Casts and Bruises

13 and 14 year olds continue to be what you probably remember 13 and 14 year olds to be.

So when Ross came home the first day of school with various "bones" on his cast, I wasn't too surprised when he explained they were covered up penises.  

Naturally.
The cast removal nurses will love it.
The covered up penises, Homer Simpson, hearts from girlfriends, Peppa Pig, homosexual jokes, names spelled wrong and crossed out, secret codes and more...
Does it get any more complicated for a middle school cast than this?

But he's doing well and planning to attend football practice after school tomorrow as a way to be part of the team as the season kicks off.

Mack is still on the vehicle hunt, but we are hopeful that by the end of the week he has some wheels to get him to work and back.

And our biggest concern this weekend is wtf is up with Maples face.  

Appears to be some sort of absess near her nasal passage.  

I've done more research on goat obsesses than I've done for ANY of my masters classes and I've come to the conclusion its either a bite from a wasp, bee or snake- an obsessed tooth- a puncture wound from her sisters horn- stuck cud - or larvae in her nasal passage.  

Believe it or not, this is good news considering what it could be.

I found myself driving to Tractor Supply in DeSoto first thing Sunday morning for goat penicillin, needles and injectors.  My first time injecting penicillin was absolutely terrifying for all involved.  Lets just say it took more than 2 tries and the needle eventually came out of Maples muscle side ways.  

Tractor Supply was out of the long lasting penicillin, meaning I'll have to do this every morning for the next 4 days.  

Lord help me.

In other news, I fell off the goat barn ladder this week pulling hay out of a bale and landed on my leg.  Thankfully I didn't hit a goat as I came down. 

These are the Days Of Our Lives.

  

Scooters and Jobs

He's always wanted to drive one of these around a store.

Just a little perk of having a broken leg.

I don't think he realized his cart had an orange flag on the back or that it beeped in reverse when he hopped on.

It's a good thing it did, or he may have crashed into more than just one person at Costco.

After a few aisles of tight turns around the sample ladies, the mum started to tick him off and he began threatening to crash the mum.

We got him out of there in 1 piece and another experience was had.

In more exciting news than handicapped shopping carts and mums, 

this week Mack will start training to work at Fareway.

  The process of getting a job did not come naturally to him.  

Why would it?

The first step was online applications.

Next came a resume to upload into those online applications. 

After a couple days he made a phone call to "speak with a manager about the status of his application" followed by instructions the manager wasn't available, but it's best to stop in the store.

Monday afternoon he and I rehearsed the conversation in the van on the way there.

As we arrived, he asked if I would help him because he was a little nervous.

As if I'd say 'no.'

He didn't understand why he couldn't just go there and work.  Why did there need to be so many steps?  Why couldn't they just call him from his online application?  Why did he have to go talk to the manager?  

I explained the few steps you take to get a high school job are simply to show you are interested and motivated.  Lots of kids want to work, but you need to demonstrate you would make the best person for the job.  

So together,  that's what we did.

He's been a new man ever since.  

I'm so anxious to see him advance to the next step in life and to watch his confidence finally soar.

Cast #1

9 days after surgery, the surgical pad (aka: meat tampon) was peeled off to reveal the surface wound.  

I was prepared for it, as naturally I had already asked the surgeon to share the operating room photos he took for educational purposes before we left the hospital.  

The organization of the human body has always fascinated me and seeing a photo of Ross' calf muscles exposed on an operating table only enforced my confidence in a higher power.

At Iowa Ortho, he had x-rays to ensure the pins were still in place, followed by the placement of a full-leg cast.

In Ross' words, 

"It basically goes up to my taint."

And he's hobbling around the house right now knowing football camp starts Monday, had to cancel going to a friends swimming party Saturday, and being an 'almost 14-year-old' who needs his mom to help him shower, he's aware this sucks.

But fortunately he realizes he still has 2 legs, 2 feet, a healthy body and a free pass to as many McDonalds chocolate shakes and episodes of The Office he can handle.  

In a year, he will only have a scar to remind him of this time.

And chic's dig scars, right?

His scar tells a story.  

It's a reminder of when life tried to break him, but failed.

Recovery

We were discharged from Mercy room 393 Thursday morning and couldn't be more relieved.

Now we await the collection of paperwork to submit to the accident insurance I randomly signed up for last December.

Fingers crossed!

And in the midst of it all, we had a birthday party for Molly at a waterpark hotel.

Large family scenarios.

Thanks again Heath, you totally saved me on this one.

A month ago Molly told me she only wanted cash and candy for her birthday.  However, when the big day arrived, she desperately wanted something to open. 

We just returned from the hospital and all I had was cash and candy.

Apparently, it wasn't enough and according to her, her birthday was the worst birthday EVER.

Magically, Grandma Boyd showed up with a birthday trip to Duncan Donuts followed by a trip to Walmart where Molly could spend her birthday money.

We came home with a hoverboard.  

Just incase your wondering why my ankle is all skinned up right now, there's a specific way to dismount from these things. 

One week later...

Ross is home on the couch watching countless episodes of the office

I'm learning to help him shower, dress, travel, poop, medicate and sleep.

Molly is 9.

Mack got his drivers license.

My mom and mother-in-law know my love language is a clean house, clean laundry and entertained, fed kids.

I go back to work in 2 days.

My entire family is home, safe and under one roof.

I couldn't feel luckier.

Mike doing goat chores for me after he was dressed for work.  

He has my whole heart.

Ross had to get off the couch today.

We took Jay to therapy, picked up a prescription, 2 bags of stall pellets from Tractor Supply, fly strips and mouse bait from Menards.

He was tired, but he did it.  

With 2 legs and 2 feet.

The visitors, the cards, the frozen meals and popsicles, the prayers, the gifts, balloons... seriously peeps- you've outdone yourselves.

Friday afternoon we go back to Iowa Ortho to figure out what's next.

Meanwhile, we take it day by day. 

And I'm beyond grateful.

Hassles and Hospitals

Sunday morning was spent on goat chores, back-to-school shopping returns at Kohls, hitting Walmart for Molly's hotel birthday party snacks and attempting to pick up the house for the week.  

I pulled some frozen chicken breasts and hamburger meat from the freezer to thaw for evening meals during the week and was wondering if I'd ever get my "to-do" list done by the time I go back to school on the 14th.  

Ross cooked a frozen pizza at 4:00 and Maisie had a hamburger and fries at 3:30.  I couldn't help but wonder if I'd even need to bother with dinner? 

Such a hassle.

Molly was invited to a last-minute birthday party in Truro from 5-7 Sunday, which is an awkward time if you ask me, but nobody asked me.  We went to Walmart, bought some ridiculous stuffed animal that lights up for $9.99 and drove her to Truro by 5.

Again, what a hassle.

On my way home at 5:22 I received a call that made my stomach drop.

Mike was on the way to the Winterset ER with Ross.

He wiped-out on his dirt bike and was certain his leg was broken.

Of all times, nobody was outside and Ross managed to take his helmet off and drag himself/crawl across Grandma's yard to her back porch.  

Mack was inside and eventually heard his screams. 

I drove straight to the E.R. where I found him laying with teary eyes and red cheeks.  

His right leg was in pain and he couldn't move it.

He was sent for X-Rays which looked fine and we were ready to ice him down and pack it up. However, after review by the X-Ray expert, it was determined he had a fracture across his growth plate and a dislocated shin bone (tibia-fibia-something like that).

I still wasn't scared.  

The X-Rays looked really clean to me (since I'm clearly a professional)  

How bad could it be?

Of course, I felt bad Ross was hurting and yeah, it sucked he would probably be on crutches during football in the fall, but again, not the end of the world.  

It's 8th-grade peeps.

That's when he began complaining of the swelling and pressure in his calf.

I mentioned the swelling to the doctor on call  - who happened to be my primary care physician, Clarice.  

She became alarmed of Compartment Syndrome and immediately called Des Moines for a second opinion of the severity of the swelling.

Suddenly I was in an ambulance with Ross heading toward Mercy.

Lights were flashing and the driver guy was speeding.  

Super Nice Guy.  

We talked about our kids and smoking meat.  

How weird is that?

In the back of my mind, I knew Ross' calf was swelling tighter and tighter and it was becoming dangerous.  

But he had a critical care paramedic in the back of the ambulance monitoring him and she knew what to do.

Mike was on his way with his truck and would meet us there later.

When the Ambulance pulled into the hospital garage I knew it was an even bigger deal than realized.

Ross was rolled into an emergency trauma surgery bay where there were at least 10 trauma doctors and more than 10 trauma nurses, plus people writing things on clipboards and others on computers.  

That's when my right knee started uncontrollably shivering.

Doctors and nurses tried talking to me and I did my best to be courteous to each of them.  

I couldn't focus on anything they were saying.

Ross was being poked by needles in his leg and foot, stripped naked, questioned as to what happened, put under ultrasound and the surgical light shining in his face seemed to emphasize the level of fear we had just entered.  He was crying.  He was scrared.  We had no idea what was happening.

Mike wasn't there yet, my leg was having these awkward involentary tremors I couldn't get to stop, I couldn't think clearly and everything began to move in slow motion.

That's when a nurse handed me his cross necklace to put in a yellow plastic bag.

It was some sort of sign to start praying.

And that's what I did.

By 11:30 p.m. we were informed compartment syndrome was setting in and it was up to us to make a decision to either slice his leg open from knee to upper ankle to allow his muscles to breathe, or risk losing his leg.

That's when his heart rate rose to 100 and the tears and anxiety started to flow.  

He was more scared than I've ever seen him.  He was afraid of dying.  He didn't understand what was going on, other than a lot of doctors were involved and they wanted to cut his leg wide open to expose his muscle.  

So we put our heads together and prayed hard.  

Eventually, I got him to smile by talking about Michael Scott and Dwight from the office...

30 minutes later he was in the operating room.

 In my 14 years of being a mom, August 4th was the most gutting.

Yet, after the necklace handoff, faith seemed to overcome.

Oddly, I'd never felt so grateful in my entire life.

gratefull he hadn't been rolled under a 4-wheeler.

 gratefull he was alive.

grateful our hometown doctor called Des Moines Mercy on a last-minute hunch.

grateful compartment syndrome was detected with little time to spare.

grateful I was with my husband and my other kids were tucked in safe with my inlaws.

grateful this isn't our life, as it is for so many chronically ill kids dealing with life-threatening issues.

On one of the scariest days ever, I couldn't have felt more blessed.

And when I woke up Monday morning, it occurred to me how odd it was my right leg was out of control with tremors the previous night.

My right leg.

I've never experienced any sort of sympathy pain before, but I have no explanation for why my right knee was shaking so violently the night before.

And when the rest of the family came to visit this afternoon, I pretty much realized I must have been born under a lucky star.  

We laughed at the ridiculous recliner that seems to go upsidedown, watched a purple "hand" balloon blow around in the E.R. parking lot, saw Life Flight take off, and joked at the tick Ross pulled off his penis this afternoon in his hospital bed.  

The thawed out chicken breasts and hamburger meat may not get used this week.  The laundry is surely a mountain (if it's even been rotated), I don't have a fancy birthday cake to reveal at Molly's birthday party, the dishwasher is probably waiting to be unloaded and I'll never get my Google Classrooms set up by next Wednesday.

But, I don't really seem to care anymore.

 I've got everything I could possibly need.  

Hassles Smassles.