I was feeling better about the boys going to a new school yesterday. Little Man had made friends with a young man the first day and was pretty excited about the whole thing. He likes all of his teachers at this point. He has seen some "good looking" young ladies and he and B had a nice discussion at the end of their first day as to the availability and looks of the girls at the new school. The "hotest" young lady was apparently some young lady in pink cowgirl boots that both boys thought she was just "it". Both boys had come home from school talking about the Mac books that the school is going to give out this year to every kid in the high school. Both boys found this to be extremely cool. Little Man was telling about his computer teacher and he talking about how he was going to have to show her how the mac books worked because she is not familiar with the macs and he's had his own for 3 years now and we've owned one here at the house for over 9 years now. B was not so overly excited but this is nothing unusual for him. He had no valid complaints about either the school or the students just his normal complaints about "school sucks". Yippee and who cares. Yes, I am a bad mother because I really don't care if he likes it or not. School is school and it's the law. He is required to show his happy tail in class until he graduates or turns 18. And he had better hope that he doesn't turn 18 and drop out because that would not be a healthy decision for him to make.
Day 2 of school seemed to be going even better. The boys went to bed at a decent hour the night before. Schedules seemed to be switching easily. They were sent off to school with the $5 needed to get a parking permit (the old school was $20). Cal was up very early (for them) yesterday morning and told me that he had ordered B his high school computer. I texted B so he would get the message during lunch and this was something that would make him happy. B actually had something good to say about the school because they give out "2 pieces of pizza" and they're "pretty good size too" for lunch here and not just the 1 that they got at old school. (Yes - ok- so it's a food related compliment. When it comes to that kid and school, I'll take anything I can get) I got a text from Little Man asking if they could go get pizza with someone after school. I jumped at the chance of that because that meant that they were making friends and friends mean - no more complaining. Little Man's girlfriend that he's had for a while but has only seen once since school let out really upset him and in itself, this is also good because then maybe he'll stop pining to go back "home" and give this a chance to be home.
I was on my facebook playing one of the games that they have on there. Yes, ok... all comments about my addictions to a certain farm game on the stupid facebook can wait. My cell phone rang and it was the athletic coach of the school. He wanted to let me know that B had been doing agility exercises during athletics and while running a drill, had tripped and fallen. The school thought that he might have sprained his wrist and they wanted to let me know so I didn't just have an injured child walking in the door. He asked if I wanted to let B ride home with Little Man or did I want to go get him or have them take him to a Dr.? Being the kind, caring type mom that I am - I told them to just send him home with his brother. I was thinking - fell, sprained wrist, yeah right - school over-reacting. I could ignore the whole thing, B would go out for pizza with Little Man and new friends and by the time he got home, the whole thing would be done. Can anyone say "wishful thinking"? Imagine my surprise (as I sat there in the clothes I had been painting in earlier playing on my computer) when Little Man and B walked in with one of their friends. The picture is not pretty my friends. I had been finishing Little Man's desk up earlier. I had on the clothes that I use to paint in and no bra. I was not expecting my kids let alone an extra at that point. So, as the boys walked in, I asked (like the good, concerned parent that I am) ... "What are you doing here? I thought y'all were going out for pizza." No applause necessary folks. Little Man informs me that they couldn't go because of B's hand. At this point, I actually unglue my eyes from my farm game and B is sitting in the chair holding his right wrist in his left hand. It's got an ice pack on it held there with an ace wrap and the child is in obvious pain. Now, remember, this is a child who tore his rotator cuff, finished the game with a torn rotator cuff, had surgery, and just came off 8 months of physical therapy with never a complaint of pain. This child has been in a baseball game, gotten his fingernail on his pitching hand ripped off by the ball, we've stuck it back on and he went in to pitch the next game of the double header with the injury. So, he is not one to complain about pain and the pain he was in was visible on his face as I could see he was trying desperately not to cry. Mind you folks, we just moved here. We don't have a Dr. here yet. I don't know where there's any type of hospital or emergency care center. I know that the nearest places have to be in Texarkana which is 30 miles away. So, while B is trying to keep control of himself, I'm on the phone to the 800 number of the insurance company, trying to figure out where I'm supposed to go. And calling an 800 number with folks in Austin, does you absolutely no good when you're in a small hick town, more than 300 miles away. Just for future reference folks. It doesn't do any good at all! Tim's friend ends up calling his mom who, bless her wonderful heart, gave me directions to the best hospital (read - quickest ER) in Texarkana.
After a more than 30 minute drive, we found the hospital and things moved rapidly from there. Ok, well, moved rapidly after we got into triage at least. We arrived at the hospital at 4:50. The waiting room was filled with people who mostly looked like they had no business wasting the time of the folks in the ER. Sorry folks- tangent coming. Pet peeve here folks- if your child is well enough to throw water bottles at his brother in the waiting room, he's well enough to wait to go to your family Dr. If you can carry a fast food bag with the hand that is supposedly hurt so bad you're holding it with your other hand- you're faking. Go try to feed your drug addiction some other place. And for goodness sakes young men- I do not care to see your underwear as you hold up your baggy jeans with one hand while walking and stuffing vending machine food in your face with the other. If you can manage all that, then you're well enough to not be there. And if you have to go the the ER, is there a reason that you bring 3 small children with you as well as the sick one? Do we all need to be exposed to your cold germs while your ill behaved kids run screaming thru the waiting room? And gotta love the lady with the pink and white flowered pants and the non-matching red shirt with her bra straps showing and the 1/2 dozen tattoos. Sexy there folks. Can anyone tell that I am not a fan of emergency rooms at the best of times? So, we sat there waiting to triage for over 30 minutes with me telling B to not touch anything and try to not to breathe while he's at it. Finally, I went and asked for an ice pack. The lady said that the triage nurse didn't want to give me one until they looked at his wrist. You should have seen her face when I told her that I really needed an ice pack to cover up the fact that the bone was coming thru the wrist and if I didn't cover it, I was going to throw up because it was making my tummy churn. 5 minutes later, we were finally in triage and things moved rapidly forward from there.
We were sent to the "fast track" waiting area straight from triage instead of back into the waiting area we had been in. This waiting room was empty (imagine that) and I started thinking that maybe these folks did have a clue. From there, within 5 minutes a nurse came to get us and we were taken to a room. The 1st nurse that came in after that was a fairly rude young man. He had quite the attitude and acted like we were there on a whim or something. I suppose, after what I had seen in the 1st waiting room, his attitude was understandable but he really was irritating. He said that xray would be coming for B shortly. Ok- knew that one was coming so no biggie. The Dr. arrived before xray and I started to worry a bit when she mentioned calling in an orthopedic before ever getting xrays done. The xray folks arrived really quickly after the Dr. left and took B. Next to arrive was a nice nurse man who wanted to know when was the last time B had eaten or drank anything. This is not what you want to hear when you go to the ER for a possibly broken bone. Those are questions they ask before anesthesia folks. B had been food free since 11:30 that morning. He had had some water on his way in to the hospital and that's what we informed them. We were told that he was to not have anything else from that point forward, that there was a significant break of both bones, and that the orthopedic surgeon was on his way in. I asked to see the xray and knew immediately that we were looking at a probable surgery. The radius and ulna were both broken at the growth plate. The radius was where the ulna should be and the space that is supposed to be between the arm bones and the hand bones was gone. The ulna wasn't attached at all and was just sort of sticking off to the side (the bone we could see trying to poke thru the skin). My questions from there on were along the lines of .... do you think this will require pins? Does this type of surgery require an over-night stay? Will he ever be able to throw again? And mixed in with those was a healthy dose of - No, B! You may not walk out of here before the surgeon arrives. And it will be fine. You have to get it fixed.
Within the hour, the surgical team was assembled, I had signed my life away in paperwork, I had spoken to the anesthesia folks and the surgeon, and he was in surgery. 15 minutes and out. No pins. They had to put him to sleep to set the break. He is in a cast from his fingers to almost his shoulder. The Dr. said he had to put the cast on very tightly to keep it as immobile as possible. The fact that it's on the growth plate was not of concern to the orthopedic as B's growth plate was almost sealed anyhow. He will be in the cast for about 9 weeks. This may give him some leeway in school as it's on his writing hand. The athletic director and the coach drove to Arkansas to the hospital last night to check on him. They got there as we were being discharged. We were out of there by 9. That's including the surgery and recovery time folks. I give kudos to the hospital for being that quick. Our longest wait was for the triage nurse to see him. I also give kudos to the coach and the athletic director for making the drive to the hospital. Our old school, the athletic director wouldn't have even known who B was or that he was at the hospital, let alone given me his cell number and called to check on him. The coach said that B was very calm when he walked up to tell him he was hurt. B apparently said "Coach I fell and I think I broke my wrist". I also thank both Little Man's new friend and his mom who went above and beyond what you would expect from someone you just met. New friend even stayed here last night with mom's permission. He and Little Man are gone to school. B is still sleeping on a mattress on the family room floor. I was up till 4 and back up at 6 this morning. Despite my lack of rest, I feel fine. I would love to post a picture of B and the cast but I don't see it happening. He's not overly fond of pictures at the best of times and this isn't the best of times. Tomorrow will be back to school for him. I'm off here to get on the phone, to find a primary care physician before something else happens. Please note: We have lived here about 2 months. I don't know where the mall is but I now know where the hospital is and have an orthopedic surgeon. The important things in life right?
Y'all have a great day!
