By Sarah Shrader
Guest columnist
Last week while I was at work, Miss Maylie called me from the sitter’s house crying hysterically. I am not talking about a little freak out — oh no, like a full-blown, could-barely-talk, freak out. Linda, our sitter, got on the phone to tell me that she had a splinter.
A splinter? Seriously? You guys, for a good solid 15 minutes I tried to talk this girl down — we did all our calming techniques — TWICE. Linda attempted to send me a picture — but all she could get was a blurry one that showed nothing. With no progress in getting the splinter out or Maylie calming down, I will be honest, I was getting a little annoyed.
One more time I attempted to calm her down — this time doing it for both her and I (as I needed to get back to work) and told her I would be home in a few hours to get it out.
Listen, when I got a phone call about a half hour later that they were at urgent care, I almost lost my mind. Urgent care? For a splinter? If they could have waited a few hours, I would have been home to get it out.
At that point, Linda finally got a good picture and sent it to me. It was then that I felt like the worst mom in the world. You guys, this was the mother of all splinters. The piece of wood entered underneath her thumb nail and plummeted its way all the way to her cuticle – the entire length of her nail. This wasn’t just a thin little piece either – it was easily the width of a toothpick.
Um, no wonder this child was freaking out! I would have been freaking out as well!
Because I work so far away, I couldn’t get to urgent care in time for the doctor to come in, numb it twice — which was terrifying and painful for Maylie, and attempt to pull it out with no success. They ended up sending her out saying that it should eventually work itself out, soak it in Epsom salt and, if it got infected then she needed to go to the ER where they would probably have to remove her nail.
I think I apologized to Maylie 100 times when I finally got to her. This poor babe had this foreign object lodged under her nail and there I was just trying to calm her down like it was no big deal. I felt awful.
For the next two days, we monitored that splinter and soaked it as much as we could. I bought some salve stuff that I heard would work wonders. It didn’t budge it. When I went to investigate it the next day, I barely touched her thumb and puss came out. I knew we needed to get that thing out of her nail – even if that meant they would remove her entire nail.
After sending pictures to her doctor, they too advised us to go to the ER. So, off we went. While the pain of the splinter had subsided some (unless she touched it or hit it on something), she was worried sick about what they would have to do to remove this splinter. When the doctor came in to look at it, I was waiting for a plan of attack, and instead, he referred us over to OIO.
OIO. For a splinter. This is how bad it was.
Thankfully, we got right in over there and had the most gentle doctor and assistant who gave us plenty of time to talk Maylie into more numbing shots (this time away from her nail and in her nerve). After the first shot, she couldn’t feel it anymore – but I kept watching as he stuck her over and over to make sure she was numb. And let’s just say there is a clear reason why I stayed away from the medical field.
Not wanting to leave her side — but feeling queasy from watching the needle penetrate her skin over and over, I sat down in the chair next to her, looked away and held on as I thought this was going to be a long process of grossness.
Then, the doc said, “OK, I am going to see if it is numb enough yet.” And I kid you not, within 30 seconds he said, “it’s out.”
Excuse me, what?! Four days of worry, soaking and going one place to the next and he got it out just like that. I could have cried right then and there. Instead, we both breathed the biggest sigh of relief.
After a round of antibiotics — just in case — all this girl has to show for it now is faintest little line in her nail where it was. And I, well, I still feel bad about the beginning of the ordeal, but you can bet that I have a new respect for both my brave little girl — as well as splinters.
Sarah (Pitson) Shrader was born and raised in Lima. She is a Lima Central Catholic and Tiffin University graduate. Sarah is a full-time working mama who enjoys writing about her somewhat crazy, always adventurous life as a mother. She lives in Bath Township with her daughters and writing inspirations, Maylie and Reagan.
