Max's Trip to the ER: A Reprisal

As if a massive shiner wasn't enough for one week, Max also landed himself in the emergency room on Sunday with a suspected broken arm. Because honestly, what else would we want to do on the most gorgeous afternoon of the year but hang out in the Kaiser Oakland waiting room?!

The incident itself was pretty mundane -- he fell off a bench and landed on his elbow. What wasn't run of the mill, however, was the thirty minutes of agonized screaming that followed the fall. Scott and I went back and forth -- should we or shouldn't we take him in? It's so hard to get a straight answer out of a 3 1/2 year old in pain.

Mommy: "Does it hurt inside or just on the scrape?"
Max: "AHHHHHHHH!!!! It hurts!!!!"
Mommy: Does it hurt as much as when you first fell or is it feeling better?"
Max: "AHHHHHHHH!!!! It hurts!!!!"

Poor little guy.

:-(

Ultimately, we decided to play it safe and we headed for the ER. As luck would have it, almost immediately following his entrance into the hospital, Max stopped screaming and started looking around with great interest. The nice triage nurses gave him funny stickers. The blood pressure cuff was pretty damn interesting and man oh man -- those x-rays were so cool! (thanks, technician Malcolm for your great bedside manner and for showing Max the "pictures" when you were done).

As you've probably guessed by now, the arm was not broken. Scott and I felt a little foolish, but the doctor was really nice about it and said that it is always better to bring him in than to wonder. As much as people might malign Kaiser Permanente, I have to say that we've had a great experience with them over the past year and half through many doctors visits and two trips to the ER. Everyone was really nice to us and things went pretty quickly.

I kept looking over my shoulder, of course, and waiting for social services to show up and ask me why my kid had a black eye and an injured arm. Luckily, we squeaked by without an interrogation.

Now if I can just keep my kids from injuring themselves (Max stepped on a giant thorn in the backyard today) and causing havoc in public places (Henry shattered glass soda bottles at the grocery store -- "Clean up on aisle three!" ) I just might make it through the toddler/preschooler years with my sanity intact.

It's a good thing they're so stinkin' cute...