Sunday, June 21, 2009

Just another crazy Saturday

Oh my gosh ! What a day ! I spent a whole week agonizing over yesterday (and turning 47 years old) yet I managed to survive it. I figured that today I would sleep in and try to recover a bit from all the birthday cake and anxiety. Silly Me! I should have known better.

As it just so happens, today is "Go Skate Day." I don't know how official it is, but for weeks, all the Skate board shops have been proclaiming it all over town, and telling their customers (mostly teenagers) that it's a day when all skateboarders should unite and get out on their skate boards to show the world that they are not all a bunch of delinquents. Of course, to a teenager, that roughly translates to free reign over all previously forbidden concrete areas in town. For the past couple of weeks, my son, my grandson, and several of their friends had been planning to get together and skate all over Olathe. So, obviously, they were up and out skating before I was even awake.

Around Noon, I felt a tug on my toe and woke to find my son's right ankle laying on the pillow beside my head. (thankfully, it was still attached to his leg ) He said,
"Mom, does my ankle look okay to you?"
After a quick glance and a few pokes, I said,
"Ummm, yeah. What did you do?"
"I fell off my board and it really hurts."
I told him to go ice it down for a while, and I grudgingly got out of bed to start my day. Forty-five minutes later, I was sitting in the kitchen talking with Nick, when Jake came hobbling down the stairs. His ankle no longer resembled the ankle I had seen on my pillow. It had swollen up like a balloon and and was grotesquely distorted. Before I could even start my day, I decided that he needed to have it x-rayed and looked at by someone more qualified than myself. As I threw on some clothes and brushed my hair, I kept thinking about Spring break 2007 - when he fell off his board and ended up with a spiral leg fracture above his left ankle. He spent almost 10 weeks in a full leg cast and on crutches - that was a nightmare!

The emergency room was unusually quiet for a Saturday afternoon and we got right in to see a doctor. After x-rays and an examination, the doctor concluded that it wasn't broken, but seriously sprained. He went on to explain that a sprain like this can actually take longer than a fracture to heal and that for the most part, it needs to be treated in much the same way. As the nurse wrapped his ankle in a splint, and gave him a pain pill, I could see, from the look in my son's eyes, that he had no intentions of spending his summer in a cast, or on crutches. As soon as we got home, he stripped away the bandages, removed the fiberglass splint, and re-wrapped the ankle with just the ace bandages. He's in enough pain that he can't bare much weight on it, so he's using one crutch to get around. So far, he's been cooperative about keeping it elevated and allowing me to ice it down once an hour, but I can see that if he's going to put up a fight if he's stuck on the couch for more than a week. This could turn out to be a LONG summer.

As soon as I got Jake settled in at home, Heather reminded me that I had promised to take her shopping this afternoon. So as soon as Roy got home, we were off. Shopping turned out to be a lot of fun for both of us. We had a great time together trying on clothes and just doing girl stuff - it was nice. Lately, Heather has been too busy with her friends for us to spend much time together. We grabbed a bite to eat and got home just as Roy was finishing up with walking the dogs.

Lately, Roy has been really great about helping out with the dogs. I don't know what I did, but my right hip has been really painful for the past week or so. Jasmin has been teasing me that now that I'm an old woman of 47, I probably need a hip replacement. (ha,ha)

I didn't even have time to take off my shoes or sit down, before Roy informed me that we were out of dog food. UGH! At the last minute, he offered to drive me to the store so that we could spend a little time together. That also turned out nicely. After we got the dog food, we ended up goofing around at Walmart for a couple of hours and just having some fun together. (without a houseful of kids and dogs)

For the most part, it's been a pretty good day. Although, I'm concerned about Jake's ankle. I'm taking him to see the orthopedic doctor on Monday, or as soon as they can schedule him. I'm really hoping, for the sake of every one's sanity, that it isn't as bad as it seemed this morning. The last thing I need right now, is another stubborn and contrite attitude in my house. Right now, I'm just exhausted and ready for bed.

Good night,
Love, Susan

3 howled back:

Anonymous said...

Poor Jake! My kids have been pretty good with broken bones meaning: we haven't had any!

Em has popped her elbow out two or three times when she was younger, but that's about it. I'm hoping they keep a clean record like that..I can't imagine them laying on a couch either without going stir crazy (actually my son L would probably think that was cool because he could play playstation all day).

It's nice you had a few hours with Heather and then with hubby! I like going to the shops as well, and just walking and talking round.

Have a great day you guys!

Anonymous said...

that was four exclamation points. count them. four.

I must get all chirpy when I come on your blog and talk in a high voice or something. :)

Auburn~haired~artist said...

You may be as exclamatory as you please on my blog (!)