Carson's lip...

Today is Labor Day. I spent my morning at Urgent Care. Carson and Avery were playing around and she somehow caused him to fall into the couch (while he had a blanket around his head and face) and he busted his lip wide open on the couch. He came running into the kitchen, blood dripping--that's a sight that will get a mommy's heart racing! The cut was deeper than what I thought might have healed normally by itself, so after a quick call to our friend who is a doctor, we decided to run up to Urgent Care. There is a new clinic in our town that we decided to try. It seemed really nice...friendly people...and we didn't have to endure the unfortuante customary 45-60 minute wait that doctors normally require these days. We were in within 10 minutes...paperwork and all! The doctor decided that Carson needed one stitch in his lower lip. And, since a shot to numb the lip would cause the same amount of pain as one stitch, we decided to forego any proper anesthetic and just go for it! Carson's did get to spend 5 minutes up close and personal with an ice cube to help numb it, but by the time the doctor came back, the cube was melted and his lip didn't feel cold to me at all. But, my brave little boy laid right back and took the stitch without any problem at all! No crying or anything. He is awesome! He got a sucker and a sticker and the doctor prescribed ice cream for later today. :) They didn't have the dissolvable stitches on hand, so we have to go back in a week to have this one removed. The kicker is that this little procedure cost us $226!!! I mean, can someone please explain to me how in heaven's name one stitch can possibly cost that much? Oh, and that was AFTER they gave us the 30% self-pay discount. And, this is AFTER we already pay hundreds of dollars a month for health insurance that doesn't cover minor sick visits such as this. Grrr. Oh well....such is life. Thankfully he was able to handle the ordeal without pain medication....goodness knows that would have probably doubled the cost of the visit! One of our kids is going to have to become a doctor so that later in life our family can get free medical care.