Skeletal Scare

I took one look at Luke when picking him up from daycare today, and my heart sank. He was sporting a new bandaid on his elbow, which is sadly not abnormal. What concerned me was the fact that he was holding his right wrist with his left hand, his shoulders were all hunched up, and he was looking very sad (not upset or in pain, just sad and pouty). I remember the last time I had seen him look that way, almost exactly 4 years ago when he broke his arm.

I checked him out as best I could before we left. He had tipped over the tricycle at daycare and landed on his elbow. (Sound familiar? Last time, he fell off the top of a (very short) slide and landed on his elbow.) "It hurts when I move it." I squeezed on it, and he didn't react, but the amount of pain he was reporting just didn't make any sense with the tiny scrape on his elbow. I was concerned, but not alarmed. I decided to keep an eye on him and see how things went.

Water play day is tomorrow, so he needed water shoes. Target is not all that far from the house, so we headed there before dinner. When we left daycare, it was "it hurts a little when I straighten it." In transit, it was "my arm hurts and I'm tired." By the time we arrived at Target, it was "my arm very hurts" along with some whimpering. It was also much more swollen than when we left. I called my mom, but I already knew what she was going to say. "Take him." So I did.

DH was playing basketball at Georgia Tech and not answering his phone. I sent him a text message saying to please call me, hoping I would get to speak with him quickly. I went by Wendy's to grab some food so we weren't starving while we waited, but he still hadn't called by the time we pulled into the parking deck at 5:30. I finally had no choice but to leave him a text message stating that I had taken Luke to the ER for a possible broken arm. Not the way you want to find out something like that, but I wanted him to know in case I couldn't answer when he called. Good move, since the doctor had just walked in when my phone rang.

Luke was still quite pouty and holding his arm. They decided to do x-rays, which was not a surprise, especially given the previous fracture. X-ray took forever to come get us, to the point that the doctor called them again and said "come get these people now!" (Things were not very busy.) We had the first round of x-rays done at 7. Radiology came back and said they wanted an x-ray of the left arm for comparison. Translation: s/he sees something that might or might not be a fracture, but they are not accustomed to reading x-rays of children (immature bones), so they wanted to see the "normal" arm to be sure.

Left and right elbows matched, so it was diagnosed as a contusion with swelling. He is in a sling, but no cast or brace or anything. If he's still in pain Monday, we should see an orthopedist. By the time we left, the swelling was much better, and he was acting much better (besides being exhausted; it was nearly 8:30). I got him an ice cream cone on the way home because he was so very good while we were there. He is, however, very unhappy about possibly having to miss water play tomorrow. If he is acting okay in the morning, I may send him to daycare in the sling, but let him take it off and do water play, then put it back on, and then rest it the remainder of the weekend. I figure he will be fine by Monday.

As we left, the computer kept saying that Luke was not covered under DH's insurance. "It says coverage ended in 2009." No, our *old* coverage ended in 2009. We've had this coverage since then. Are you sure you are submitting to Company B, not Company A? Not sure if the computer was glitching or what, but she finally just wiped out what had been entered earlier that evening and redid it herself, and it came back confirming Luke's coverage. The copay was painful enough; not sure what would have happened if we'd been handed the full bill, (other than someone at the insurance company getting an earful tomorrow). Then I got out to the car and realized I had accidentally left on both map lights inside the car from when we were eating. Thankfully the car started anyway. We got home just before 9 and had the child in bed by 9:30. I am so ready for bed! I just want this week to be over.

Is that our three? Lost job, ruined all food in refrigerator, and now an ER visit. If bad things come in threes, that means we're done, right? RIGHT?!!

Currently feeling: ready for things to go right for a while