England A&E

We figured out last night where the A&E (Accident and Emergency) was and how it all works in England. This was something we would have rather not had to figure out. When we first moved to England, I did look at the NHS site to see where the local hospitals were, but had long forgotten this since we fortunately have never needed to go there. But last night, Bean was playing in her room and fell hard against the corner of her nightstand. My husband fortunately was with her and picked her up right away and carried her downstairs. Blood was just pouring down his hand and all over our sweet girl’s hair. As soon as we could see past the blood, we realized it was a pretty deep gash. I ran next door to ask my neighbor where the A&E was, and fortunately she was home and gave me a general idea. She actually just moved here from Scotland, but I knew that they had taken one of their kids to the A&E recently for an eye injury. We raced to the hospital, with me in the back holding on tight to Bean’s head with a paper towel. We were able to remain really calm for her, she was not even crying at that point, just upset that she might need stitches and I was even joking around with her in the car trying to ease her anxiety – but it really hit me later that night after she was home and in bed. My knees started shaking and I felt sick to my stomach. My little girls have both had many minor injuries – that is part of being a kid. Some near misses (one of them got poked right under the eye by the corner of our coffee table in Ohio), and some illnesses that required urgent cares or hospitals. But NEVER have either of our kids been injured to the point of needing to go the emergency room. This was an experience we did not need to have and we especially didn’t need to have it while in a foreign country! The A&E overall was not bad. The wait was within reason, the fact that they use the NHS system here made things so easy – no paperwork to fill out, no insurance cards to produce, no copays to figure out. But we never did even see a doctor. We saw a few nurses and a nurse practitioner. We got a pamphlet on head injuries and signs to watch for (so she slept on her mattress on the floor in our room last night) and how to care for the glue that they used to close up her wound (no stitches, thank goodness). We knew by the time we left there that she was back to her old self. Actually, we knew while we waited in the A&E that she was feeling ok – “mom, I’m bored, I’m hungry, I’m thirsty – can I go play?” Ummm, no, see this paper towel I am holding on your head? On the way home we took her through McDonald’s for a milkshake and she was talking nonstop about her experience. Her head is tender and she is home from school today with me so I can keep an eye on her, but watching movies and seemingly no worse for wear. Kids really are resilient.