An interesting night

Just after dinner I heard a loud whomp followed by ear piercing shrieks. Not a good sign. Found Matthew curled in a ball hysterical and holding his arm. It was swelling but nothing obviously out of place. So we iced it and I gave him some motrin. It only helped nominally and he continued to cry frantically off and on. I asked him to move it and he could move his arm in some positions, but when he tried to straighten it, he could only get it part way there before getting extremely agitated and refusing to move it further. The swelling was getting worse right at the elbow, so after a call to my Dad (thanks Dad!) I decided to take him in to get it looked at.

Of course, Jonathan is out of town right now. He missed all of the fun! So I made some calls and found a neighbor who could watch Melissa while Matthew, Isaac, and I took off for the ER. We got there to a fairly crowded waiting room and we waited. Matthew was quite grumpy about this. Being up way past his bedtime and in pain wasn't helping matters. I explained to him that really sick people and people having trouble breathing have to go first. That helped his mood some. The motrin kicked in and as long as he held his arm perfectly still with the ice pack, he did better.

As he started to feel just a bit better, he had questions about everything. "Why does the automatic door have a red light that blinks on and off? What is that the nurse is pushing? How come a police officer is here? Why do the TVs only have boring grownup shows? How come this? What is that? Why that?" His most pressing question was, "Will they make me straighten my arm out?" When I said I didn't know, he started crying for the first time in the waiting room. "I can't do it! It hurts too much!" I assured him that the nurses and doctors would do everything they could to help him get better and would be very gentle. He wasn't much reassured.

Isaac meanwhile was doing his very best to escape my arms so he could crawl around. No way was I going to let him get on the dirty floor. After about an hour of Isaac wrangling, he fell asleep (briefly).

When it was our turn, Matthew got a very nice nurse. She brought him some popsicles and a new ice pack (the one from home was no longer cold). Matthew reveled in the experience of eating popsicles at midnight! His first quavering question was whether he would have to straighten his arm, the nurse assured him that they would work with him so he wouldn't have to move it much. He felt better after that.

He had some pretty impressive swelling, so they x-rayed his arm. No obvious breaks (which surprised the PA), but there was one area the PA wanted the radiologist to review. She explained that either it was a particulary nasty sprain at the elbow, or possibly a hairline fracture which can be hard to pick up, especially on an elbow. While waiting, the cute little boy in the room beside us made a glove balloon which he gave to Matthew. Matthew was very pleased. I made a quick run to the restroom, and a kind nurse offered to hold Isaac for me. He howled the entire 2 minutes I was gone. Bless that nurses heart, I thanked her, and she said no problem. She said her kids were just like that, very attached to mama. The other nurses teased her and said she must have pinched him. Isaac, meanwhile, effortlessly charmed the nurses (as long as he was in my arms). We had several nurses just pop their heads in the room to chat with Matthew and coo over Isaac. My boys are cute fellows.

Matthew's nurse came back and explained to him that they would have to measure his arm to make a splint for him. He got concerned again that he might have to move his arm, but she reassured him that she could measure his good arm so he wouldn't have to move the other one. All bandaged up and in a sling, we were ready to go. Matthew got a little coloring book which he read, a reuseable ice pack, and the nurse gave him a children's gown for bedtime "so he get in and out easily and be comfortable." Very nice.

We got back a little before 2. I carried Melissa and Isaac up the stairs. That's 60+ pounds of dead weight. Tucked everyone in and crawled into bed myself.

An interesting night.