I got a call from my wife, Kanittha, that morning at work. She said that Little Nio had fallen down on his head... and that there was a lot of blood... and they were on the way to the hospital already. I could hear him crying in the background, he was obviously in pain.
My son does not usually cry in pain. He whines when he needs to communicate a need and he gets belligerent when he doesn't get what he's asking for. If he bumps his head he will stifle a cry and grumble about it with a sad face, then forget about it in a couple of minutes.
I left the office as quickly as I could. My boss, Donal, Little Nio's godfather, told me to drop everything and just go. I shut down my computer system right away and barked last minute instructions as I hurried to the lifts. I deliberately set my driving to a very aware and safe driving mode. The last thing we needed was another accident.
I am so very, very proud of my wife. She handled the crisis exactly as I had trained her. Manage the emergency, get all your resources sequenced properly and then make the calls once the emergency procedures are in process. She knew to call me after she had set things in motion and not to wait for me. She realized that I would be stuck in Bangkok traffic for at least half an hour before I could get to the hospital, so she managed as much as she could, and arranged to meet me at the emergency room.
While in the car she called to ask me to stop by the apartment before coming to the hospital, for extra clothes for Little Nio. He had completely bloodied all the clothes that he had been wearing.
Ten minutes later she called again, to tell me that she had remembered and found the spare clothes we had packed in the emergency bag. No need for me to go to the apartment, I should go to the hospital. But by that time, I had already made a committed detour for our apartment and I was now caught up in the flow of traffic without a chance of finding an alternative route to the hospital.
When I finally arrived, they were already out of the emergency room waiting at the cashier counter. As soon as Little Nio saw me he let out a sharp angry yell, "AAAAARRH!" As if to say "where were you?!! and what took you soooo long to get here?!!". Perhaps that was just my guilt. He might as well have yelled, "it's about time!"
I took this photograph at the hospital. Six stitches on the side of his nose on his left cheek. His chin, his left cheek, the eyelid surrounding his left eye and his forehead were all slightly bruised.
Apparently what had happened was that he had gone down with Pa Kut, to the carport in our apartment, in much the same way that they did everyday. My wife was upstairs in our unit on the fourth floor, washing his bottles and tending to other household chores.
Pa Kut had set Little Nio down so he could stretch his legs and do a bit of walking. She loves him dearly and takes extremely good care of him. She always holds on to both his hands when they go walking together like this. Little Nio had caught sight of a bird that had landed nearby, and before she could grab on to his waist securely, he bolted out of her hands chasing after the bird.
He might have suddenly remembered that he couldn't walk yet, or he may have lost his balance due to the uneven ground off the paved driveway. Either way, he came down hard on the side of a planter that split his cheek open.
At the hospital, I took my son into my arms and gave him a big and gentle reassuring hug. He hasn't learned how to speak yet, but that didn't stop him from blubbering and jabbering away as if complaining. I held him close and let him work it out of his system, stroking his back as he complained it all away. He truly does have some fiery Navarro blood coursing through his veins... and it hasn't been diluted at all, since my wife's family are fighters as well.
The second thing I did was I gave Pa Kut a big hug, to let her know that it was all an accident, and that I know she always does her very best to take care, to protect and watch over Little Nio. My wife shared that Pa Kut has a history of suffering from a weak heart. Stressful incidents like this might cause her to faint, or worse still she might have a heart failure. It was very important for me that she knows how much she means to us, and specially how much she means to Little Nio.
Accidents happen. We were very fortunate that while it was a big cut on Little Nio's cheek, it was in a place that might not even leave a scar when he grows older. And even if it does leave a slight, subtle scar, he can wear it proudly as a sign of character. We are very blessed to have Pa Kut with us, Little Nio's very own real life guardian angel.
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