Why I have grey hair

Sunday, we were in Slidell visiting Drew's mom, who was in the hospital. Ace took a pretty nasty fall and hit his elbow. He cried it out and everything was fine. When we got home, however, I noticed that his arm was pretty swollen and the bruise was kinda gross. He was complaining quite a bit about it hurting. I thought briefly about taking him to the ER, but then realized that he had full range of motion and it wasn't hurting him constantly, so I shelved the ER idea.

Monday, I started potty training him. The method I figured would work best for him was just going full naked, so Monday morning, all I did was take off his pajama pants and his diaper and left his long-sleeved pajama shirt on. I didn't see his elbow all day.

Also on Monday, I accidentally popped one of Ace's muscle relaxers. I had it in my hand and was looking at my Tylenol and thinking about taking some, and just threw his pill in my mouth and swallowed it. I totally didn't mean to, and promptly freaked out a little. I figured, it's just a kid's dose, but dang if I wasn't tired the rest of the day. No wonder the kid sleeps so much.

Tuesday, we went to see a pediatric endocrinologist because his doctor has some concerns about him not being able to regulate his temperature very well. We got there promptly at 11, and I settled in for a 2-3 hour wait, because specialists like to make you wait a long time. At 11:50, a nurse took his vitals and sent us back to the waiting room. At 1:15, I noticed all the nurses settling in to watch their stories. I rudely interrupted and asked when we could expect to be seen (I asked nicely) and was told that there were two new patients in front of me and a follow-up, so it could be another two-three hours. I asked them just how exactly I was supposed to entertain a 3-year-old in a doctor's office for 5 hours, and why I wasn't warned about this wait, and told them I hadn't brought a lunch or enough diapers or really anything for a FIVE HOUR wait. I was told that I should've been warned and that generally they tell people on the phone to clear their whole day for an appointment.

I think not. I told them just to take me off the list and let some other poor unsuspecting schmuck wait their whole day for this doctor and that I was leaving. They asked when they could reschedule me, and I said "a day when y'all know how to keep appointments." And I left. I'll take my chances with the other pediatric endocrinologist in the state. Hell, I'll go out of state if it means I don't have to wait in a dang doctor's office for five hours. Completely absurd.

When I got home, I noticed that Ace's elbow was bright red and swollen, and I called the doctor's office. The nurse told me it might be fractured, and that I should get on over to the hospital for an x-ray. Thankfully I didn't have to go to the ER, just radiology, but that meant I had to wait till our doctor's appointment today for the results.

Today, we went to the doctor's office for the results of the xray. While we were waiting in the exam room, Ace busied himself by opening every drawer and door in the room over and over and over again. I looked away for a minute, and when I looked back at him, he had somehow gotten one of those finger-stick things, and before I could fly over to him and take it out of his hands, he summoned all of his medical knowledge and figured out how to stick himself with it. How he knew exactly what to do and exactly where to stick himself, I'll never know. He said "I hurt my finger," quite stoic, then realized he was bleeding and started crying. Of course that's when the doctor walked in. I wrapped his finger in a bandaid, cleaned up the blood that had managed to get everywhere, and sat back down waiting for the bad news that my poor child would have to be in a cast for the rest of the summer.

Thankfully, he did not, in fact, have a broken elbow, but just a really nasty bruise. My day looked up. I felt like a slightly better mother at that point, because I was feeling pretty crappy for not getting him medical attention when I had initially wanted to.

Now, he is hopefully napping, in his crib, where he can't get into too much trouble. I am going to lay down on the couch and watch Law & Order: SVU, where I can't get into too much trouble. Hopefully.