About 2 weeks ago, My 3 big kids were outside playing freeze tag in semi-cool weather. It wasn't bitter cold like it had been here previously.
It was dusk.
Not that it matters - I'm just setting the tone of our tale.
Let's see if I can rephrase..and maybe even accomplish some nut shelling.... "Cabin feverish children at dusk decided to play freeze tag."
Mini-Me came in crying. She had fallen over our slide. Tripped and fell.
My first thought was -- that takes talent. It's huge. AND YELLOW. (She got this talent from me, I'm sure. We are talented folk here at the laundry pile.)
I knew that the leg was not broken but I knew it was going to be one doozy of a bruise. It was an interesting blue-green at the point of impact. No skin was broken - so she put ice on it and I moved on with life. Dinner. Bed time. Discourse. Silliness. The normal night time stuff.
And then she couldn't sleep. It hurt too much. Everytime she touched it on something, it hurt.
And it was still swelling.
Well. Drats.
The Professor and I did that "eye-lock" thing that parents do... and after a brief discussion Mini-Me and I headed off to the Urgent care center.
The first person (Intake nurse?) took info and then left - and another one came in saying something about "I'll take a look..." in that tone of voice that told everyone that she doubted it.
She took one brief look and said, "Oh, yeah. It needs an x-ray>"
and she was gone.
And then we had the x-ray tech come. Mini-Me asked questions. We got to see the bones (No breaks, no fractures!!!) and then we went back and waited for the on-call doctor.
It's around 10pm now. Mini-Me is tired. She's shivering. She's wrapped up in her little blanket. She wants to go home (now that we saw the x-rays) and she's getting cranky.
The doctor said that there were no breaks. And he asks her if she knew the names of the bones in the leg. She told him "I forgot." - because we had asked the x-ray tech. He begins to tell us, while pretending to talk to her, about the bones in her leg. That if this one had been broken she would not have been able to walk on it.
"I could see the swelling in the x-ray."
I laughed. So could I.
I could see the swelling the next day, too.
wanna see?
Then he tells her, "This is what we call a hematoma. Do you know what that is?"
Remember the description I gave of Mini-Me previously?
"No, I don't. And I don't really care." was her answer.
He took it all in stride...after a second. He said, "You're going to be feisty when you get older. I can see you as a CEO of a company or a high-powered attorney. What do you want to be?"
"A veterinarian or an ocean-ologist." she told him.
The next day, her bruise hurt and I, being the mom that I am, took pictures.
It hurt her when she wore denim - so comfy pants were required.. and so was frozen Stir Fry -- because it was swollen and had a bit of a fever.
Her bruise is so much better. She was cute that day. "Mom it's really funky colors. and it hurts."
and I had an epiphany of sorts. "I know it hurts. There isn't much else we can do besides the tylenol that you had. Let's call it 'pretty' and 'healed'. "
It was kind of pretty. But when that came out of my mouth - Holy Spirit patted us on the back. Complaining about it wasn't going to help at that point. That was the best thing we could have done. It changed her way of thinking and talking - and it really healed much faster than it might have otherwise.
One thing's for certain, if you don't want her to give you an answer -- you'd better not ask the question.
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It's supposed to ice. It's raining in teensy drips which is freezing, mostly on the bridges, overpasses and my van.
