Fifteen hands to remove a sliver?

We went to visit family in Nova Scotia last week and Alex got a sliver in her ring finger. Both my uncle and I tried desperately to get it out but Alex would NOT let us. We tried periodically for two days. My uncle suggested that I take her to the local hospital but I thought that was absolutely crazy, I could never do that! What mother can't get a sliver out of her child's finger? I tried to call Telehealth in Ontario but the number was not available from NS. There is no such thing in NS, so I called the local hospital to get their advice.

The woman who answered the phone was very nice but, as usual, said she couldn't advise me what to do. She did say, however, that if it was her daughter she would bring her in to the emergency department. She said that a triage nurse may even try to get the sliver out for me.

I brought her to the hospital, the triage nurse called us in and Alex screamed even before the nurse looked at her hand. You can imagine the noise when she did look at her hand. The triage nurse asked if I wanted her to try to remove it and I said, "please."

After a few pricks with a needle, she didn't even come close to the sliver. Alex screamed her head off! The doctors heard her from the rear of the department and suggested that Alex may have to be sedated for them to remove it. NO WAY! The triage nurse asked another nurse for her help and the three of us battled my poor little girl and got the sliver out. There was no way I was going to agree to sedate my daughter just to remove a sliver!

I felt useless and horrible for using our healthcare system for a sliver but the nurses said (after seeing it first hand) that I would have needed 15 hands to remove it myself. They made me feel a lot better. Thank goodness for kind, skilled nurses.