...7..8..9..10....Cast or Not Here We Come

For me it has been a week. Just busy. All the mom hats I keep juggling. This week we took Flutter Nutter to the ENT for post-op follow-up. A+, Great ! But since it is in the same building as our other doctors, the stories from April come up. AND...We were there just lask week to get Flutter Nutter's cast removed and arm x-rayed again. We will be there next week, for one more follow-up on the broken arm. Not to mention all the other "little" incidents. Have I ever mentioned the ladies at the front desk, who check us in, know us. They KNOW us. THEY KNOW ALL my kids by NAME. THEY KNOW them so well, they often don't have to ask us for birthdates to verify who we are. THEY KNOW US!
So this crazy, busy week as I try to get ready for FUN MOM's 15th birthday. Yep, 15! I am little buzzy over that one. Driver's permit here she comes if she ever finishes her freshman year. I may just fail her in a couple of subjects. Of course, 11 year old Hockey Player, has this light fuzz of a mustache going on and he'll be 12 soon. Little Princess cries at the drop of a hat, slams doors and is sooo obviously becoming hormonal with her 10th birthday looming around the corner. It is so much fun, when Fun Mom doesn't understand why Little Princess is being "so, so, so WHAT is wrong with her???" Well let's see, when did you hit puberty, Fun MOM? Her response, "10.5-11 years old???"
MMMhmmm, and how old is she???
Fun Mom immediately collapses in "No Way ! ! NOOOooooOOOOoooOOO, she is my LITTLE sister."

But back to topic, what does casting got to do with all this. Defintely not fishing this time. I am in this little tumbleweed called life. A friend is over, taking care of late afternoon stuff. Feeling a bit overwhelmed cause I am having difficulty finding the correct feathers. Another topic in of itself. But they are needed for the birthday this week.
In this tumbleweed, of my so called life, walks Flutter Nutter sobbing. He has tripped over Gus. Gus is our friendly bark-o-meter. He likes to be underfoot. Unfortunately.
So perceiving these cries were more of indignation, I ask Flutter Nutter, "Is this a hurt cuz something is broken and we need to go to the doctor."
FN: "No" He comes to get a hug and walks back off to go play.
Minutes later, in walks two of the neighbor boys, "Hockey Player is hurt."
OKay, my brain switches pathways and I think, is this the kind of hurt that is bothering them more than Hockey Player. Well, I don't hear crying, must be okay. Didn't quite register that Hockey Player doesn't cry, holler, sob or wail, he just gets very stoic and even more quiet.
But wait, here comes Hockey Player, and in my experienced mom way I ask, "Anything broken?"
To which he responded, "I don't think so, it just hurts."
OK. Good, go on doing your thing. Back to the tumbleweed.
30-45 minutes later, things are calming down on the homestead some. House is quiet and my nerves and thoughts have quieted some as well. In walks Hockey Player, very quietly, "My arm really hurts."
OKKKkkkkaaaay.
I have him come to me. I manipulate it, touch, poke, prod. Get some "oOoOOOows", and some "that doesn't hurts." What did you do exactly? I was hiding, and Daddy's Buddy was in the suburban. I didn't know he was. He opened the door and... WHACKED his brother good. Where is the eye ball rolling dizzy little emoticon for a time like this? ? Who knew Hide and Seek could be so dangerous?
Call the doc, cause it is 4:30, and maybe they can give me some guidance. I am sooo very tired of walking in there with injuries this Spring. There is no bruise, no swelling, just a bump. But it is a bump with a scratch. I get those bumpy scratches too. Nurse tells me, yes, can have a broken bone with no swelling and no bruising. Really ? ? Learning something new, again!
However, if his arm is broken, all they can do tonight is Xray it and confirm one way or the other. No casting till the next day. So, we have a choice. Keep him comfortable for the night and go in the next day or go to the doc possibly 2 days in a row. Hockey Player, opted being kept comfortable and waiting for 'tomorrow'.
At one point, he gets nauseated from the pain. But then he is fine. Ice and elevation. This morning it hurts more. At the doctor's office, it doesn't hurt that bad, BUT he is trying to tie his shoe with one hand. It doesn't hurt so bad, as long as he doesn't move it.
Off to X-ray. Where they know us very well. However, I did have to clarify this visit was for a new injury, different child. I am holding a brace in my hand. Forgot to mention, Fun Mom pulled out her brace from when she sprained her wrist, just happened to be for the left arm, and gave it to Hockey Player the night before, for stability. The reception asked us, if we had come into the doc and got the brace, or we had one already. Laughter, and yep, we had one at home that happened to fit. From there the conversation digressed.
In some families, the kids wear hand-me down clothes. The Clark household wears hand-me down casts and braces. We wondered if we could hand-me down stitches as well. And mind you, we do have the casts from the past. So we could rubber band those on. Good to know, if we ever find ourselves without insurance. So, I am psychotically laughing by now. X-rays are done and it is time to get the news. No Broken Bones, a Bruised Bone. To which the doctor tells Hockey Player, you can milk this one for a while. He then proceeds to pulling out a sling, telling us Hockey Player should keep his arm in the sling until he feels his arm is doing well enough without it. I, of course, ask how long this typically is. 10 days or so. WOW! Hence, the permission to milk this one for a while. Fortunately, he hurt his left arm. So he can still do work. I graciously pointed this out and that if he really wanted to get out of school work, he would need to get a serious concussion that would prevent him keeping his eyes open and keep his head hurting enough so that thinking would be difficult.
Bruised Bone. A new one for us.

The Long Wait is Over.... (pictures)

The Long Wait is Over....

Timing is everything. Sometimes the timing is long in coming. The kids, their dad and I have been talking for a long time (4 years long time) about going fishing. Not living in the same town, it gets a little hard to coordinate such an endeavor. Add in emphysema, weather, health, and schedules....well time has flown by. But with Grandpa's latest visit, we made a point of it to go fishing. Only one fish was caught. We give credit to Flutter Nutter. It was his line. This fish ended up being half as big as him. I had the privlege of reeling in the catch of the day. Of course. as it always goes, there is a story to this fish. We had been catching lots of rocks and brush. So when I took the line I was convinced he needed help freeing himself from a rock. A tug, a little slack and then a big tug.... A FISH! Well we had been watching the kids on the shore and what they were catching. They weren't anything all that exciting big. An exciting catch but nothing to run and go get a camera for. The line was really pulling. I was trying to not be wimpy. Then this fish surfaced. "HELP" "HELP!" I am hollering. Then realizing dad can't help, he is connected to his O2 tubes. Big O Daddy O is busy with 3 other kids and their fishing poles. "HELP!" "HELP" They are all laughing, until they take a look. Quick as he can BODO is getting the net. A little bit of comedy there, trying to maneuver around children, fishing poles and the mom, yelling, "HELP!" "HELP!"

We defintely took pictures and the kids quickly turned to Grandpa and asked what kind of fish it was. It was definitely not crappie. DRUM fish. The kids were quick to say, "Of course, it is flipping around in the boat and it sounds like a drum." I got a quick lesson in freeing the fish from the hook and putting him on a string and hanging him off the boat. Back to fishing we went. With a little convincing the kids agreed to free this fish back to the waters till next time. Disembarked the boat with stories to tell and dreams of the one that got away were still to be had in their sleep. Looking forward to the next adventure!

April Reflections, part 5, the finale

Day 8 of this roller coaster. I am blogging.
I truly hope, this will be the last of the spring time excitement. I have yet to check, but I think we are probably close to having exhausted our flex account.
Monday morning started with a quick shower, history lesson about Justinian 1 and Theodora. I knew it would be the only lesson I would get done for the day.
Flutter Nutter in his PJs is out the door promptly at 8 am.
Time for ear tubes.
All went well, till the recovery.
I did not expect 30 minutes of crying.
and drama...remember the ER.
DRamA.
Flutter Nutter is king of drama.
Nurse would walk into the recovery area and wailing and sobbing when resume.
Thermometers were as scary as a horror film.
I was compassionate. I was kind. But completely not prepared emotionally for how emotional he was. I mean, I had ear tubes. I remember being a little freaked out by bloody cotton balls laying by my head and the fact I was in bed with a sheet over me and my gown and undies were missing. But then again, that was 30 years ago. I don't remember crying.
I asked him what he wanted to eat.
FN: "I can't eat today!" more sobbing.
Misunderstanding, fasting only until surgery was over.
In that case. McDonald's.
Can do.
Then he remembers the lollipops.
The nurse comes into the room.
FN: "I think that was worth 2"
She looks at me.
I laugh. He thinks what he has been through is worth 2 lollipops. She smiles.
And returns with another lollipop.
So I take him to McDonald's and like any good mother, I remember the Gymboree email I received this morning.
Gymboree is 2 miles away.
I coax him into letting me shop. $2.99 sale! TV, chairs, lounge and rest. Drink your root beer.
YES! He agreed. Turned out to be a good thing. An hour later, he was feeling much better and ready to see his siblings.
I scored some awesome deals.
Casting in the afternoon. More appointments scheduled for the ENT and follow up for the broken arm.
Wiggles, and wiggles and wiggles.
FN: "I am not allowed to hit you guys with my cast!"
That's right. Rule number 1 from the doctor.
Daddy's Buddy is quick to say he would have chosen the neon green. Without thinking, I said, "Well, break your arm and you can have whatever color you want."
Hmmm, running out of humor and patience and little fried.
Doctor was quick to say, "Shhh, don't say that. That one would likely take you up on it!"
CHOKE, GAG, he's right, what was I thinking?
By now, my boys look like they have beaten each other up. But it is all self~inflicted.
Do they slow down? No.
Do they care their mother's nerves are shot? No

Then.... yes, there is a then....
Almost bedtime and FN has a gushing bloody nose. Noticed by Little Princess.
Caused by picking his nose, of course.
Blood everywhere. We are trying to clean him up.
He sobs, dramatically, of course,

"It's just be mean to Flutter Nutter Day!"

and I am sure it very well felt like that. Tubes, fasting, casting, nose bleeds, blankies being washed...

Tomorrow had better be "Pamper the Mom day, cause she needs a vacation!"

April Reflections, part 2...

So, I am thinking, I should know by now there will be at least 1 week of roller coasting every spring and fall. Something about the change of seasons and activity level of my children. I am never prepared for it.

So in my last post I discussed Daddy's Buddy adventure. I completely forgot to mention we were at the dr. office on Monday for Flutter Nutter. Simple sinus infection...nope, sinus infection with bronchitis developing and wheezing. Dr. decided breathing was an important thing for the kid so he put him on STEROIDS and ALBUTEROL breathing treatments. Sounds like the dr. doesn't like me. We are sent to the ENT the next day.

ENT says lots of fluid and diminished hearing. TuBeS will be needed. OK...I am OK, I can deal with this.

So I spend the afternoon making phone calls and setting up appointments for the oral surgeon and ear tube surgery. (Yes, oral surgeon. I have 2 girls who will get to have oral surgery this spring/summer.)

Normal Wednesday after stitches and phone calls on Tues. Relatively normal Thursday.

Friday evening.

"Flutter Nutter fell, he is crying!"

"Flutter Nutter fell, from the fort!"

I have to make sense of 3 children ages 9, 7, and 6 as they tell stories of what happened and try to coax a sobbing 5 year old to tell me what hurts and what happened. Apparently, only the 6 yr. old saw what happened, and only briefly as she went about playing. Flutter Nutter was too preoccuppied crying to be able to tell me much. I did manage to discover he could not hold a bowl with his left hand. His eyes appeared to be equal and reacting to light appropiately. From what I could piece together, he fell about 8 feet onto a 2x4. His face was scraped pretty good, a few scrapes on his neck and back. But his arm.... not so good.

Into the car. Hockey Player went with us. Needed someone to keep an eye on him in the back seat. Good thing.

All was fine. Immediate Care could see him. Then he fell asleep. FELL ASLEEP. Couldn't hold his head up as we tried to talk to him fall asleep. He did cry really hard for 30 minutes. There was a huge adrenaline rush, and exhaustion tends to follow after that. BUT, he did fall 8 feet and he did hit his head. So the dr. office sent us to the ER. Hockey Player sat with him and tried to keep him awake. About a mile from the ER he gets Flutter Nutter to play I SPY. Checked in, he's counting to 15 and remembers 2 months ago we were there in the ER and he got a popsicle. Does he get another one??? he wants to know. Concussion ruled out.

Xrays, more tears, a buckle fracture of the wrist.

I try to wipe his face clean and discover splinters sticking in his cheek. I ask for tweezers and get a doctor. I hold him down and dr. removes splinters. Arm gets splinted, we get sent home.

Friday night! As we leave, Flutter Nutter is being a bit dramatic. Even the doctor commented on his drama skills. I lovingly encouraged FN to try out the children's theatre. Wouldn't be wonderful if one day he was accepting an Oscar, and was able to thank his mother for the time we were in the ER and she encouraged him to pour that passion and emotion into theatre. He didn't think that was such a great idea.

Webinz manages to be a wonderful distraction. How I am able to respond so calmly? It is only by the Grace of God. My sense of humor, again, the Grace of God.

April Reflections, part 1...

The morning after a sleepless night and I must write these thoughts and memories down before I forget. There just might come a day I need to hand some of these stories over to the children I am blogging about.
It has been an interesting week to say the least.
Monday started off busy as always. Tuesday came along and I scratched my plans to head out for the evening and opted to curl up with the kids and ice cream. It would have been better for all of us if we had headed out. Approaching 7:00 and with bedtime looming I told these sweethearts to get a move on, get ready for bed, get their ice cream and lets watch this movie or there won't be time before lights out. What sweet, obedient children they are, the obeyed and got busy. Daddy's Buddy hurried to do my bidding and ran into his brother's bowl of ice cream. Hockey Player came into the room and said DB was crying because he ran into his bowl. Not too alarmed, not hearing the cries, I didn't think too much of it.
In walks Daddy's Buddy and blood is running down his face and I see a hole to the side of his eye. I YELL, "Go to the kitchen!" Of course, then everyone is wanting to know what is wrong. I just know I want blood on the kitchen floor, not the carpet and everywhere else. We have done that before.
Quick call to Immediate Care and they have a pediatrician on duty that can do stitches. Into the car with DB and the rest stay home to watch the movie and eat ice cream. As we are leaving DB asks, "What about my ice cream?" To which I holler into the house, "Put DB's and my ice cream in the freezer please. Bedtime is 8:30"
But it only gets better. The receptionist, nurses and doctor all ask, "How did you cut yourself?"
DB and I respond with, "Ran into a bowl of ice cream?"
"No, really, what happened?"
Me: "Really, he ran into a bowl of ice cream."
I then have to explain the looming bedtime, the movie they want to watch and ice cream they want to eat and the hurry to grab a bowl and get sat down for the movie. Then they want to know what kind of bowl. A normal, rounded, cereal bowl, that is very cold with ice cream. In response, we discover this is a first for them. Bowl of ice cream takes out boy! Then I pull a mom moment, as they get everything ready to numb and stitch. There is a little (much littler) girl out there waiting to be stitched as well. I tell DB he has to be really brave and not scare her with lots of screaming and crying.
2 Stitches later and lots of bravery on his part we are home eating ice cream and watching Tangled. DB is appropiately impressed with Rapunzel's ability with a cast iron skillet.