First day of Lunar New Year (Wish-this-wouldn't-have-happened Part)

On the second half of the same day when we returned to my parents' place, things went back to normal - lunch, TV watching, planning for the next meal, resting, playing, you get the drift. I was in my bedroom, the kids were either playing or watching TV in the living room. All of a sudden, I heard something shattered followed closely by a child crying repeating, "it's very painful...", that voice belonged to Bart. His cries didn't sound right, I rushed out to see rice all splattered on the floor with broken pieces of the bowl. He covered his shin with his hand and to my horror, blood was flowing through the gaps of his fingers and there were a few drops of blood already on the floor. Everything went blur afterwards. I didn't know what to do... "calm down, calm down" was the voice that kept me going in my head. I shouted for someone to pass me a clean towel and shouted to another to wake Christophe up "NOW" (he worked through the night and was catching up on his sleep). At the back of my head, I knew this was not life-threatening, however, this was also not a superficial cut. The skin with some fats underlying the shin was gone, my heart ached as I knew this was going to be a permanent scar.

Size of cut, after cleaning measures 14mm by 3mm.

Christophe came very soon and there were many well-intended suggestions by many surrounding us, "apply Zam Buk", "do you want a plaster?"... (Zam Buk is a green cream that is used for bruises, minor grazes and cuts).

Me: What should we do now? Should we apply Zam Buk first?

Christophe: Wait... I need to think.
Me: Let's bring Bart to the sofa first (already starting to carry him who weighs 38kg)

Christophe: Darling, let him walk there himself.

Bart half-walked to the sofa. Christophe was still thinking... the shops were ALL closed on the first day of CNY, my parents nor my sisters had any Steri Strips at their places. Christophe had used the same strips to close Ludwig's cut on his forehead 4.5 years ago when another bad accident happened. If not for the strips, it would be a case of stitching. The next best place was to try the nearest hospital to buy from their pharmacy. We were not even sure if it would be opened.

Christophe (stepping into the shower): Is Cold Storage opened? Maybe we can try there.

Me: I don't think it is opened. I don't think Cold Storage sells what we need right now. But is Guardian pharmacy opened? There is one at Hougang Mall, just walking distance away. I will go to Mall now while you shower to try my luck.

Zoe went with me. There are 2 pharmacies in Hougang Mall. The mall was dead when we entered. I carried very little hope. As we walked down the escalator and approached the first pharmacy, it was closed, "of course", I thought pessimistically. We proceeded further and then I heard what seemed to be some business buzzing. "AHHH! It's opened!!!", I jumped and shrieked with joy. I ran in to the pharmacy and searched for the strips. Zoe asked the assistant for help. As Steri Strip is not very common, I hadn't expected the assistant to know what I was asking for. But her reply was more good than bad, "we don't have it here in this branch". I was impressed that she was aware of what the shop carried! "Please help us check the next nearest branches if they have it." came my request.

After what seemed to be forever (but I think it was only a couple of minutes), the assistant told us the next nearest branch (only 2 minutes MRT ride away) has it!!! We rushed home and I went with Christophe by car. The pictures below tell you the rest of the incident.

Bart not very pleased being the unlucky victim of the accident.

Daddy cleaning his wound again before applying antiseptic cream and attempting to close the wound with Steri Strip by 3M.

Blood oozes out half an hour after the strips were applied!!


Cleaned up and reapplied new strips. Added a gauze on top of it to absorb blood, if any. To keep the wound closed for proper healing, we told Bart he has to refrain from all sports activities for at least 1 week. That was the biggest bad news for him as he loves doing sports. See his blog here!

It was a relief Guardian pharmacy was opened and that they carried the 3M product. To the management of Guardian, I thank your foresight for staying in operation during the festive season for this decision had proven to be of tremendous help to us. Thank you!

After all the running, we took our late lunch with the boys, Christophe and I thought it was a perfect opportunity to have them tell us what they had learnt from this accident. "That accident can happen to anyone at anytime even if you are not doing anything wrong", "That we must watch our actions carefully" were suggested. Bart was the innocent victim to my niece who pushed the bowl away from the maid who was feeding her, causing the bowl to slip out of the hand, as she did not want to eat anymore. Her mother's story is here. It was extremely important to us that we put the message across to the boys - use your mouth to say "No", not your hands. They were also told that if they happened to be the one who didn't know how to say "No" the proper way, the consequence would be an immediate slap on face. Explanation later. The accident is something else.

It's been a week after the unforgettable accident. Bart's healing progress is good, at times he would complain about the itch surrounding the strips and yesterday he said there were some orange liquid oozing out. Today, he said there were 2 drops of blood.. I have no idea now what to do. We'll decide the next steps when his daddy returns home from work. For now, I guess it is safer to tell his teachers tomorrow to excuse him from taking sports.

This picture is taken today after school. Dried up blood near his wound.