Update on Samuel's arm

This morning, we went to the pediatrician. The appointment was at 11:15, but it was after 12:00 before the doctor came in. After an exam, he sent us to radiology (in the same building) for Xrays of everything from his collar bone to his fingertips. He was concerned about all of it because Samuel was wincing anytime you touched ANY of that arm. When we were done, the Xray tech walked us back to the exam room in the pedi's office & went to visit w/ the doc. I heard him ask "so how does he look?" and heard her respond "well.....there's one thing...." before the exam room door closed.

When he came in, he told us that they were concerned about 1 area that looked like an indentation in the bone right at the point where the big knot/scrape is. However, you couldn't see the indentation on another Xray of the same area taken from a different angle. He wasn't sure if it was something to be concerned about because it looked like a buckle in the bone (a little break) OR if it was nothing since you couldn't see it on the 2nd Xray. He said that there was a chance it was just "hidden" because of the angle of the Xray.

He sent us to a pediatric orthopedist. They called to make an appointment w/ the doc for us & first came back to tell us that the doc was on vacation & they were going to try to get us in with a different doc. About 15 min later, they came back & said that the original doctor was there after all & that he said he could fit us in if we'd "come right over".

It was nearly 2:00 when we left his office. We were all starving at that point, but since he had said that the ortho doc was waiting for us, we went straight there. I was really hoping that if they were truely waiting for us that we'd get in & out fairly quick. I promised the kids that we'd get something to eat immediately after the ortho appointment.

There are 2 offices for this particular group of orthopedists in town & of course they sent us to the wrong office, which made me feel more rushed to have to run back to the car & drive like crazy to get to the other office. When we got there, the kids were cranky & picking at each other & driving me nuts. I apologized to the lady at the desk, telling her that we were way past lunch time & everyone was starving. She pulled out a basket of chips & crackers & pretzels & offered all of the kids something. I was so grateful! They were able to munch on those while I filled out new patient paperwork. We waited for probably 1/2 an hour before going back to the exam room where we sat for another hour.

All this time, I was trying to get Samuel to sit still b/c every time he bumped his arm, he'd scream & start crying. He was bored to tears (as were the girls) and he kept wanting to get down off the table & walk around or go back & forth from sitting to laying down -- anything to MOVE around. The girls read every book & magazine in the office & we had played every game we could come up with by this point. We'd been sitting (mostly waiting!) at various doctor offices for about 4 hours. Everyone was tired & bored & cranky. (Not to mention that I was reaching a point of starvation myself since I didn't get the crackers/chips earlier when the kids did.)

The doctor FINALLYYYYYY came in & spent all of 2 minutes in the room with us. He squeezed on Samuel's wrist, hand, shoulder, collar bone & upperarm. When he got to his elbow & forearm, he got the same response that we've been getting since last night---squealing & wincing in pain. He said "ok, let me go check that Xray". He came back in a couple minutes & said that he didn't think anything was broken but since he was in a lot of pain still, he wanted to put him in a sling & see him back in a couple weeks when we would re-evaluate & decide if we need to do new Xrays or if everything was better by then. He said it looked like he was just real bruised up & sore.

He sent the nurse in to medicate & bandage up the scraped part of his arm & then put him into a sling. She told him to wear the sling at least til the end of this week & then for Larry & I to decide if he still needs it. For now, he needs it because he can't straighten his arm out all the way & he's having to hold it up against his body so the sling will support it for a while. So for now, this is how my baby boy looks. He's still hurting quite a bit, so it looks like a TV/Motrin cocktail is in order for the next few days. :)

By the time we got home, it was 4pm. That's 5 1/2 hours since we'd left home this morning to start this crazy day. I am so proud of the kids that they didn't fall apart more than they did. Everyone was exhausted & ready to be home after it all, but it could've been so much worse!

The boy's arm

This afternoon, Samuel was outside playing with a friend. At one point, he came in to get a bandaid for a scrape on his arm but he went back outside after that, so I didn't think much of it. After all, he's a boy. He gets scrapes & scratches on a daily basis. We should own stock in the bandaid company. He's your typical almost-9-yr old boy.

We've discovered that he tends to be made of steel when friends are around but the minute they walk away, he falls apart & you see that he's really hurt himself. You know...that macho thing. Can't look like a weenie in front of your friend.

After the neighbor boy left & he was inside (about 5:45pm), he totally fell apart holding his arm saying that it hurt. It was then that I was looking at some pictures I took of them playing & realized that he was holding that arm funny in all the pictures, like he was sort of protecting it. We started inspecting his arm & realized that right where he got the scrape, there is a knot under it (possibly bone?). When you try to press on it at all, he winces & draws his arm back & squeals. When we asked how he scraped it, he explained that he had fallen across the castle rocks we have around our trees to create a planter box sort of thing. (I'm not sure of the official landscaping name for it. Here's a picture to give you an idea of what I'm talking about.)

Larry asked him to squeeze his hand, press against his hand, etc & he can't (or won't?) do any of that. He ate dinner tonight with his left hand (actually, Sarah fed him most of his supper!). He kept his right arm propped on an icepack. He took a bath afterward & then returned to the couch where we propped him up with a pillow & icepack. It is bruised & a little swollen looking, so we're wondering if he may've actually broken a bone.

Since Larry used to be a paramedic, he's our expert on things like this. He said that if there was a bone sticking out or his arm was bending in the middle or something real obvious like that, we'd definately make a trip to the ER tonight. However, since we're not 100% sure that it's broken, we are going to wait. If we did go to the ER & found out that it's broken, all they'd do is splint it & refer us to an orthopedist in a day or two. If we wait til morning, see the pediatrician for an Xray & it's broken, he'll splint it and refer us to an orthopedist in a day or two. (See a pattern there?) Considering that it costs us $100 for an ER visit & $30 for a pedi office visit, it's worth waiting til morning. Don't get me wrong...we're not being cruel, just realistic. If he was sobbing from the pain tonight, we wouldn't make him wait til morning, but right now he only winces & cries if you mess with it, so there's a chance that he just bruised it real bad.

I guess we'll see in the morning!

doves

If you follow my husband's blog or Facebook status updates, you may remember this. For about 6 weeks now, we've had some personal stuff that's been weighing heavily on our minds. Early on, Larry was sitting in the front yard one day & spotted 2 doves hanging around in the trees above our yard. Remember, we live in a neighborhood of a million trees, and the fact that these doves were in the trees by OUR yard was kind of interesting. I mean, they could've chosen the trees of a thousand other yards, but they were in ours. In the Bible, doves are often used symbolically to represent the Holy Spirit. Larry was comforted by seeing these doves. Especially when they continued to show up every day & linger around our yard all day. It's as if the presence of God is hovering over our home during a tough time.

For nearly 6 weeks now, we've seen the doves daily. Sometimes they come & walk around our front yard, just the two of them. It's been so nice to see them together, as a team like Larry & I. No matter the weather, they're here every day. They don't seem to hit the bird feeders like other birds that show up....they're just here. When we see them on the electrical wires, they're always facing our house, like they're watching us.

We were just in the yard talking about the 'stuff' that we've been talking through all this time and I happened to look up & spot a dove. I pointed it out to Larry & we looked around to see if we could find his partner. Sure enough, just a few yards away, there it was.

Thank you, Father, for your presence. We feel you. We can hear you. We smell your sweet scent. We trust you.

New Living Room Furniture!

In 1997, Larry, Savannah & I were living in a teeny little apartment in Tyler, TX when we decided it was time for us to purchase our first new furniture together. We'd been married 3 years by that time, but everything we had was hand-me-down stuff from a relative or friend. Wait... his mom bought us our dining table/chairs for a wedding gift, so that we new, but everything else was second hand. We really wanted coordinating living room furniture because we had UGLY stuff that looked about a hundred years old. Off we went to Southside Furniture Co. where we browsed & purchased the cheapest couch & loveseat we could find. I think we paid about $700 for the set. It barely fit into our little apartment, but it's been moved umpteen times since then, lived through 5 kids & has served us well. For a couple years now, we've been eyeballing the ripping cushion seams & the stains and the beat up pillows thinking that it was time for something new. However, a lack of funds has been an issue. (Isn't that always how it goes?)

About a month ago, my parents started talking about getting a new couch & asked us if we'd like to take their couch & loveseat when they found something. We immediately said YES! Sure, it means going back to secondhand stuff, but ya know what......it's FREE and it looks a lot newer & nicer than our stuff!!

Earlier this week, they bought a pretty new couch & let us know that it was 'time'. I listed our stuff on Freecycle & within 24 hours it was spoken for & picked up by the new owners. Today we got our new furniture. I'm so pleased!!!

This is our old living room set:

And the new stuff:

What do you think?

Our pet opossum

Ok, so maybe it's not a pet.

Or a possum!

This morning, Samuel went out to feed King & came back into the house saying there was a rat in the yard. Larry went to check it out & found this little creature, curled up into a ball (like a opossum does when it's trying to hide or play dead). Based on that behavior, he declared that it wasn't a rat, but a opossum. After all, a rat would run away if you were standing this close to it! And rats don't curl up into a ball to "hide" like this.

After standing there for a while, he did finally uncurl & they could see its face. All this time, I was inside. I spotted them all peering at the ground out a window & opened it to ask what they were doing. Larry told me (after seeing its face) that it was a opossum. I was wow'd & came out w/ my camera. I scared it & it curled up into a ball again. (That's when I took the pics above.)

Anyway, when it uncurled its body, you could see it looked like this:

Ok, if you look at it from JUST THE RIGHT ANGLE, it does have that opossum face shape, but definately not the coloring (white face, etc). And again, no rat would let me get THIS CLOSE to it. I was like 2 feet away & it still just sat there, not moving....like a opossum does when it's "playing opossum". I left for work thinking "hmmm...maybe it's just a rat....".

When I got home w/ the kids this afternoon, they immediately wanted to go to the back yard to see if the "opossum" was still there. This thing has moved all of maybe 2 feet all day long.....which tells me that no matter WHAT it is, something's WRONG with it. I mean, it *has to be sick* or something. And the thing is, we've got bug poison around the perimeter of our yard. It doesn't bother a big dog, but for a little animal like this, I suspect it could very well kill it. We found him/her in between our chainlink fence & the neighbor's privacy fence. You can see the white powdery stuff (poison) on the ground. Seriously...a sick & dying animal often goes off to hide to die....so I'm thinking that's what is going on here.

I waited an hour or so & went back to check on the "possum". He was gone. Not a trace of him. BUT, there are several gaps in the privacy fence behind where he was, so I think he may have gone under their fence & disappeared from our yard. (hallelujah!)

...and by the way, I definately think it's just a rat. Check out this picture of a rat....kinda looks like this thing's twin, huh?

Thurs March 5

This past week, my heart has been so very burdened for a good friend of mine. I have watched my friend walk through the darkest days of her life, make unbelievable decisions, go through horrible circumstances. And I've been blessed with a herd of faithful prayer warriors who have lifted her up alongside me. For all of you who got the thousand emails this week, thank you. (not only for praying but also for not deleting the emails---I know there were tons as each new day brought new info)

There are times like this when I long for a way to help. While I can't possibly take away the grief she is going through, I can look for little things I can do to make her burden easier. Can I bring you dinner? Can I babysit your daughter? Can I water your plants, walk your dog, wash your car? I know those things don't even BEGIN to measure up to the horrible sadness you're going through, but maybe they will lighten your load. Give me a project & I'm on it. Even if that means getting up at 4am to help with something!

I remember all the things people did for us when Andrew & Kourtney moved out. I was amazed & touched by the way the body of Christ pulled together to help us. Meals, fun distractions for all of us, books, prayers, movie tickets ....the list is long. I remember the emails & phone calls & people who stopped by with special treats for the kids. I remember all the prayers & kind words. Those are the things that got us through the initial grief & pain. Of course, in time, it was God who got us through the big obstacles, but there at first, it was the awesome support system of friends & family.

Don't ever underestimate the power of a small gesture for a family going through a hard time. It doesn't matter if it's a tiny thing, it will be appreciated by a family who is focused on surviving the next 5 minutes...the next hour...

God bless!

TAKS

TAKS=Texas Assesment of Knowledge & Skills

In Texas, we have this crazy thing called the TAKS test. Every child from 3rd grade on up takes it annually. It's like the achievement tests we had every year when I was a kid, only tougher, trickier, and so very anxiety-producing. The kids spend almost the entire 3rd grade year gearing up for this big test, learning ways to really do well on the test. The teachers don't get to teach a whole lot of 'real' curriculum because they're teaching the kids to pass this test all year. At a parent meeting a few weeks ago, Larry & I got to see a sample of last year's test (they can't show us this year's test, obviously). It's a bit shocking. This thing is HUGE. Longgggg reading passages followed by a page of questions that are written to try & trick the kids. If you've got a Gifted kiddo, the test is no big deal. But for the average kid, this test is a big anxiety producer.

There are 2 parts to it for the 3rd graders (Samuel's age). Today is the reading portion of the test. The math portion is at the end of April.

The biggest issue for the 3rd graders is this. If you don't pass the reading test, you don't pass 3rd grade!

Today is the reading test. If they don't pass the test today, they will be given a 2nd chance the day after the Math test in April. If they still don't pass it, they have to attend summer school & attempt to pass it then. So there are 3 chances to pass.

We're praying that we never have to make it to the 2nd testing date!!

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Editted to add:
When I picked the kids up after school, Samuel declared that he thinks he did "ok" on the test. And ya know what? I'll take "ok"! Now just to wait for the scores to come in!!