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<\/a><\/p>\nHere is a run-down on what happened (Note: If you don\u2019t want to read all the details, please skip down to the end \u2013 that is the most important part):<\/p>\n
Max and I were in the US for a couple weeks (work for me, visiting grandparents for him).\u00a0 We were schedule to leave on Monday.\u00a0 We had to return the rental car to Louisville airport and then fly to Chicago to catch our flight back to Swaziland.\u00a0 Even though our children are phenomenal travelers, the logistics of travel can be a bit much.<\/p>\n
We were already a bit under pressure because I had miscalculated the time zone changes, but we were going to catch our plane no problem.\u00a0 After dropping the rental car off, we loaded up our luggage.\u00a0 Max had his little backpack and I was pulling two 50-pound suitcases as well as a heavy backpack and my laptop bag.\u00a0 He followed me up the escalator to the ticket counter.\u00a0 About halfway up, one of the bags which had a strap wrapped around my wrist slipped down a step and pulled me off balance.\u00a0 Between not having any free hands, and the heavy backpack, I tumbled over backwards with me and bags landing on Max.\u00a0 Someone hit the emergency stop on the escalator and several people rushed to help.\u00a0 Max was crying and scared and that is when I noticed a deep gash on his foot.<\/p>\n
I sprinted up the stopped escalator with him and was quickly joined by police and the EMS.\u00a0 There was a good bit of blood and it was obvious the gash was more than superficial.\u00a0 While Max was obviously in pain, he quickly gathered himself and let the police tend to his wound.\u00a0 One of the officers brought him a stuffed animal to distract him while the others focused on providing first aid.<\/p>\n
At this point the reality of the situation started to set in.\u00a0 We were 9,000 miles away from home and were obviously going to miss our flight and our connecting flight (and then bus to Swaziland).\u00a0 We were going to have to get medical treatment somewhere and I had an injured son, nearly 200 pounds of luggage, and no transportation.<\/p>\n
The police offered to watch my stuff while I carried Max to try and figure out the details.\u00a0 First we went to the ticket counter and canceled our flight.\u00a0 Then I went back to the Hertz rental car to see if there was any way I could get my rental car back.\u00a0 I could have ubered to the hospital (the police wanted me to take an ambulance), but that presented crazy logistics with luggage.\u00a0 I told the people at Hertz what happened and they immediately got on the phone and pulled the car I had used back out for me and even delivered it to the door. (More on Hertz later).\u00a0 From there I headed to the nearest hospital.<\/p>\n
The next several hours moved very slow compared to the chaos at the airport.\u00a0 We checked in the hospital and were triaged.\u00a0 At this point, Max is calm and we are just waiting for our turn to go back.\u00a0 This relative downtime gave me a chance to think a bit more about logistics.\u00a0 In particular the fact that our international health insurance doesn\u2019t cover the United States.\u00a0 I had no idea how much this trip to the ER was going to cost us.\u00a0 The time in the waiting room also gave me a chance to make some phone calls.\u00a0 Obviously I was updating Beth and the family in the states.\u00a0 Beth took care of rearranging all my transport and everyone else reached out to offer help however they could.\u00a0 I called Hertz back and talked to a manager who was incredibly sympathetic to our situation and told us it would be no problem to extend the contract for a day and that we could even return the car to O\u2019hare in Chicago since our plane tickets would cost nearly $500 to rebook.\u00a0 I asked how much it would cost and he said \u201cnot too much more, I wouldn\u2019t worry about it.\u201d<\/p>\n At this time I also got in touch with my cousin Jana who lives in Louisville, has traveled extensively internationally, and who is a physical therapist specializing on hands and feet.\u00a0 We talked about our options and she suggested an urgent care would be cheaper and most likely quicker.\u00a0 She set out to call around to see what was available while also arranging for us to stay at her place.\u00a0 She found an urgent care with no waiting near her house that was going to cost $250 to get Max stitched up.\u00a0 At this point, Max was completely calm and relatively little pain.\u00a0 I asked triage nurse an estimate on time (I am sure she hates that question), and was told \u201cwhen you checked in there was one person in the queue ahead of us and nothing has changed.\u201d\u00a0 That made it easy to decide to head out of there and go to urgent care.<\/p>\n At Urgent care we quickly got taken back to a room and the nurse was very attentive to Max and his needs.\u00a0 The Physician\u2019s Assistant on call came in to take a look at things.\u00a0 Both medical staff let us know from the very beginning that there was a chance they couldn\u2019t treat Max due to his age and the location of his injury could have caused nerve, tendon or vascular damage.\u00a0 At this point it had been about 4 hours since the accident and when they took the bandage off it was still bleeding.<\/p>\n The PA was incredibly gracious when reviewing our options.\u00a0 He recommended we go to the children\u2019s hospital (there was a branch close by), but also understood our situation with insurance and travel.\u00a0 Basically he told us that he could probably stitch it up, but that really an expert should look at it.\u00a0 At this point, I called Jana to ask if she could come over to help me think through our options. There was some concern because Max was not moving his toes very well. \u00a0We agreed to put some topical painkiller on it and see what should be done next.\u00a0 During this time, he also called around to see our alternate medical options.<\/p>\n The longer we were at urgent care the more obvious it was that we would be heading back to the Emergency Room for treatment.\u00a0 The PA came back in the office and said that his attending physician had told him he couldn\u2019t do the stitches due to the complexity.\u00a0 Additionally, in calling the nearby children\u2019s hospital branch, he learned that even they wouldn\u2019t accept the case because Max needed a place where a pediatric orthopedic surgeon could consult. \u00a0Due to the location and depth of the injury there was a possibility of tendon, nerve or even vascular damage. Our only option was to go to the main branch of the Kosair children\u2019s hospital.<\/p>\n It was obvious that the PA was going above and beyond to help us.\u00a0 In additional to his medical care, and the time he took to consult with doctor\u2019s across the city, he told us he would work it out so that the entire visit to urgent care would be free. Holy Cow\u2026 what a relief!<\/p>\n So off to Kosair we headed.\u00a0 Jana called ahead to her friends in the medical community to get advice and information and I followed her to the hospital.<\/p>\n We checked in, were triaged, and found our place in the waiting room.\u00a0 Interestingly enough, a family friend from my hometown was sitting in the waiting area as well.\u00a0 Throughout all of this Max was a trooper.\u00a0 At this point it was past his bed time and despite his injury, he was incredibly calm and patient.\u00a0 His biggest complaint was that he couldn\u2019t eat or drink due to the possibility that he would need anesthesia if surgery was required.<\/p>\n After a couple hours we were taken back to a room.\u00a0 The resident doctor took a look at Max and did some initial cleaning of the wound.\u00a0 He confirmed that tendon damage could be a concern, but they wouldn\u2019t know until they could look at it further.\u00a0 The attending doctor also came and checked the situation and called for an X-Ray, so I carried Max off to radiology for three pictures of his bones.\u00a0 The initial report looked clear, but the radiologist came back to say he saw a hairline fracture.<\/p>\n Now it was time for the tough part \u2013 exploring the wound and stitches.\u00a0 Max was given a nasal dose of medicine to reduce the pain, but it didn\u2019t seem to help much because even the cleaning process caused him deep distress.\u00a0 With the attending and resident doctor both looking at things, they told us that tendon damage didn\u2019t seem to be an issue and there also wasn\u2019t any obvious nerve damage.\u00a0 Next step then was actually getting the stitches.\u00a0 Despite the topical pain killer already applied and the nasal painkiller, Max did not react well to the numbing injections.\u00a0 This was certainly the most traumatic part of the process for him.\u00a0 Eventually, the doctor was able to start sewing.\u00a0 Even though Max was crying through the whole process, he never flinched his foot and let the doctor do his job.\u00a0 In the end, it only took 3 stitches to get him put back together.<\/p>\n At this point it must have been about midnight and Jana headed back home while we wrapped things up.\u00a0 The doctor told us that because there was a minor fracture and an open wound, it was technically a compound fracture and we would need IV then oral anti-biotics.\u00a0 I already knew Max was not going to be a fan of more needles.<\/p>\n As you could imagine, Max was exhausted and fell asleep in my arms.\u00a0 The nurse came in to give the IV and he was so sleepy, I couldn\u2019t even rouse him.\u00a0 The nurse found a vein in his hand and applied an aerosol pain killer and then inserted the IV.\u00a0 Thankfully Max didn\u2019t wake up during the procedure, but unfortunately the vein the nurse was going for blew.\u00a0 He then found a vein in his arm, but Max woke up for the second stick and was none too happy.\u00a0 Once again the vein blew and we would have to try again.\u00a0 A different nurse came in and despite Max\u2019s protests, successfully put the IV in.\u00a0 It was hooked up to some antibiotics and we began the waiting process.\u00a0 After about an hour the IV was removed and we were presented with our discharge papers.<\/p>\n After taking care of the paperwork, we finally head over to Jana\u2019s house to get some rest.\u00a0 When we got there, it was about 2am \u2013 12 hours after the accident had initially occurred.<\/p>\n The next morning we were able to sleep in a bit and also take care of the logistics like repacking and getting Max his prescription.\u00a0 At around 1pm after some lunch, we began the drive to Chicago to drop off the rental car and catch our flight.\u00a0 Thankfully the drive was pleasantly uneventful, but it did give me a chance to think about the logistics of actually getting from the car to airplane.\u00a0 Somehow, I was going to have to carry two backpacks, two 50 pound suitcases, a bulky duffel bag and an injured 4-year old.\u00a0 No problem!\u00a0 Thankfully my parents called ahead to try and work out the details, but unfortunately there wasn\u2019t a clear solution and I was going to have to wing it.<\/p>\n Upon arriving at the Hertz return office, I ran into what seemed like a problem.\u00a0 The guy checking in the cars said he couldn\u2019t do anything because the contract had been closed.\u00a0 Essentially I was driving a car without a formal agreement from the rental company.\u00a0 He told me I had to go downstairs to talk with the office.\u00a0 That is when I realized the only way down was by escalator.\u00a0 You have got to be kidding me!<\/p>\n At the counter I talked to one advisor who said there was nothing he could do and I was going to have to work things out through Louisville AND the national Hertz office.\u00a0 I had gotten to the airport more than 3 hours early, but didn\u2019t really want to spend time negotiating contracts.\u00a0 I was then directed to another representative who looked more into my situation.\u00a0 After punching a few keys he outlined the situation:\u00a0 Essentially the Louisville manager had kept my contract closed rather than extending it.\u00a0 While that initially looked like a problem, what it really meant was that the guy had loaned me the car, and arranged for the drop off in Chicago, all on his own.\u00a0 It seems there weren\u2019t going to be any additional charges for our big change of plans.\u00a0 WOW!<\/p>\n At this point I went back up the escalator and began dreading the next challenge: getting all my stuff, with an injured kid, down the escalator, to the bus, and up to the ticket counter.\u00a0 Quietly this was the part of the whole ordeal I had been dreading the most.\u00a0 As I was loading up my bags and thinking about options such as throwing my bags down the escalator and then dealing with them later, the car attendant offered to go get me a luggage trolley.\u00a0 Excellent!\u00a0 Why hadn\u2019t I thought to ask for that!\u00a0 Oh, and he mentioned there was an elevator I could take!\u00a0 First complexity handled!<\/p>\n Next came the bus.\u00a0 Thankfully the bus was already waiting for us when we got to the ground floor to take us to the terminal.\u00a0 I was able to carry Max and get the first bag on the bus.\u00a0 But then, the bus driver quickly got up and grabbed my other bags to help load up.\u00a0 No problem at all!\u00a0 Once on the bus, it was just a matter of waiting.\u00a0 Once we got to the terminal, before I could stand up with Max, the driver was back there to help me unload.\u00a0 I set Max down, grabbed a trolley and loaded up our stuff.\u00a0 From there I headed into the terminal, found a quiet place, and repacked our bags for the journey home.<\/p>\n After we made it to the ticket counter, the complexity of our travel was greatly reduced.\u00a0 We checked in, dropped our bags, and Emirates arranged for us to have a wheel chair to get through security.\u00a0 Despite some juggling required to get through the scanners, it all was a pleasantly uneventful process.<\/p>\n On the first flight from Chicago to Dubai (14 hours), we ended up with an aisle\/middle seat combo with an empty seat between us and then another guy on the other aisle.\u00a0 Beth had called ahead and told them of our situation and Emirates agreed to flag our seats to try their best to keep things open.\u00a0 It turns out that there were actually a couple empty seats available and the guy in our row willing to move so we ended up with a whole role of 4 seats to ourselves.\u00a0 That meant that Max could fully lay down to sleep!\u00a0 What a relief!<\/p>\n Our original plan was to spend a long layover in Dubai doing things in the city.\u00a0 One of the only non-injury-related things that Max cried about was the fact that he wasn\u2019t going to get to see the dinosaur skeleton at the Dubai Mall.\u00a0 While on the plane, I was chatting with Beth (inflight internet is amazing!) and we realized that since our flight was ahead of schedule, if everything worked out, there was going to be enough time to still make it into the city.\u00a0 I did all my calculations and set alarms on my phone so that we could try our best to give Max some distraction during the downtime.<\/p>\n At Dubai, things went flawlessly.\u00a0 We were through security and in the cab even before we were originally scheduled to land.\u00a0 With Max on my shoulders, we were able to quickly see all the things I had promised him (dinosaur skeleton, water show, tallest building in the world, aquarium, and the biggest candy store in the world).\u00a0 We caught a cab back, and were able to get quickly through security with enough time to take advantage of the lounge (having frequent flyer status is such a blessing) to get a quick bite to eat and more importantly a shower.<\/p>\n Our next flight went just as well as the first.\u00a0 We had an open seat next to us despite it being an almost full flight.\u00a0 The people around us were very friendly and Max once again traveled like a champ.\u00a0 When we got to the Johannesburg airport, we got our luggage and a trolley and had some time to grab a bite to eat (who doesn\u2019t like calamari for breakfast!).\u00a0 We caught our shuttle back to Swaziland, which thankfully had a lot of empty seats.\u00a0 We both got some sleep on the ride home and were met by a staff member who had us home by afternoon with enough time to decompress and get cleaned up.<\/p>\n We started our journey on Monday morning and by Thursday evening we were safely back home \u2013 exhausted and a bit frazzled, but overall in great shape all things considered.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a> <\/a><\/a><\/p>\n