 7 AM. He showered, dressed, ate and turned around and left for school. He's a champion!
So Ellie has never liked taking medicine, even the stuff now tastes way better than it did when I was a kid it seems like. And she still doesn't want to take any painkillers, which is fine. But I am making her take the antiobiotics because I refuse to deal with an infection. Bless her heart, she's asleep on my bed right now. She's been such a brave little trooper, I'm so proud of her and her sweet faith. And I'm sure she'll tell this story to her kids when they ask to hear "big owie" stories just like she asks me.