You Don't Know What You've Got 'Til It's Gone

ADVENTURES AT SCOUT CAMP

PART ONE

When Hunter was a toddler, he had the nickname "tough guy."

During the first week of July, Hunter headed off to his second year of Scout Camp. He is quite the camper and scouter and was very excited.

While there, he was trying to earn his climbing merit badge. Heights were scary for him, but he was tough and did it anyway.







While he was rappelling down the climbing wall, his foot slipped and his knee bashed into the wooden climbing wall. HARD. It hurt a bit, but he kept on going until he was at the bottom. Then he looked at his knee, and this is what he saw:

A sliver about the size of half of a toothpick

O.U.C.H! He was promptly brought to the camp nurse where she and the scoutmaster tried to remove the sliver. It didn't seem to them like it would be very difficult. But as they worked, it was clear that the sliver branched out and they could not remove it without having it splinter into much smaller pieces.

Hunter with the camp nurse


So they had to take him to the nearest Emergency Room to have it surgically removed. That's when I got the call. No mother wants to see the Scoutmasters caller ID number come up when her son is at Scout Camp!

The doctor had to cut open the wound and remove the splinter.

Afterwards he put in 3 stitches. Then he got a tetanus shot. The Scoutmaster's report explained him as being super brave throughout the whole process. No surprise to the parents of the tough guy.

The brave patient wrapped up and ready to go

The injury took place on Thursday, and Scout Camp didn't end until Saturday. So he headed back to camp.

Because he got hurt, he wasn't able to complete his climbing merit badge. What really made us proud was that on Friday, he went back to a climbing rock and finished his rappelling so that he could complete the merit badge.

He was able to finish up Scout Camp and came home happy on Saturday.

And that's only half the story...

ADVENTURES AT SCOUT CAMP

PART TWO

Fast forward 7 days from when he got home. He needed to have his stitches taken out. I used my expert skills and removed them myself, showing a lovely "man scar."

Fast forward 3 days. The next Monday he was complaining of some pain. We looked at it and it was red, inflamed, and bursting with puss (no pics of this, sorry!). So we cleaned it out thoroughly and he was very brave while we lanced out all the yucky goop.

For the next few days he continued to wash it with soap and water and re-wrap it twice a day.

On Thursday he noticed that the area looked black. I told him to wash it really good with soap and water and then I would take a look at it. A few minutes later I hear him screaming "NO WAY!"

When he had washed it, he could see a something black sticking out of his wound. He squeezed it like we had before, and a gigantic sliver came shooting out, BIGGER than the splinter that had been surgically removed in the ER!

So for 2 weeks he had this HUGE toothpick-sized sliver in his knee and we didn't even know it. So my question is: Can I get a refund from the ER?