Lorenzo emerged from seeing their last patients. ‘Billy Jackson is three. He fell on the stairs an hour ago and cut his forehead.’
Badly enough to need stitches rather than glueing the cut together, Lorenzo assumed, or Laney wouldn’t have asked for them both to see the boy.
‘Let’s go and have a look at you and sort out that cut, Billy,’ Lorenzo said with a smile when they went out to see the little boy.
Billy looked anxious and shielded the cut with his hand. ‘I don’t want to. It hurts.’
‘I promise you we’ll try our best to stop it hurting,’ Lorenzo said, crouching down to the little boy’s level. ‘Do you like cars?’
Billy nodded solemnly and clutched his mother’s hand.
‘So do I. Tell you what, while I’m looking at your poorly head, do you want to look through all my pictures of cars and see which one is your favourite?’
Again, Billy nodded.
‘That’s great. I’m Dr Renzo, and this is Dr Jenna. And I promise we’re going to make your head feel much less sore.’ He took a pack of cards from his pocket and handed them to Billy, straightened up and looked at the little boy’s mum. ‘Are you OK, Mrs Jackson?’
She gave him a rueful smile. ‘Just about. There was an awful lot of blood. That’s why I brought him into the emergency department—and they sent us up to you.’
‘Head wounds always bleed a lot, and they always look much more scary than they really are,’ Lorenzo said, to reassure her.
‘Do you know how Billy banged his head?’ Jenna asked.
‘He tripped while he was going upstairs and he banged his head on one of the treads,’ Mrs Jackson said.
‘We see lots of children who’ve done exactly that,’ Jenna said reassuringly. ‘Was he unconscious at all after he banged his head, or has he seemed woozy since then or wanted to go to sleep?’
‘No. He started crying the moment it happened.’
‘Probably from the fright he gave himself, as well as the pain of the cut,’ Jenna said. ‘But it’s good that he wasn’t unconscious or woozy—that means he probably doesn’t have concussion. I know it must’ve been a real worry for you but, as Renzo said, it’s a lot less serious than it looks. Would you like to sit on the bed with Billy while we take a look at his cut and do a couple of tests?’
Between them, Lorenzo and Jenna took a closer look at the cut—a long gash, though thankfully it didn’t have jagged edges—and then they checked his pupils and his reaction to light.
‘I’m happy that we’re looking at a straightforward cut rather than concussion or anything to worry about,’ Lorenzo said. ‘It’s quite a big cut, so we’re going to need to put stitches in. But I promise it’s not going to hurt, Billy. I’m going to put some magic cream on your head so you won’t feel anything when I mend your cut, and before that I’m going to ask Dr Jenna to help you to breathe in some gas and air. It’s a bit like the stuff you get in a balloon when you’ve been to a party.’
‘A balloon?’ Billy’s eyes went round with amazement. ‘Will I go up in the air?’
Jenna clearly heard the slight panic in his voice because she said, ‘No, sweetie, I promise you won’t. You’ll still be sitting there right next to Mummy.’
‘And meanwhile you have a job to do,’ Lorenzo said, gesturing to the cards Billy was holding. ‘Have a look through these cars and tell me which one is your favourite.’
Jenna administered the gas and air, and Lorenzo put anaesthetic gel on the wound.
‘Can you feel me touching your head?’ Lorenzo asked.
‘No-o,’ Billy said, sounding surprised.
‘That’s good. Now, tell me about the cars you like best,’ Lorenzo said.
While Billy held his mum’s hand very tightly and looked through the car pictures, exclaiming every so often about one he liked, Lorenzo closed the wound with six neat, careful stitches.
‘The good news is that the stitches are dissolvable, so you won’t have to come and have them taken out again,’ Jenna said to Mrs Jackson. ‘I’ll run you through how to care for the wound and I’ll give you a leaflet as well, because obviously right now you’re worried sick about Billy and it’s hard to concentrate and remember things when you’re worried. Basically you need to keep the area dry for the next two days, but you can wash it quickly with soap and water and pat it dry after that. If the wound opens up or looks red and swollen, or there’s any kind of discharge, bring him straight back.’
‘Thank you. I will,’ Mrs Jackson said.
‘So which one’s your favourite out of the ones you liked, Billy?’ Lorenzo asked when he’d finished the last suture.
‘This one.’ Billy handed him a card with a picture of a red sports car.
‘Good choice. That’s my favourite, too.’
‘Because it’s red?’ the little boy guessed.
‘Because it’s Italian, like me,’ Lorenzo said with a smile.
Billy’s eyes widened. ‘Have you got a real car like that?’
Lorenzo chuckled. ‘I wish! Maybe one day.’
‘I want a car like that when I’m all growed up,’ Billy said.
‘That sounds like a good plan,’ Lorenzo said. He took a glittery sticker from his pocket with the words ‘I was THIS brave’ emblazoned across it. ‘And I’m giving you a special sticker so you can show everyone else how brave you were today.’
‘Thank you,’ Billy said. With a shy look at his mother first, he handed the rest of the cards back to Lorenzo.
‘Thank you,’ Lorenzo said. He smiled at Mrs Jackson. ‘Try not to worry. I know Jenna’s taken you through what to look out for, but if you’re concerned at all come back and see us.’
‘I will,’ she said. ‘Thank you so much for what you’ve done for Billy.’
‘Pleasure,’ Lorenzo said. ‘Take the stairs a bit more slowly from now on, Billy, OK?’
The little boy nodded.
‘Nice work,’ Jenna said when Billy and his mother had gone. ‘So you use car pictures to distract little boys?’
‘Not just boys. Girls like cars, too,’ Lorenzo said. ‘But I have a backup set of cards with puppies and kittens, to distract the kids who don’t like cars.’
‘Know your patient, hmm?’ Jenna asked.
‘Something like that.’
She glanced at her watch. ‘It’s almost lunchtime. Are you already spoken for?’
Lorenzo felt his eyes widen. Was
