okay, okay

**This is super long. Lots of hospital details, and maybe a little humour. Maybe. **

I've been writing lame posts, I know. For some reason, I've been lacking the gumption to write much. Today, I shall.

Max's arm is broken. I think I told you that part. There are two bones in the forearm. The ulna is the inside one, closest to the body when the arm is hanging down (with palms down). Max broke this one right through. The radius is the outside one, which on Max is bent. I believe a bent bone is called a greenstick fracture. If you want to have a look-see, Max's injury looked something like this, although the child pictured appears to be older.

When Max fell off his bike and it was clear that he had suffered more than just a bump, Paul whisked him away to the ER. I stayed home with Marty. Since Max's carseat was in the (broken) van, he just went in the front seat of Paul's truck. He still talks about that, every time we go in the (now fixed) van. He says "Daddy went fast! Like Lightening McQueen in a race!". Word got around pretty quick (Thanks, Sharon.) so Paul's mom arrived to stay with Marty and offer me her car to go up to the hospital. (Thanks, Oma!) Max was happy to see me, although I think he stepped up his neediness factor with me there. Paul left to move his truck from the entrance to the ER and to go investigate the problem with the van. Turns out we just needed a new battery. Easy fix. Paul was gone for a while and came back around 10:00 to bring me my "dinner" of Pringles and chocolate milk. I went out into a different room so Max wouldn't see me eating and want some. Poor boy wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything. :(

We sat in the ER from about 6-9 pm. Paul was with him for the first bit, including the x-rays. Max and I got to see lots of ER action while on our stretcher right in the middle of the ward. Did I mention we were in the HALLWAY?! I'm so excited for our new hospital to open this summer!

There was the girl, about my age, who had just flown in from the UK that day and gone out golfing with her friend. Her friend accidentally hit her right on the eye with a club. She had a big bump and a pretty big cut. Can you imagine how terrible her friend must have felt?! Yikes. As the doctor repaired her, I asked for the nurse to close the curtain so Max couldn't see the ordeal.

Then there was the young guy who came in by ambulance, in handcuffs, who was escorted in by two Correctional Officers. The ER doc referred to him as "a guest of Her Majesty". The convict thought that was pretty cool. Max kept asking me why the police were with that guy.

Then I noticed a paramedic over in the corner. He looked really familiar. He kinda looked at me like he recognized me, too. Oh ya, he was the guy who I had met ONCE and then he told someone that we were "sort of together". A few of you might remember what his name is, we'll leave him unnamed. I thought he had gotten married, but he had no ring. Maybe just for work?) I saw him again when I went for a check-up on Max's cast on Wednesday. Awkward.

The bone doctor, Dr. Mehin (not Meehan, but sounds the same) finally came to see Max's x-ray. He looked at it and then casually told me we'd be waiting about 3 hours to get it set and cast. Great. Not long after we were sent upstairs to the Pediatric ward. This was so much nicer. Dim lighting, three sweet nurses, books, videos ... and a new round of checking vitals just to keep things interesting. We were given a room, and told that we'd be staying overnight. They pulled out a bed of some sort for me, and I was so not looking forward to spending the night there. I got Max settled in and chatted with the mother of the little boy in the same room with a broken leg. She broke my heart, telling me about how she didn't know she was pregnant until she was 14 weeks along, and she had partied hard during that time. She kept disappearing and then coming back, and I realized she was going out for smoke breaks, she and her 35 week pregnancy. So sad.

Max watched a little bit of a few movies but lost interest. This is when Paul came with Max's bedtime essentials (kitty, blanket, flashlight) and my snacks. Not long after we were told the OR was ready for us. OR?! No surgery, that's just where they set the bone and did the cast. The nurse and I worked together to get Max's clothes off and into a gown and off we went. While in the ER with Paul, a paramedic (not THE paramedic) had given Max a temporary tattoo. The dude put it right on Max's hand, so the anesthesiologist (I almost spelled that right, the very first time!) couldn't see any veins in his hand for an IV. While he considered that, I chatted with Dr. M about the cast. When he told me it would be a plaster cast from his hand, almost up to this shoulder, I laughed. That made everyone laugh because they thought I would maybe cry. After I laughed, I thought about crying. But what could be done? They decided to give Max a gas to put him out and then fiddle with the IV. I stayed and listened to his muffled cries as he slowly faded. The escorted me out to wait in the hall. In only 20 minutes I was called back in. My boy was awake and looking for me. He was quite emotional for a few minutes but was soon back to his normal curious little self. "What's that, Mommy?" "Excuse me, Nurse. What is that for?" "What is that pumper bag thing?" "What is that black thing?" I asked him how he was doing and told him he was so brave. He said "Oh yes, I am brave. And I have my Larry-Boy suit with me." I asked where. "Right here beside me Mommy." He may have been a little loopy still, and we both had a few laughs. Then we learned we would get to go home. Hooray! As we made our way out of the recovery room, I encouraged him to say thank you to the doctors and nurses. They all said "Oh, he already did!" It was one of the first things he said when he woke up. That's my boy!

So back upstairs for about an hour of observation, and then a nurse found a wheelchair to take him downstairs. She waited with him by the door while I brought Oma's car around, and she helped me get him in and settled. We had musical beds at our house that night. Frieda slept in Marty's bed (bottom bunk), Marty slept with Paul in our bed, and Max and I camped out on the floor in Marty's room.

Are you still with me?

Saturday was the first of 3 days of bedrest. How to keep a wiggly almost 4 year old boy still, with arm elevated and iced? Movies. I got a bunch of movies for him and watched them non-stop for 3 days. We're still working on weaning him off of them. About the ice, Max kept calling it his ice cap. Oh, how I wished for an Iced Capp while we waited those 8 hours at the hospital!

By day 3 of "rest", he was getting restless, and now he's raring to go. He's learning a few of his limitations, but is coping very well. Today he told me that it's not a heavy load anymore, it's just a small load. He went to pre-school today and was so proud to show his cast to his teachers and friends. We went to the mall last night and he said he wanted to show his cast to EVERYBODY. Um, no. Not happening.

Okay, I'm tired now. Thanks for reading. I should say, thanks for caring enough about our boy to read the whole story.

So how long? At first we were told the cast would be on for 6 weeks. I went to see Dr. M the other day because Max has some swelling around his thumb. He said that was normal, but trimmed the cast back a bit. This seems to be much better. He now says that if the cast is still intact in 5 weeks, to go back to have it removed. This gives us one week before we're planning to go visit my parents and go camping with Paul's family. Phew.

That's that. I'm super tired now.

Night, night.