MOM! look at NICK's Thumb!

I arrived home from work on Thursday afternoon, and I was greeted my daughter and the following "MOM! check out Nick's thumb."  followed by Nick "Yeah Mom look at my thumb, but don't touch it, 'cause it hurts when you touch it".  I looked at his right thumb and NO joke it was more than twice the size of his left thumb.   Now son 3 is very good at getting these types of thumb injuries, we usually wrap it, give him some advil and within a couple of days he is as good as new.  When I looked at his thumb this time, I just had that sinking pit in my stomach...they have never looked that big or had that pretty of a blueish purpleish color.On a positive note at least it was still semi straight, and no bone was sticking out.  I was also pretty sure I didn't want to know the answer to the question "How did that happen?" and I was right, a hackey sack, a jump rope and his sister.  Really that was all I needed and wanted to hear about it.   He didn't seem too upset or whiney about it, so I told him if it still looks like that in the morning I will take you in to see the doctor.  About an hour later the dad got home and I advised son3 "Hey go show your dad your thumb"  I looked at it again too, and the blueish purpleish color had gotten a lot brighter, "hmmm I am sure tht can't be good."  The Dad's response "OOO I think that looks broken" and then he said to me "should we take him in?"  I figure since we have Friday off, we can run him down to the docs in the morning, they do x-rays right at the office, shouldn't be a big deal right?.  Luckily, I called the doctor's office and  the voicemail said "We will be closed Friday December 31st"  Of course, because I have that kind of luck!!  I have this great neighbor who has 7 kids so I trust her "mom" judgement.  "Hey son3 get shoes and a coat and go show Marci your thumb"  He gets back and says "Yup her and Heidi (the teenage daughter) both say it looks broken, and I didn't even get to give them all the details".  Now the parental debate begins.  Do we take him to urgent care tonight or wait until tomorrow when URGENT care will be overflowing with all the people who can't get into see their doctor's because of the impending holiday.  So the kind and wonderful dad put him in the car and off they went to urgent care.  After filling out 10 forms, I am sure in duplicate maybe even triplicate, and then sitting around waiting they finally got the X-ray and sure enough it was broken.  Next comes the splint, I did mention he is right handed and this was his right thumb.  He told the doctor, "Well I did on Wednesday night and when I went to tell my mom she gave me a job to do and then my dad told me to go to bed, so I didn't tell them"  In my defense when he did come to tell me he and Ben both came in screaming at each other about the gum on the floor, not a single mention of hurting himself........Oh won't school be fun!  

When they got home I looked at son3 and had the following conversation:
"I think you get the prize"

"What Prize?"

"The prize for being the first kid in 15 years and 11 months to break a bone"

I think he is still waiting for his prize!

So next week we will be visiting a hand/orthopedic doc to see what if anything else needs to be done.  Never a dull moment when you have kids! 

Happy New Year All!!