“Good. That means that gel I put on it is working. Now, I'm going to use a needle to give you more medicine. It shouldn't hurt because of the gel, but if you're scared, you can close your eyes.”
Ashton's eyes went wide and his bottom lip quivered.
“Dr. Matthews is really good at this,” I assured him. “Stephanie, will you hold him tight so he doesn't move too much? If you're not good with the sight of blood or needles, I can do it.”
“I'm okay. Tough farm girl,” she replied with a weak smile. “I got him.”
“Okay.” I put on my gloves and held onto to Ashton's arm so he would hold still as Dr. Matthews injected the numbing medicine around the cut.
Ashton cried out and tried to jerk away. My heart clenched in my chest. I loved pediatric patients, but this was the worst part of my job. I hated having to cause them any pain.
“Ashton, which Paw Patrol is your favorite?” I asked him, moving so that I was more in his line of sight than his hand. “I like Everest.”
Ashton whimpered, but his mom whispered in his ear.
“I wike Marshall.”
“He's the dalmatian, right? The one with spots. What color is his helmet?” I could hear Dr. Matthews set the syringe down on the tray behind me.
“Meds are in. I'm going to clean it out,” he said softly behind me.
“It's wed,” Ashton replied. I loved the way he said his r's and l's as w's. Red became wed.
“And he's the clumsy one, right?” I made sure to smile and keep his attention. “He tumbles into that elevator and knocks everybody over. What's the tower called?”
Ashton smiled. “Yeah. The lookout.”
“And Rider always says, yelp for...”
“Help,” Ashton answered, a smile crossing his face. It quickly turned into a frown. “I wanna be done now, please.”
I glanced behind me to see Dr. Matthews shake his head. I could see he had just finished cleaning out a couple of small pieces of glass and was about to start the sutures.
“We're about halfway done,” I told Ashton. “You are doing fantastic. Can you tell me who else lives in the lookout?”
Ashton frowned, obviously not pleased that we weren't done with this yet.
“Tell her,” Stephanie whispered in his ear. “I know you love telling everyone about Zuma.”
“Which one is Zuma? Is he the construction pup?” I asked, knowing full well that he wasn't.
“No,” Ashton replied frowning at me. “Wubble is the construction pup. Zuma is the water pup.”
He looked at me like I was the insane one for not knowing what dog cartoon characters did as professions.
“Oh. Tell me about him.”
Ashton started slow, but built up speed as he told me of one of the many adventures Zuma and Marshall had been on. I quickly lost track of the plot, but it involved a whale. I nodded and made the appropriate surprised noises as he talked.
It wasn't long before Dr. Matthews touched my shoulder to let me know he was done. I let go of Ashton's arm and stepped back. The string of story coming from the boy didn't stop. He just started using both his hands to tell it.
His mom looked at his hand and she let out a relieved breath as she h
ugged her little boy tighter to him.
“Mom, I can't breathe.” He squirmed in her arms.
“You did great, Ashton,” Dr. Matthews told him. “I think you're the patient of the day. Would you like a sticker? Hannah will show you where they are while I tell your mom how to take care of your hand.”