The Finger Adventure, Episode 3

So I call Andy and tell him we're going to the ER, and since he had to be at work at 6 the next morning, he might as well just stay home and get some rest.

I wince as I make the turn back onto the interstate, knowing he will pick up on it. But I look in the rearview mirror, he is concentrating on some thought.

"ER??" he asks.
"Yes, do you want to go?"
"Mommy go ER?"
"Yes, I'm going"
"Me go ER too?!"
"Sure! We'll have a little ER party tonight!"

He seems excited. I'm trying to calculate how long I can ride this little ray of sunshine luck.

We get there, and he is still happy. Mum (that's what he calls my mom) is there too. It's always helpful to have a nurse around to explain what's really going on. We wait for a few minutes. Brent seems okay, and then I see him looking around at all the people that have some sort of physical illness. Mum and I watch the realization creep onto his face slowly - that this is not the kind of place healthy people to go have a good time. He looks at me, a bit unnerved. "Me not want go ER anymore".

But we did get back there, waiting for hours between doctor or nurse sightings. He was pretty good. We watched cartoons and sang my new hit single "Party in the ER". He enjoyed his "new" bed in his "new" room, and all the cheese puffs we let him eat from the vending machine. We wore fashionable lead jackets when x-ray time came, and he let me manipulate his very-painful finger for the shots. Finally, the diagnosis came - it was infected, most importantly, and broken as well (poor little tip was crushed). They would have to lance under his fingernail to get all the nasty goop out, and then would buddy tape his finger to the one next to it.

So I held him down, and looked away as they put that needle into his finger. He screamed, but got over it quickly, I thought. I would have been LOADS worse about it, personally. And today, it's looking much better. He is agreeable as we soak it in the evenings and re-make his splints.

So, his first broken bone. I don't have a date, since it was a couple weeks ago that he got it caught in the door at school and must have broken it then. I would have never known if it didn't get infected. Goes to show just how tough this kid is.

Thanks for joining us for the Finger Adventures. Hopefully this will be the last episode in the series :)

The Finger Adventure, Episode 2

I study Brent as he is in school on Monday. He's playing normally, and I think he is using that hand again. But around 3:00, I see him getting up off the floor, and he avoids using that hand at all. I know it's time to do something.

After picking him up, I stop by and catch Mom in town, and she confirms that he needs to go. The tip is still very red, and under the nail is a bit of white, it looks like. And Mom's friend notes that there is a red streak going down the side of his finger.

That doesn't sound good.

So off to the doc-in-a-box we go. I decide to go the mature route and explain to him 15 minutes away that we're going to get his finger looked at so the doctor can fix it!!! That turned out to be a VERY bad idea. As soon as we turned the wrong way off our exit, and he knew we really weren't going home, all hell broke loose.

We walked into the door of the emergency center, and luckily no one was there. If they were, they would have heard the following recording, seemingly and endlessly looped:

"WANT GO HOME, WANT GO HOME, WANT GO HOME"

The receptionist tried asking me questions, and I answered the ones I could hear through the slight pauses in the screaming. My shoulder was already soaked from the crying, and he was WAY past any bartering. I tried candy. I tried juice. I tried talking about Thomas. Nothing. Nada. Just the endless loop of wails.

So, she got us into the room, where the screams seemed louder in a smaller area. The doctor came in shortly, took one look at his finger, and told me to head to the ER. He said it needed lanced, and that Brent would never hold still for that and would probably need general anesthesia. Wonderful.... And he said, just for good measure, that I should have taken him yesterday.

So we leave, me feeling like the worst mother ever, and Brent smiling and telling me that he made a lot of tears back there. And he is so happy to be going home. Ummmm... yeah. We're going home...(eventually).

The Finger Adventure, Episode 1

Setting: Sunday night, after a lazy weekend beating the heat.
Time: 8:30 pm, 1/2 hour past putting Brent to bed.

I hear a little cry coming from the other room. I try to ignore it at first, hoping he just rolled over onto one of his trains and will fall back asleep. Five minutes later, I hear it again. And repeat in another five. This time, it's more urgent, and I go check on him. He's trying to sleep with his hand stuck above his head, fingers all splayed out. He says his finger hurts, so I check it out.

"Oh honey, I think it's just jammed. The tip is a little red, but I don't think I can do much about it, unless you want to go to the doctor"
"NO doctor, Mommy!"
"Well, where did you hurt it?"
"Hit couch, riding my bike"
Hmmmm...the soft leather couch. How bad can it be? I remember when he did it, and he complained about it then for a second, but then went about his day normally.

So I laid with him for a few minutes, trying to coax him to sleep. He fidgets and wiggles, and finally we get up and take some Motrin and put some ice on it. I tell myself we'll check it in the morning and see how it is then. He still can't fall asleep, so I let him watch Thomas in bed for an hour, and he eventually drifts off.

At 4:00 am the next morning, he calls to me again, and I go in and sleep beside him until about 7:00. His finger is about the same, so I take him to school and tell them to call me if it gets worse.