Last night Axes came home with a cut on his finger. I nearly fainted at the sight of my own child’s blood. I’m realizing that I am a pretty over protective mother if it has taken 4 years to really see my own child’s blood. I was in the middle of cooking dinner, and John came in and said Axes had cut his finger and daycare, and it was kind of bad; I should take a look. I looked at his finger and saw blood pooling at the top of the band-aid. I stumbled and had to sit down. I told John, “I can’t look at that”. He said, “You are his mother, you have to!” I finally gathered up all my courage and dealt with the situation. I had John hold the cut while I tried to call my mother. She wasn’t available! So I guess I really had to deal with it.

It wouldn’t be able to be stitched due to the nature of the cut, so John washed him up, I put another band-aid on tight, had him hold his hand above his head on the couch, and we put an ice pack on it. My mom called back later and said it sounded like I was doing everything right but said I could call the nurse line, because they may be able to put a pressure bandage on it. I waited another hour to see if it was still bleeding, and when it was, I tried to find the number for the nurse line. It was no where to be found.

What? No nurse line? What do I do? I guess I should just call the clinic. It did say they were open until 8. When I called, it said they were closed, but you could call another number for urgent situations. Was this urgent? I don’t know. Maybe that means nurse line. I called, and the woman who answered said should could page the on-call doctor. I said, “oh don’t know if you need to do that.” I explained the situation and said I’m just not sure if I need to bring him in. She kind of rudely said “While only you can decide that, all I can do is page the on call doctor, do you want me to?” “I guess so.” A very kind doctor called me 10 minutes later, listened to me, asked some questions, told me to wash out the cut, put ointment on it, and a band-aid on it. He said it would take a long time to heal. ETA: My Uncle Rick’s very wise advise is to spray liquid band-aid over the band-aid you put on . He says that is what they do at construction sites. You need to let it dry between coats. Thanks, Uncle Rick!

So in summary:

1. There are no nurse lines in State College. Apparently we have enough doctors that you can bother them about cuts.

2. You can handle it without your mother. And not even burn dinner in the process.

Here’s the recipe: (I revised it quite a bit from my Cooking Light meal plan, so I feel comfortable posting it here with credit to them for the inspiration)

• 4 ounces uncooked whole-wheat spaghetti
• 4 (6-ounce) bone-in center-cut loin pork chops (about 1/2 inch thick)
• 1 sliced fennel bulb (I also processed the fronds and added them to the sauce)
• 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 2 tablespoons fresh Italian herb paste
• 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• garlic powder, salt, and sugar to taste

Heat large skillet to medium-high. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add fennel; sauté 5 minutes or just until begin to brown. Add curry powder and coriander; cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Add wine; cook 30 seconds. Stir in herbs and tomatoes; bring to a simmer. Add garlic powder, salt, and sugar to taste. I added a few sprinkles of garlic powder, maybe 2-3 pinches of salt, and a whole tablespoon of sugar. What can I say, I like it sweet! Cook for 30 minutes until fennel has softened.

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain.

While pasta is cooking, heat a large stainless steel skillet over high heat. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper. Add pork to pan; cook about 4 minutes on each side. (As a food scientist, I feel compelled to say, use a meat thermometer and cook to at least 145F. The USDA revised recommendations to  this new lower temperature in 2011).