List #5: Reasons I've Been to the Emergency Room

1. Appendicitis when I was 12.
2. Car accident when I was 18. My head cracked the windshield and dented the dashboard (that was the last time I didn't wear a seatbelt) and I had a horrific heachache when by brain swelled, but was amazingly okay other than that. I think. Just nod your head and smile.
3. Needed my eye washed out when I was 22 or 23. I was cleaning the bathroom and managed to squirt some of the toilet cleaner right into my right eye. They gave me an eye patch for the rest of the day. Arrr.
4. I took Child Two when she was five months. I was trying to move something while holding her and she suddenly kicked back, which caused me to lose hold of her. She flipped over and landed on her stomach, snapping her thigh bone in half. It was horrible. She was in traction for a week and then had a hip-spica cast (covering both legs) for the next six weeks. She still walked at 10 months, though.
5. Child Two again when she was about 18 months. She was climbing out of her playpen and fell out head-first, breaking the growth plate on her right elbow. Cast for six weeks.
6. Child Three also broke the same growth plate, but I can't remember why, and I don't think we took her to the ER, come to think of it. Sorry.
7. Oldest Child fell off the back of the couch at the age of five or six just after I warned her she was going to fall off and break something. She broke her left arm. Cast for six weeks. Of course, I was not happy to be proven right.
8. Husband when he had severe chest pains, which we thought was a heart attack. It wasn't. The problems stopped when he stopped working as a carpet cleaner.
9. Husband again when he was food poisoned at a buffet restaurant. They put him on a drip because of his severe dehydration and he felt relatively better after that.
10. Asthma attacks with both Child Three (who was admitted twice to the hospital for a week each time) and Child Four.
11. I took my nephew in when we got in a car accident with all the kids in the van. Although they all had seat belts and car seats, he still put his face through the window and got a lipfull of glass, which had to be removed. I have not gone through that particular intersection again.
12. Oldest Child when we thought she had appendicitis.
13. Child Six, just a couple weekends ago, for dehydration.It was probably the shortest ER visit I've ever had.