Later that day...

I didn't think I would be posting again so quickly but the adventure continues...

I spent the early afternoon blogging my thoughts on living in Matagalpa (on Notepad in the house as we still don't have Internet). As I was working, the boys played outside. I noticed it was alarmingly quiet so I went out to check on them. They were playing nicely outside and I told them that such quiet play was usually indicative of something wrong but all seemed good. I went back inside knowing all was well.

About 45 minutes later I heard crying, and more alarming, Joey yelling for me. Then I saw a site no mother ever wants to see. Gus crying hysterically with his right hand covering his right eye and a generous amount of blood coming from under his hand. I ran! Joey was apologizing profusely that it was all his fault and that Gus had been hit in the face by a rock attached to a rope (the full story was not necessary to assess that this was not good). I took him inside to clean off the blood so that I could see where it was coming from. I went to turn on the water...no water. I used a clean cloth and purified water (probably a better choice anyway) and was able to determine that he had a gash about 1.5 inches long right next to his eye. Then Bridget came in and screamed and said "oh my God, he's bleeding!!!" which was not really helpful. I sent her to her room. Oh, did I mention that Joe was gone at a cafe (not certain which one) using the Internet and was scheduled to be back between 30-90 minutes later? I wasn't sure if he needed stitches but I was quite sure that my Spanish wasn't good enough to take him there, in his current state, with Joey and Bridget. So I sat him on my lap and rocked him in the rocking chair to try to get him calmed down. He was in pain, and it was genuine but he was also scared because a large rock had crashed into his face. I was able to get him calmed down by singing to him (I am pretty sure that my voice is only soothing to my offspring). Then I decided that I needed to try to track down Joe. The neighbors were not home but I had the plan of explaining that I needed to call Joe and asking our neighbor to call the 2 cafes that I thought he might be using and see if he was there. That didn't work. Then I decided to look up the number for the cafes and I would attempt to ask if he was there. I grabbed a phonebook and started looking up the first cafe, Cafe Latino. I found 7 listings but none of them listed a city. There was a truck parked outside and I took the phone book to the man sitting in the truck and told him in Spanish that I needed the number for Cafe Latino in Matagalpa. He was able to look in a completely different section of the phone book but it wasn't there. Back to square one.

So we had to wait. I put some Neosporin on it with pain reliever and kept singing to him. I told Joey and Bridget that they needed to not scream and freak dad out when they saw him but just tell him that mom needs you and Gus got hurt. Bridget kept a constant watch on the street. I kept singing. If it had been in San Juan del Sur I would have sent Joey and Bridget out together to check the few places he might have been but we don't know Matagalpa enough and I didn't need my 2 kids lost in a new city to add to my adrenaline levels. So we waited.

Eventually, about 45 minutes after the incident, Joe came home. He was pleased that I didn't freak out but told him that I needed his opinion. He decided rather quickly that he wanted to take him to the emergency clinic, which was only 3 blocks away. It was 10 minutes after 5:00 when he arrived so we got to pay the "after hours" fee.

Joey went with him, feeling responsible for what he did. About 10 minutes later Joey came home to tell me that they were going to give him 4 stitches. I asked if dad sent him home. "No". "Does dad know you came home?" "Yes". I later found out that the cleaning and numbing of the wound proved more than Joey could handle and he left. I also found out that Joe had to ask them to wait as he was getting queasy watching, and Gus was having a really hard time. But when all was said and done, it was $36 for doctor fee, emergency visit, stitches, and eye drops.

Once we saw what his face looked like in the evening, I have no doubt we would have ended up at the clinic that night. The cut was just a small section but his face was hit with a rock. I am very grateful that I went to bed knowing that his vision was fine and his cheek and bone weren't broken. So now we wait again, for the swelling to go down and then the bruising to go away.

I had plans of having the kids' pictures taking this weekend for our Christmas cards, but I think I am going to hold off until we can see both his eyes...

I will let Gus explain for himself how the incident happened. (see video)

And feel free to read Joe's take on the situation at www.joehafner.com

Gus would love to hear your comments.