Ian's splinter escapade

Last week, Ian had an after-school drama practice and I had to leave to take Sam to horseback riding at the same time.  Ian walked home from school on his own and called to let me know he arrived safely.  It wasn't until much later that I randomly saw Ian's arm and noticed a huge red circle.  I asked Ian what happened and he replied with "When I was walking home, I skimmed my arm across the top of this wood fence and I think I got a splinter through the my hoody."   Yikes! 

Jeff and I went into action and took Ian upstairs to extract the splinter.  Despite multiple attempts using all sorts of equipment, we could not get the splinter out.  We couldn't even see it.  We could barely feel something below the surface but wasn't sure exactly what it was.  We tried tweezers, we tried squeezing it with our fingers, we tried making the wound bleed and then squeezing it, we tried pushing the area while it was bleeding hoping something would happen.  Meanwhile, Ian is less than pleased with us.  He is in pain while we are doing all of this and really wishes we would leave him alone.  He said this is not bothering him and really forgets its even there.  So we tell Ian to take a bath, soak his arm and see if the redness goes away or at least gets better. 


A few days later we are at Sweet Frog for frozen yogurt and I notice Ian's arm going up and down as he eats his yogurt.  There is the red area and its still there!!  And it still looks bad!  "Ian, that's it, we are going to urgent care right now.  Take your yogurt with you, we can finish it in that waiting room as easily as we can finish it here."  

Ian:  But Mom!  It's not bothering me.  I don't even feel it.
Me: I don't care.  Let the doctor tell me its nothing. 
Ian:  Fine.

Within an hour we were seen and upon looking at it, the doctor said it was definitely infected.  He was going to numb the area (with the largest needle Ian has ever seen) and then get a better look at what might be below the surface on his arm.

Ian handled everything like a champ.  The doctor was awesome and put Ian at ease. 

This is what came out of Ian's arm!  OMG!!!

And no matter how hard Jeff and I tried, we couldn't get this sucker out or even see it.  It was really buried deep!

A much happier Ian that this ordeal is now over. A much happier me knowing that we did the right thing by going.