A New Family Milestone

Sorry...still no photos. Auuuuuuuugh!

I would LOOOOVE to be able to upload all my photos to the blog, as so many blogworthy events have transpired in the last few weeks , but I need a non-Mac computer to do so and I'm still waiting on that.

So bear with me, peeps. Hopefully very, very soon.

Anyway, getting back to the blog at hand, this week we celebrated a brand new family milestone:

4 year old Judah's first cast.

Big surprise there.

Yes, somehow we got through fourteen years as parents without any broken bones, only to have Judah come along and break our streak at age 4-almost-5.

Literally.

And of all places for it to happen? During an Awana meeting after church on Sunday evening.

The boys were supposed to be waiting on the bench for us just outside the classroom. But as time wore on, as brothers do, they got to roughhousing.

Somehow in the process, Judah fell and caught himself wrong, his entire body weight coming down on his wrist bones.

During the meeting, my mom radar detected what sounded like a whimpering sound instead of the distant giggling and talking. I peeked out the door, and saw my baby lying on the sidewalk holding his wrist and whimpering.

Naturally, my heart plummeted to my knees. I swayed a bit. Felt my hairline go cold with dread.

Then, as usually happens with Judah episodes, I experienced that whole feet-stuck-in-buckets-of-cement phenomenon as I rushed to get to his side in what felt like slow-mo.

So I finally get there, and he's doing this little panting-whimpering thing, "It huuu-u-u-urts, mama." Not a cry, per se, but you could tell he was in pain. It would have taken a whole lot worse to make him actually cry, but I noticed that his eyes looked rather glassed over with pain. Clearly, something was not right.

We requested one of the ladies, Mrs. S, (also in the meeting) step outside as she is a nurse with grown children and knew what to do in such situations.

She told us that there was likely nothing that could be done for him that evening, as the immediate swelling sometimes makes x-rays hard to read. Better to make him comfortable and take him to the hospital first thing in the morning when the swelling was minimal.

Sooooo, after immobilizing his injured wrist in an ace bandage and giving him Children's Tylenol we endured the longest. night. ever, waking with his every movement and whimper (with me growing every more delirious and crazy for lack of sleep with each sound), and finally rose and took him to the hospital.

Or as Judah says, "The hos-dib-bow."

Our newly instituted insurance plan sent him to a large hospital far from our house. We'd never been there before. Had no idea how things worked.

I must say that aside from the rather unfortunate name for the hospital, Kaiser Permanente, (permanent not being something one wants to associate with a hospital stay), we were very pleased with their speedy, streamlined and hassle-free service.

Our appointment was for 10:20 am, we were out of there with a cast on by 11:30. We were home sleeping within a couple of hours of that. With our old insurance plan, we would have been stuck in waiting rooms in different parts of town for most of the day. So, as an added bonus, Jeff actually had an afternoon off.

Our whirlwind adventure began at 10:20 when the nice family practice Doctor poked Judah's arms to determine where the injuries were, and had him do a couple hand-motions to determine if it was a fracture or a sprain.

And she totally called it, "Judging by where the pain is located and the fact that he can't do these motions with his hands, my guess is that there are two fractures, one on each bone. However, we're going to send him to upstairs for an x-ray just to be sure."

We had to go to the 3rd floor for the x-ray, and were in and out in minutes.

It was here, while looking down to the first floor of the hospital, that we noticed that Judah had managed to climb a railing that hangs out over that 3 story drop using his one good arm.

And where once again I felt that cold dread feeling spread across my hairline and into my stomach before my knees went weak and I grew a tad bit faint.

Did I mention that only days before this incident Judah was playing with our neighbor boy across the street, and when, upon hearing shrieks of delight I peeked out the window to check on them, I see him take a flying leap from their very large tree?

My heart plummeted that time, too, until I saw him bob up and run around to climb it and do it all over. Because naturally he thought it was all great fun.

At times like these, I just have to turn around and walk away. The tension that immediately knots up in my shoulders (not to mention my stomach) at witnessing such things takes weeks and several massage appointments to recover from.

Yeah, heights don't scare him. Or speed.

In fact, I'm quite sure we've got an adrenaline junkie on our hands, and am seriously questioning the wisdom of passing along big brothers too-small motorcycle to him so soon. Perhaps it's just best to wait until he's 18.

Though by that time I fear he may have joined up with Navy Seals, Special Ops or some such.

All of this daredeveil-ish behavior leads me to believe that we might as well put the casting department on speed dial for the duration of Judah's childhood. Lord, have mercy!

After x-rays and peeling him off the 3rd-story railing, went back down to our doctor on the first floor, who immediately pulled up his digital x-ray image on her computer and sure enough, there were two small fractures on the radius and ulna.

"We're going to send you over to the casting department for a long arm cast. For children this young, we need to immobilize more of the arm for proper healing. After you get the cast, you're free to go. Here is your appointment to come back in 10 days so we can see how things look and we'll let you know then how long we'll need to keep the cast on. Oh, and mom and dad, keep him indoors out of the heat as heat makes him swell enough that it could cause discomfort in the cast, and any perspiration could cause it to itch down inside."

"In the meantime, young man, you need to eat lots of good, healthy foods for your bones, okay?"

Within a half hour, he was getting his cast put on and within a few minutes we were out the door.

Easy-peasy!

The big bummer, of course, is that this means no more swimming for Judah for the remainder of the summer.

And, he'll likely have the cast on for his birthday party next month, so the bounce house idea is a no-go.

So far, the only complaint I've had from him is, "I don't look cool when I'm dancing in this thing." Though I still have to wonder how he discovered this fact.

There's also the whole milking-the-system thing that began when I refused his request for MnM's before breakfast this morning.

In a very Fred Savage-like voice (from his early role in the movie The Princess Bride) he looked up at me and said, "Mom, the doctor said I have to eat good food for my bones!"

Ah, yes, but your mama fails to see how MnM's are considered a good bone-mending food.

Had he said ice cream...maybe, just maybe I would have caved.

Now if we could just manage to keep the cast dry.

Do you know how hard that is when boys get so dirty playing during the day and need nightly baths?

Already we've had a freak incident involving Judah on a chair, kitchen faucet on full blast, Judah slipping and catching himself on the edge of the counter, whilst floundering about madly and knocking over the glass soap dispensers trying to gain traction. Again I ran across the house in slow-mo to try and rescue him...but was too late.

He'd already regained his footing, and holding his cast proudly aloft, "I didn't get it wet!"

Which is good, because he doesn't want it to wash off all the autographs his friends have written on it.

And because we didn't have to go back to the hospital for a cast for his other arm.

**sigh**

It's going to be a long few weeks.