ER or FD

We have been in the school system now for 6 years and I have NEVER received a call from the school nurse... EXCEPT for last Friday! Here's how it went:

Nurse: Mrs. Thomas, could you please come down. I have your son here with me.

Me (panic): Which one? Was there a peanut mishap?!?! (Ben and Zach are allergic to peanuts.)


Nurse: No, no, I have Christopher with me. He has a... (pause)... a... ring on his finger. Well, no, it's more like a washer of some sort. He has two stuck on his ring finger.

Me: Oh, yes, I remember seeing those in the garage the other night. On the shelf.

Nurse: Yes. Exactly. During morning assembly he got the attention of the principal and he brought him over to his teacher. She then brought him to me and I have been trying to slip them off with soap and lotion but have had no luck. His finger is starting to swell and I think you should come and take him to the doctor.

Me: O?K? I am waiting for the neighbor to drop off her son (so she can go to the cannery) and I'll be to you in about 10 minutes, as soon as she comes with her son. Soak it in cold water and please keep trying to get it off!

Nurse: Well, please hurry!

I hung up and dialed the pediatrician and he recommended that we go to the ER for he had no way of removing the rings! GREAT! That would mean a very llloooooonnnggg wait and very very BIG $$! The neighbor brought her 2-year-old over and he (Dax) and Emma (3 yrs) and I took off for the school. We got to school and found Christopher with rings on his fingers (but no bells on his toes)! The middle-school nurse was coming down for she had a ring cutter in her equipment stash. When she entered and saw "the rings" she just laughed and said to the Nurse, "You told me they were RINGS, not heavy duty washers!" There was no way! But she had an idea that I never knew... Mrs. Thomas, did you know that the Fire Department cuts off rings?" My face lit up, "Really! Really! That's where we're heading first! I'll let you know how this all comes out! Bye!" And off we ran...

Fire Department: Well, well, what have we here?

Me: Yeah, Hi, my son got a few rings stuck on his finger. The school nurse told us that you may be able to help us out?!?! (Please... please...)

Fire Department: Ok, you bet. Where did you get these rings Chris? From a gum ball machine or something?

Chris: No, they were in my Dad's Tool Box.

Me. You see, they are heavy duty washers.

Fire Department: Yes Ma'am. Well, I'm sure they are not that heavy duty. (chuckle chuckle)

Me: Well, Chris, you need to show the officer. Christopher, open your hand and show him.

Fire Department: (LONG PAUSE) WOW! Those are heavy duty. RJ, can we get these suckers off?!

RJ: Yeah. Stick him in the ambulance and get the hax-saw.

They brought out these 3-foot snippers and could not get a good enough grip on the rings without squishing Christopher's finger. They got out every pair of pliers, snipper, etc. that they could find (at least 20 pair). No Luck! It's about 15 minutes into the procedure and I was starting to give up hope and thinking about the $$ that would be spent and the TIME LOST going to the ER. Then they got out the KY-Jelly and also axle grease. Emma and Dax had had enough of sitting in the ambulance. We had 4 fireman huddled around Chris. (Christopher was smiling for he thought it was pretty neat to be sitting in the ambulance.) Then they began snipping at the edge of ONE of the rings. They snipped enough to be able to start filing away and after they filed the one side, there was still no way to slide it off or bend it enough to get it off so, they began snipping and filing at the other side... an hour later, Christopher was FREE!