Bet that title got your attention. I'm trying to decide to start with the small stuff and lead up to the good stuff, or just give you the good stuff from the start. I better start with the good stuff or you'll skim all the stuff before and not really read it, which means you really aren't reading this anyway,
For you anatomy geeks out there (I am one of them) - its the radius bone on the thumb side of the wrist. Its shorter and smaller than the Ulna (the one on the pinky side of the wrist) and yet oh so valuable in rotation of the forearm. And yep, its broken, or at least the head of it is. If you look up radial head fracture you'll get the idea. And the one enjoying all this fun is Brandon. It seems if you try to leap tall buildings.... ok couches... and don't quite make it, the landing can be quite the bugger. It happened last night shortly after supper. He howled for quite awhile, but if you know Brandon, he howls about a paper cut, so the sympathy wasn't running real deep. I did my athletic training inspection on it, and I have to admit, I was a bit worried. It was point tender and point swollen, not good signs, especially on an elbow. So we got him to bed and to sleep after a movie, and I went in to check on him and he was moaning and grimacing in bed, asleep. Also, not a good sign. He woke up Jessica to come and get me in the morning to help him out of bed. I had already decided I was bringing him in when he woke up, but he wasn't using his arm AT ALL, so off he and I went. Everyone else was still in bed. We drive by the hospital every day on the way to school, which I am very thankful of now, I knew right where to go. We got there around 8 am and we were back home by 9:30 am. This small town stuff of driving 6 blocks to the hospital, one doctor on, etc, worked out all right! The x-ray was inconclusive, but the doctor said the symptoms all point to a radial head fracture. The prescription is a sling and ibuprofen for 3- 6 weeks. We go to another doctor on Monday to check in. I actually think I liked Anika's broken arm better. At least it was protected in a cast - this thing is hanging out there, waiting to get hit and hurt and everything else. He still complains a fair share, but I'm trying to be more sympathetic. The hardest thing for him is to hold his fingers up, so they are getting pretty swollen. They just hang out the end of the sling. I keep tucking them back in. Hopefully some prostrate sleeping will bring the swelling down, both in the elbow and in the fingers. I couldn't believe how swollen his elbow was this morning.
Ok, I hear it is snowing in MN. We just had rain here all day, but I still managed to go for a run. I ran down to the beach. The waves were huge and the noise was mesmerizing. I love the sound of water. We had a lazy day at home, but the kids got bored. The weather was dreary and we are so used to having to run from place to place every day, that they weren't sure what to do with a day at home. We all wrote some letters and eventually we walked over to the church and ran around in the gym over there. That place is huge!
Some good friends of my uncle and aunt stopped by with a meal for us today. They are such cool people - you choose your friends well! It was nice to see a smiling face, even if it wasn't familiar to us, on such a dreary day. They gave us some advice on doctors, too and their phone number if we need anything else, very cool.
Since the couch was mentioned earlier, I have to talk about it. We actually are quite happy to just have a place we can all sit on again, its going to be hard to leave behind. BUT, its got bright blue flowers on it with green leaves. Its not the most attractive thing, but its part of this house, so we live with it, and willingly sit in it. Its great for kids to lay down on when something like a broken arm happens, just saying.
Life without an address is getting tricky. Do you realize that is the first question asked when you do just about anything? We fudged our way around a library card (they still don't know its a work address), but the bank account wasn't working. I have an email in to our loan officer to see what we are supposed to do. The loan department wants us to have a bank account before they process our home loan, we can't open a bank account without a MI license, we can't get a MI license without an address, we can't get an address without the bank loan....... tricky.
Finally, the parade. Grand Haven has a Jingle Bell Parade. Its their version of the Holidazzle. Think Spring Lake Park size parade (girl scouts, boy scouts, local schools and preschools, small businesses) with a float that is lit up something like the Holidazzle, only not lit up on such a grand scale. It was fun to see. They tossed out candy and cans of chicken noodle soup, itty bitty ice cream cones and afterward there was free hot chocolate. The kids enjoyed it too and it was good to have an outing.
I am a self proclaimed Grinch, and if I ever make a club, I know I have a co-founder and at least 3 members ready to join the 'I hate Christmas' club. Having said that, we have no Christmas music playing (none of the equipment is hooked up) no decorations up, and no snow, so it doesn't really seem like Christmas around here. We aren't getting ready for any Christmas parties, we don't have any Christmas concerts, and our calendar is empty every night except for the stuff we want to do. Its a little weird. I don't even know if we'll get around to doing our typical traditions. Some of them we will have to do, once we get into the house. We always paint an ornament and put the kids' hand prints on the tree skirt, so those we will have to do. We always paint a window but we can just do a nice snowman scene instead for January! The computer isn't hooked up, so I can't even look at all the things we normally do. Hopefully we will be able to go sledding at some point! And I'm not doing Christmas cards until I have an address either!
Overall, we are doing well. Anika described it as we are fine, just not complete. Jessica had a sad day on Friday. Nothing major, I could just tell she was off. When we got home I asked her what was up and she just said she was sad, she missed her friends - two in particular. She then asked the 'why did we have to move' question again. I told her I missed my friends, too, but you can't stay somewhere just because you like it. We felt this is where God wanted us to be. So, how are we? We are fine. Sometimes we smile and laugh, like at the parade dancing to Jingle Bells as the floats pass by and singing We Wish You a Merry Christmas with hot chocolate in our hands. And sometimes, we miss you all, LOTS. In the grand scheme, we are held in His hands and much better off than so many, but we often feel like a part of us is missing.
Tomorrow is our first day at church. Matt isn't preaching yet. But off we go! What a difference a week makes - when I think about where I was a week ago this morning, compared to in the hospital this week! Or a week ago right now, we were still driving - through the rain!
Thanks for checking in, and for all of your prayers. I think Brandon, his new friends, and his teachers are going to need an extra dose of patience on Monday.
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