Not as fun as pulling taffy

Well, last night was pleasant.

Not.

Felix screamed through his supper. He wanted to watch Diego. NOW! I semi-force-fed sweet potato turkey Shepard's pie with cranberry sauce him in between his demands. When he had eaten enough that I was satisfied he wouldn't die of starvation in his sleep, he slid out of his chair and ran to the fridge, his demands changing from "Diego" to "Yop" ... you got it, NOW! I should have just given in. It's not that big of a deal, except I try to limit them to one Yop a day, otherwise they'd drink them alllllllll.

I was tired. I was frustrated. And so I slapped his hands away from the fridge door and repeatedly re-closed it,  I finally grabbed his arm to pull him out of the kitchen. Just as he dropped his weight into another floor directed tantrum.

I heard the soft 'pop'. I saw his face go pale, mouth open in the silent howl. Scooped him up, grabbed a Thomas the Tank Engine ice pack and tried to calm him down, all the while mentally kicking my own ass for not being patient and hurting my sweet boy. It seemed to be his elbow and he was refusing, whilst howling aloud, to move his arm.

Jay wasn't answering his cell. The office phones were routed to voicemail since it was after hours. Elliot was still eating his supper while I carried the crying Felix next door to see if the neighbours were home. They weren't. I came home and started calling friends. Reached someone on the second try and they said they'd be over right away. I called a cab and was buckling the carseat in when help arrived. Friends stayed with Elliot while I took Felix to Children's Emergency.

I forgot about the tether. I only did one side of the LATCH. I gingerly put him in, with a sweater to brace his arm and didn't bother with the shoulder strap on that side. And off we went.

The white info board advised a minimum 3 hour wait for non-urgent issues and up to 45 for emergencies. The triage nurse gave a still crying Felix some Advil and a popsicle - a quick and dirty test to see if he'd reach for it with the sore hand. No dice. She did a quick snap of his arm to see if it would go back into place, since it didn't feel broken anywhere. He howled. And then we waited. And waited. And Jay showed up with a blanket, soother, lovie and diaper. And we waited more.

After 2.5 hours, he got his second wind and wanted to play with the other waiting kids. (A 17 month old was there for a cheerio-up-the-nose removal and a 2 year old was there with raised red gooseeggs around her eyes from a fall.)  Felix started to move his arm and except for one direction, it seemed fine. I think the nurse might have actually reduced it (official term for fixing this type of injury, I found out later) a bit and paired with the Advil, it sort of fixed it.  So, we talked quickly with the nurses and since there were still 3 people ahead of us (and it was a busy night for urgent cases), we decided to bring him home.

Bad choice. He slept terribly and woke up in pain again, refusing to use his arm. So we packed up the boys and after debating our choices, made a family trip back to the ER. We saw a dr within an hour of arriving, but then had to wait another 2 hours before getting into xray. Luckily, they had a few toys, books and a fish tank where we were waiting, so the boys didn't go totally bonkers. Good news is that no fractures appeared on the scans. But they said that if he still wasn't using it by Saturday to come back in. They said it's likely something referred to as Nursemaid's Elbow.

*sigh* Apparently it can take 3-4 weeks to completely heal and the child is much more susceptible to it happening again... until their bones mature and grow enough to prevent it from happening more - usually after age 5.


While we were there, and part of the reason for the delay in getting to xray, was that there was a Code Blue. A cardiac arrest. In the children's ER. I was standing in the hallway when the mother collapsed, hyperventilating, on a chair at the end of the hall. It was intense and scary, with alarm bells going off, the calm voice on the speaker announcing the code and everyone running. From what I could hear, the little boy, who is 2, had a pre-existing condition and he collapsed so she called 911. By the time we left, there were lots of family members in the room, hugging each other. It was unclear what the boy's status was. Scary. That poor mother. Her voice. I hope I never, ever hear that kind of anguish again.

My monkeys are already in bed tonight, both asleep before 7:30, which is unheard of in these parts. But that's what little or no naps can do. I dearly hope the mother from the ER is able to hold her sweet monkey tonight and that's he's safe and recovering. *hugs* to you, mama, whoever you are.