In Other News...

Thursday night my son finally got back to karate. He has been going since February, 2004. For the most part he enjoys it, but then there are those days when he's just not into it, he doesn't want to spar or doesn't want to stop what he's doing (which is usually nothing, like playing video games or browsing YouTube) and gear up for a workout and usually an ass-kicking, either his or someone else's . I don't blame him, really. When his classes were at 8:30 pm, I didn't really want to leave the house. I mean most days I'm already asleep by that time! If I did get him out, I'd hit the gym.

So, I drop him off and go to the gym. I knew that at 8:30 pm, after class, two of his friends were testing for their black belt and the students get to participate in the testing when the sparring portion of the event occurs. I also wanted to watch. I got caught up talking to another mom in the parking lot when I came back from the gym. She had her absolutely gorgeous Great Dane with her and we talked about the similarities between him and my Molly. He's a leaner, too, but with his size he knocked me off balance on more than one occasion!

Anyway, I got into the dojo to see everything, starting with basics through kicks and then katas and weapons, etc. When it came time for sparring, Sensei sent everyone to get their gear on and Charlie came walking over to me with his right hand out, and this is what I saw:

WTF!!! As he was sparring in class, he punched another kid in the elbow. Needless to say, the elbow won this bout. The poor kid wasn't able to participate in Ken and Matt's sparring test, which pissed him off to no end. Is this the same kid that dreads karate BECAUSE of sparring? He had to watch from the sidelines and then jumped back in when testing ended with innumerable jumping jacks, push ups and crunches.

When he got home, we iced it and he took some Advil. He said it hurt when he did certain movements, but he wasn't in agony. I know my son. He curls up into the fetal position when he has a hang nail (typical male!). So for him to say it wasn't that bad, Dad and I thought, it couldn't possibly be broken, could it? The boy went to sleep and didn't wake up until morning. You couldn't possibly sleep through the night if your hand was broken, could you? The knuckle was still swollen and it seemed that more of the back of his hand had blown up. To be on the safe side, I decided we needed to have it checked out.

Of course, the doctor I go to has an x-ray machine, but my insurance only covers in-office chest x-rays. If I went there, they would only be able to give a prescription for an x-ray somewhere else, and then we'd still have to go to another doctor to have it casted, if need be. The easiest option was to walk into the emergency room. I was dreading that because 1). the closest hospital doesn't have the best reputation and 2). since it was a non-life-threatening emergency, we could have been in there for days! Knowing that it wasn't life-threatening made the decision to go to the closest hospital a little easier. I have to say it was the best emergency room experience I've ever had. That's not really saying much, since me nor the kids have ever been to the ER! We walked in (after a parking lot fiasco- there's like no damn ER parking!) at 10:23 am. A nurse brought him right into a triage exam room and took his vitals. Then, another nurse brought him to a regular exam room. Radiology came in about 5 minutes later. X-rays took less than 5 minutes, since radiology was across the hall. Then, a doctor came in and gave his hand a physical exam and told us she'd go read the films.

Waiting...

 She then came back and gave us the news...

A "metacarpal fracture." Only this schnook didn't break it across, horizontally. It seems it's sorta split down the bone, vertically. Damn. Anyway, we were home by 11:30 am, which has to be some sort of record for ANY sort of doctor's visit/lab testing/medical procedure EVER! I just read the discharge papers. We see an orthopedist in a week. The break is splinted for that time and then can be casted for 3-6 weeks. If it's really bad, he could need surgery. ugh. How long ago was I complaining that life was pretty ho-hum and there wasn't much to write about? What a way to spend my 3 year anniversary!