April 29, 2006

Gimme a Break!

It has been a tough few weeks with Caleb medically speaking. We made another visit to the ER today. You might remember that Caleb’s lip required stitches just two weeks ago.

Here’s how it all went down: It was a normal Saturday. We had a relaxing morning, a great lunch, and then settled Caleb down for a nap. Less than two minutes later we heard a heart-stopping scream. We ran as fast as we could to Caleb’s room. To our surprise we saw him lying on the floor holding his arm. He should have been in his crib where we left him. He decided to jump out of his crib today. What was he thinking? It is a three and a half foot fall.

We knew immediately that a trip to the ER was necessary. It turned out to be the right decision. Caleb has his first broken bone. The medical name is a distal radius fracture. For those of you without a medical degree, he cracked all the way through the arm bone about an inch up from his wrist. He has a splint from the tips of his fingers to the shoulder, and he will get his cast on Tuesday. They can’t cast it right away due to the swelling.

Caleb was able to perk up and make the most of his ER visit. He asked what every button and light did. He loved the X-Ray machine. He watched cartoons in our room, and he played with all of the toys. He left with a shirt full of stickers and a Popsicle.

I have two suggestions for the ER. They should have some sort of fast pass (toll tag) system for frequent visitors. This would have saved us some time. Also they need a frequent flyer or rewards system. A punch card might work well…like earning 9 punches and getting your 10th visit for free.

I’m all paranoid that people will think we are bad parents, and it really isn’t that way at all. The bottom line for us is Caleb has turned into a daredevil, and I’m predicting more ER visits are probably in our future.