Back from Emerg
Got a call from Bugsy's school this afternoon, round 1:45. Bugsy had dislocated his finger. I was darn fast coming home from work, 45 minutes away, good thing I didn't run into any cops!
Turned out to be his thumb. Got there at 2:30, he was sitting in the principal's office, and yep, it sure was dislocated. They said he had been quite brave, better than the grade 6 boy who had dislocated his thumb earlier in the year. And all Bugsy had done was trip over something and land on his thumb. Poor guy, he was in a terrible amount of pain.
I drove him to the nearest hospital, bout 20 minutes away, getting stuck behind all the ricky fricky slowpokes going. We lucked into a really close parking spot, right across the street from Emerg. They're still (or again) doing SARS screening at Ontario hospitals, but we didn't have to wait, she asked her few quick questions, and jumped the line for us, skipping Triage entirely. All it took was one look at his thumb, and the tears streaming down his face. They did a quick assessment, got him into a bed and jumped the line for me again to get his admittance paperwork. This would be around 3:00 Within 5 minutes a doctor saw him, and another 10 minutes and he was off to get his thumb xrayed 3 different ways. That took us to 3:15. One neat thing, the hospital has these cloth bears they give to all kids in Emerg. A comfort thing. He has named his Love Bug 2, because I call him Love Bug. After that, they moved him to another bed in Emerg. Then two nurses started him on an iv. It was neat, the end didn't have a metal needle, it was more like a really fine plastic straw. He freaked at first, especially when one of the nurses used the word "needle". Bugsy hates needles with a passion. But it didn't hurt as much as he expected. Then the doctor came by, with another doctor, and explained a bit about how they were going to medicate him. I think about 3:45 the nurses hooked him up with an oxygen mask, and 5 heart-monitor patches, and they hooked him to the machine to start monitoring him. They told me I didn't have to stay, that the sound of it popping back in might be gross and upsetting, but there was no way I was leaving his side. At this point (round 4:00) we had two doctors there at his bed plus two nurses, and a third one just watching the monitor. The one doctor gave him some pain meds through the iv, and told him he should start getting sleepy. He did get sleepy, also a bit giggly for a while. They kept talking to Bugsy a lot, I think assessing how he was reacting to the pain meds. Still not enough, so they gave him 25 mg of something else. More talking to him, he was getting sleepy, but as soon as the doctor even touched his thumb he reacted in pain. So another 25 mg, and more talking. He still reacted w pain after that, I guess he has a high tolerance to pain meds. So the doctor just went ahead and reset it. Now this is where Bugsy and my stories differ. He says it didn't hurt to have it reset. But he was definitely crying out in pain, tears down the cheeks and struggling. But they got it reset, and he very quickly calmed down. The nurse said that his forgetting about the pain was an effect of the drugs, that he probably wouldn't remember much of the resetting process at all. He was able to move it after they reset it, and was quite happy to have the pain gone. I'd say they finally reset it about 4:15. Funny, after the doctors left, he asked me if the bed was getting higher. He said it felt like he was floating. Yep, floating on good drugs! After waiting around for a little while, they sent us for another x-ray. Wheeled his bed over rather than having him walk, because of the sedatives he'd had. They x-rayed it a few times, then took a look at the x-rays, they looked good. So they wheeled him back to his treatment area, and after a bit they put a splint on it, took off the heart monitor tabs, and removed the iv. The doctor said he's not to play hockey till Monday at the earliest, and we'll actually be booked Monday or Tuesday with an assessment with the Ambulatory Care Clinic at the hospital. By 5:00 we were walking out the door of the hospital.
I was so impressed with the hospital, with the quick and caring reactions he got from absolutely everyone who dealt with him. It only took them just over an hour from when we walked in the door to him getting the thumb reset. And Bugsy was so brave, so stoic. In fact, we spent most of his waiting time looking through an Animaniacs "picture search" book (think "Where's Waldo") the principal had lent him. As long as he was concentrating on something else, the pain didn't bother him. One of the nurses said she wished even half her young patients were as good as he was.
Came home to a phone message from his teacher, concerned how he was doing. Made him smile, she's a sweet person.
The bummer about this, Bugsy was supposed to be in a house league hockey tournament this weekend. He was so looking forward to it, was supposed to play 3 games. Not going to happen. We dropped by the one coach's house, Bugsy's best friend's father. He is also a certified trainer, he had lots of suggestions on what to eat, how to rest it so it heals the best. His big suggestion, dill pickles. Seems the acetic acid is a good thing. Also lots of fruits and veggies, and milk, but avoid too much meat or bread for the next few days. And he's going to take a look at the thumb Friday evening, to assess how it's healing. The coaches did some scrambling, got permission from the convenor, and have located another goalie. The other kid is good, unfortunately not as good as Bugsy, but better than no goalie! Because it is a house league tournament, we're not allowed to "stack" the teams. He had been transfered early in the season, because we had a really good team. He was technically still on our roster, but he wouldn't have shown on recent game sheets. But because we have an injured goalie, we're allowed a substitution. Poor guy though, he had his regular house league practice tonight at 7:00, then we talked to his dad, and then he practiced at 8 with Bugsy's team, in Bugsy's goalie gear. He was quite thirsty by the end of that!
Putting on a coat has been a challenge, getting around the thumb. Tomorrow he's just going to wear a light jacket, and a pair of my mitts that are quite loose. Liebchen is going to drive him to school, and he's going to stay indoors for all recesses, for the next two days. His winter coat is just too awkward, too hard to get around the splint.
Got a call from Bugsy's school this afternoon, round 1:45. Bugsy had dislocated his finger. I was darn fast coming home from work, 45 minutes away, good thing I didn't run into any cops!
Turned out to be his thumb. Got there at 2:30, he was sitting in the principal's office, and yep, it sure was dislocated. They said he had been quite brave, better than the grade 6 boy who had dislocated his thumb earlier in the year. And all Bugsy had done was trip over something and land on his thumb. Poor guy, he was in a terrible amount of pain.
I drove him to the nearest hospital, bout 20 minutes away, getting stuck behind all the ricky fricky slowpokes going. We lucked into a really close parking spot, right across the street from Emerg. They're still (or again) doing SARS screening at Ontario hospitals, but we didn't have to wait, she asked her few quick questions, and jumped the line for us, skipping Triage entirely. All it took was one look at his thumb, and the tears streaming down his face. They did a quick assessment, got him into a bed and jumped the line for me again to get his admittance paperwork. This would be around 3:00 Within 5 minutes a doctor saw him, and another 10 minutes and he was off to get his thumb xrayed 3 different ways. That took us to 3:15. One neat thing, the hospital has these cloth bears they give to all kids in Emerg. A comfort thing. He has named his Love Bug 2, because I call him Love Bug. After that, they moved him to another bed in Emerg. Then two nurses started him on an iv. It was neat, the end didn't have a metal needle, it was more like a really fine plastic straw. He freaked at first, especially when one of the nurses used the word "needle". Bugsy hates needles with a passion. But it didn't hurt as much as he expected. Then the doctor came by, with another doctor, and explained a bit about how they were going to medicate him. I think about 3:45 the nurses hooked him up with an oxygen mask, and 5 heart-monitor patches, and they hooked him to the machine to start monitoring him. They told me I didn't have to stay, that the sound of it popping back in might be gross and upsetting, but there was no way I was leaving his side. At this point (round 4:00) we had two doctors there at his bed plus two nurses, and a third one just watching the monitor. The one doctor gave him some pain meds through the iv, and told him he should start getting sleepy. He did get sleepy, also a bit giggly for a while. They kept talking to Bugsy a lot, I think assessing how he was reacting to the pain meds. Still not enough, so they gave him 25 mg of something else. More talking to him, he was getting sleepy, but as soon as the doctor even touched his thumb he reacted in pain. So another 25 mg, and more talking. He still reacted w pain after that, I guess he has a high tolerance to pain meds. So the doctor just went ahead and reset it. Now this is where Bugsy and my stories differ. He says it didn't hurt to have it reset. But he was definitely crying out in pain, tears down the cheeks and struggling. But they got it reset, and he very quickly calmed down. The nurse said that his forgetting about the pain was an effect of the drugs, that he probably wouldn't remember much of the resetting process at all. He was able to move it after they reset it, and was quite happy to have the pain gone. I'd say they finally reset it about 4:15. Funny, after the doctors left, he asked me if the bed was getting higher. He said it felt like he was floating. Yep, floating on good drugs! After waiting around for a little while, they sent us for another x-ray. Wheeled his bed over rather than having him walk, because of the sedatives he'd had. They x-rayed it a few times, then took a look at the x-rays, they looked good. So they wheeled him back to his treatment area, and after a bit they put a splint on it, took off the heart monitor tabs, and removed the iv. The doctor said he's not to play hockey till Monday at the earliest, and we'll actually be booked Monday or Tuesday with an assessment with the Ambulatory Care Clinic at the hospital. By 5:00 we were walking out the door of the hospital.
I was so impressed with the hospital, with the quick and caring reactions he got from absolutely everyone who dealt with him. It only took them just over an hour from when we walked in the door to him getting the thumb reset. And Bugsy was so brave, so stoic. In fact, we spent most of his waiting time looking through an Animaniacs "picture search" book (think "Where's Waldo") the principal had lent him. As long as he was concentrating on something else, the pain didn't bother him. One of the nurses said she wished even half her young patients were as good as he was.
Came home to a phone message from his teacher, concerned how he was doing. Made him smile, she's a sweet person.
The bummer about this, Bugsy was supposed to be in a house league hockey tournament this weekend. He was so looking forward to it, was supposed to play 3 games. Not going to happen. We dropped by the one coach's house, Bugsy's best friend's father. He is also a certified trainer, he had lots of suggestions on what to eat, how to rest it so it heals the best. His big suggestion, dill pickles. Seems the acetic acid is a good thing. Also lots of fruits and veggies, and milk, but avoid too much meat or bread for the next few days. And he's going to take a look at the thumb Friday evening, to assess how it's healing. The coaches did some scrambling, got permission from the convenor, and have located another goalie. The other kid is good, unfortunately not as good as Bugsy, but better than no goalie! Because it is a house league tournament, we're not allowed to "stack" the teams. He had been transfered early in the season, because we had a really good team. He was technically still on our roster, but he wouldn't have shown on recent game sheets. But because we have an injured goalie, we're allowed a substitution. Poor guy though, he had his regular house league practice tonight at 7:00, then we talked to his dad, and then he practiced at 8 with Bugsy's team, in Bugsy's goalie gear. He was quite thirsty by the end of that!
Putting on a coat has been a challenge, getting around the thumb. Tomorrow he's just going to wear a light jacket, and a pair of my mitts that are quite loose. Liebchen is going to drive him to school, and he's going to stay indoors for all recesses, for the next two days. His winter coat is just too awkward, too hard to get around the splint.
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