Bad Mom of the Year

About 3 weeks ago, Sam and Kate were messing around while we were waiting at a restaurant (I mean, they were sitting quietly in their chairs waiting...) and Kate knocked a chalkboard with the daily specials off the wall. Naturally, it landed right on Sam's finger, and caught it between a chairback and the wooden frame. It swelled immediately. Fortunately for us, a friend and doctor who was eating with us that day checked it out and said he thought it was most likely bruised or jammed, and should be fine. We put ice on it and went on about our day, never again to give it a second thought.

Until last week, when I noticed that it was still pretty swollen on that lower portion of his finger. I asked him if it still bothered him, and he said something to the effect of  "Only when I use it or bend it like this" and made some sort of extreme pose that I considered unnatural in daily life. But, it was nagging at me, so I decided to ask the aforementioned friend about it.

"Yea, it's been a few weeks, so I'd say you should probably have an x-ray." he texted back.

Great.

So, thus started my day yesterday at the pediatrician's urgent care. The pediatrician on call (not our regular, though one I like a lot), looked at me like I'd just eaten my young when she asked, "How long has it been again?" She declared that she was pretty sure it was a break, and gave me a list of orthopedic surgeons if it was on a growth plate, which I think she was pretty sure it was.

It wasn't. X ray revealed a fracture in the finger, but it was already starting to heal correctly (Yea!). According to dr. friend, it was well-aligned from the start. Good thing. And the radiologist also said it's good that he didn't rebreak it playing basketball or something, because then they'd probably have to go in and stabilize it with a pin. So, we're lucky all-around.

Sam has a splint on his finger and is sidelined for the rest of the basketball season. Sad! He's loving the extra attention at school, though, which rendered him "popular" (according to Sam) yesterday. And last night he claimed to need tylenol before bed. Even though I reminded him that it was really no different than it had been the day before. But, Tylenol I gave-- it eased my guilty mother soul.