True to Form... (the saga continues)
Nothing ever goes according to plan.
I did spend a brief spell in town the day of my previous post... had a coupon for a free coffee and another for a discount on a book I wanted to get for one of the children's birthdays. Just enough time to find the book, get the coffee and pick up the kids at school. So I thought.
Got to school just as the bell was ringing to let the kids out. Walked in and the secretaries practically jumped over the counter at me. "We've been trying to contact you!" "He hurt his arm on the playground..." "Might be nothing but you probably want a doctor to look at it." The kid had actually left a message for me on the house answering machine just as I was heading out the driveway. And I wasn't yet in cell-phone range.
Well none of those things are what a mother wants to hear. Guilt was the emotion of the day...
I took a look at the kid, bravely holding his arm close to his body, an icepack over the wrist, a friend carrying his fiddle case. I inspected the arm -- no bruising, no real swelling, but he was pretty tender. So of course we canceled our other plans. I took time to go home and call the nurse to be sure it was okay to give the kid ibuprofen for the pain before I drove him in for x-ray. The other kid stayed home and took care of dogs.
Sure enough, it was a broken wrist.
Best kind, though, a torus fracture of the distal radius. That's a sort of "splinter" break that doesn't detach or get displaced much, on the thicker arm bone that attaches to the wrist near the thumb. He came home with a splint and instructions to take it easy. On adults a splint is usually enough to keep it immobilized. But a week later it was still tender to the touch, so the active, rambunctious child now sports a lovely blue cast. We go back next week for another follow-up.
That same night, the other child was playing in the pep band for the high school basketball team. Long-suffering spouse came home to get dinner and do taxi duty for that one while I was at the doctor's. They had sandwiches at a restaurant on the way to the game, and had a great time. Though my beloved didn't play high school sports, several of his siblings did, and he enjoyed going to games in high school.
When we were done with the medicos I took my brave child to one of his favorite restaurants. We really enjoyed our meal. Right up until I bit into the eggroll and realized they had changed their recipe to use beef... though I don't think I actually swallowed any, within twenty minutes my tongue was swollen. By the time we got home the rest of me was pretty swollen too. Thank goodness for fast-acting antihistamines... Kid and I spent the evening sitting watching a good movie Zathura, being quiet, which is what we needed.
So after all our careful plans, putting off skiing until this last week (which was mid-winter break) he is not going to be able to ski this year at all. We had a quiet week at home instead. Seems like "quiet" is getting to be our middle name! But there will be other activities, other occasions.
And in the middle of the last two weeks we have had minor illnesses and slightly more than minor, a visit from a dear friend, a re-thinking of school schedules and classes, rain-hail-snow-lightning-sun showers (yes, all in the same day, several days!), and a trip to the Seattle Flower and Garden show... all of which will be blogged in increments!
I did spend a brief spell in town the day of my previous post... had a coupon for a free coffee and another for a discount on a book I wanted to get for one of the children's birthdays. Just enough time to find the book, get the coffee and pick up the kids at school. So I thought.
Got to school just as the bell was ringing to let the kids out. Walked in and the secretaries practically jumped over the counter at me. "We've been trying to contact you!" "He hurt his arm on the playground..." "Might be nothing but you probably want a doctor to look at it." The kid had actually left a message for me on the house answering machine just as I was heading out the driveway. And I wasn't yet in cell-phone range.
Well none of those things are what a mother wants to hear. Guilt was the emotion of the day...
I took a look at the kid, bravely holding his arm close to his body, an icepack over the wrist, a friend carrying his fiddle case. I inspected the arm -- no bruising, no real swelling, but he was pretty tender. So of course we canceled our other plans. I took time to go home and call the nurse to be sure it was okay to give the kid ibuprofen for the pain before I drove him in for x-ray. The other kid stayed home and took care of dogs.
Sure enough, it was a broken wrist.
Best kind, though, a torus fracture of the distal radius. That's a sort of "splinter" break that doesn't detach or get displaced much, on the thicker arm bone that attaches to the wrist near the thumb. He came home with a splint and instructions to take it easy. On adults a splint is usually enough to keep it immobilized. But a week later it was still tender to the touch, so the active, rambunctious child now sports a lovely blue cast. We go back next week for another follow-up.
That same night, the other child was playing in the pep band for the high school basketball team. Long-suffering spouse came home to get dinner and do taxi duty for that one while I was at the doctor's. They had sandwiches at a restaurant on the way to the game, and had a great time. Though my beloved didn't play high school sports, several of his siblings did, and he enjoyed going to games in high school.
When we were done with the medicos I took my brave child to one of his favorite restaurants. We really enjoyed our meal. Right up until I bit into the eggroll and realized they had changed their recipe to use beef... though I don't think I actually swallowed any, within twenty minutes my tongue was swollen. By the time we got home the rest of me was pretty swollen too. Thank goodness for fast-acting antihistamines... Kid and I spent the evening sitting watching a good movie Zathura, being quiet, which is what we needed.
So after all our careful plans, putting off skiing until this last week (which was mid-winter break) he is not going to be able to ski this year at all. We had a quiet week at home instead. Seems like "quiet" is getting to be our middle name! But there will be other activities, other occasions.
And in the middle of the last two weeks we have had minor illnesses and slightly more than minor, a visit from a dear friend, a re-thinking of school schedules and classes, rain-hail-snow-lightning-sun showers (yes, all in the same day, several days!), and a trip to the Seattle Flower and Garden show... all of which will be blogged in increments!
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