That'll teach him!

Campbell's been off school for the past couple of days with a cold. Today he was feeling a bit better and wandered through to the kitchen to get himself something to eat. To do this he needed some cutlery and decided that the easiest way to get to it was to dry and put away the dishes. Amongst the cutlery - a very large and very sharp kitchen knife!

He's not sure exactly what he did but thinks he picked it up and swing his arm down as he turned towards the knife block... casually slicing through his lower thigh as he did so.

At this point his first aid training from the Scouts and Red Cross kicked in. He didn't panic, put pressure on the wound and went through to the bathroom to clean it up. Calmly calling 'Mum, could you come down and have a look at something?' By the time I got there, all of 30 seconds, the bathroom floor is looking a bit horror movieish and Campbell's just a bit peely wally. He had actually stopped the worst of the bleeding but I quickly realised that it was going to need more than a sticking plaster to sort it out.

So off we went to A&E. Poor lad was calm and uncomplaining and pointed out that at least it took his mind off his sore throat.

The staff at The Balfour hospital A&E were, as always, wonderful. The gash was fairly deep and as it was just above the knee they decided that it would have to be some good old fashioned stitches, no glue or fancy paper type things. The doctor that patched him up was great and when Campbell told him he'd been doing first aid training he then talked him through what he was doing with the anaesthetic and the stitches.

Campbell found it all very interesting and we were both annoyed that we'd forgotten to take the camera (pah, call myself a blipper) for some before and after shots. So all you get is a picture of him very proudly displaying his bandaged leg and trying to look in pain.

He'd also like to point out that drying the dishes is a very dangerous activity and should be avoided at all costs.