Friday Amelia was 21 months old

... and I didn't get a chance to post because we took her to the ER. Maynard, our cat, sunk a claw into her cheek and of course I couldn't get across the room in time to prevent it. He was laying on the arm chair and she approached him with all her toddling enthusiasm and he panicked rather than leaving. I still feel so very guilty and wish I could take it all away.

After four hours in the ER we learned that since it's a cat-caused puncture wound they won't close it up with either dermabond or stitches due to fear of infection, and that scarring would likely be very minimal. I still took her the next day to her regular doctor where I learned that (a) they would have said the same thing and (b), had she needed stitches they would have called ahead for the plastic surgeon on-call and saved me time and grief in ER. This happened at 7 pm and her regular doctor is open until 8 pm and is just five minutes away. But I just assumed that the gaping I saw needed stitches and went straight to the hospital which is 35 minutes away (not counting parking since Daddy dropped us off).

The worst part was getting reported to the social worker who starts out by saying, "So I understand your daughter has been repeatedly scratched by your cat." She came up with this, I guess, because I had pointed to a spot on Amelia's wrist where Maynard had scratched her a month ago and there is a small scar. I was trying to make the point that while they may think her face laceration is small, I believed it could still leave a noticeable scar based on the one she has now on her wrist.

I really wish the social worker had a gentler approach because her opening statement to a mother who has been at the hospital for 4 hours, and it's past everyone's bed time, and she thinks they're about to get to go home, and she's not encouraged by what the doctor won't do for her daughter, it's just too much. I managed to get through the interview with her before bursting into tears. She really could have handled it a lot better by saying, "So, tell me what happened? Has your cat scratched her before?" But the way she started the conversation made me think of a local toddler who was bitten over 100 times in his crib by rats and that she was inferring that I was being just as neglectful as that mother. Amelia has one spot on her cheek - does a neglectful, abusive mother spend her Friday night at the hospital for that, where she has pay the expensive ER co-pay? I think not. I did not sleep well at all when we did get home.

Amelia's doctor yesterday said that it looked like it was healing well and recommended keeping it covered. Thankfully Amelia doesn't mind having one of those small circle band-aids on her face. It also keeps me from having to see it and obsess over it, and it will be easy to keep sun off her face with the band-aid, too, as it heals all summer long. The doctor also recommended putting Vitamin E oil on it twice a day once we hit the 6-week mark to minimize any scarring. And Daddy and I have pledged to try even harder to keep her and Maynard apart.

I really didn't know that trying to keep your child safe and sound was this hard emotionally, and that keeping them safe and sound would be so hard.