Seems like not that long ago, I was discussing birthdays and broken bones. Alas, here we are again.
On Andrew's birthday, and mine too, we'd planned on attending soccer practice, going home to a nice birthday dinner, and having a relaxing evening. Anthony got me the best birthday present ever-- I just can't express it's amazingness. It's one of these: way neat birthday present. As it turns out, it was an even better present than I could have imagined. You see, we went to soccer practice. But no dinner... we went to the ER instead.
Literally just as I was finishing up my conversation with one of the other parents, verifying the times and location for that weekend's soccer tournament, I hear a scream from a few feet to my left. Then I see Alexander running over, hollering "I broke my arm! I broke my AARRRMMM!!"
Three (or was it four??) hours later, we finally arrive home. Splinted, medicated, tired. We ate birthday cake and went to bed; on the 5th we realized that we hadn't sung the birthday song, so we finally did. But I learned several things from my experience:
- Even tough kids need pain medication. Even more when they are tough, because the ER staff equates "tough" with "fine".
- Thank God for husbands with uncanny timing. My awesome birthday present had arrived, unexpectedly, the evening before. I ended up using it to download a kids book, and utilize its distraction-creating ability to the fullest.
- No one uses the ER for Emergencies. I swear, I'm so sick of seeing snot-nosed kids with ear infections, just because their parents don't want the hassle of the doctor. Thats why it takes *real* urgent cases hours and hours...
- Remember the first aid kit. Take some Tylenol before going into the ER. It will help, at least, while they take 3 hours to decide to allow pain medication. For a Broken Arm, for heaven's sake!
