Stinking Splint!

This is why I shouldn't write about things when they're going well - I jinx myself. Yesterday, a week and a half away from Jordan's x-ray appointment, his patched splint popped it's patch. Jordan thinks the wheelies he was popping at the time are to blame, even though he didn't fall down or anything. Surprisingly, driving to UW Hospital for casting, cast removal, x-rays and splint fixing is not my favorite thing to do. Especially now that no matter which way I go to get there I'm confronted by major construction and stand still traffic. So I called Jordan's doctor to see if we could get in early for x-rays and maybe ditch the splint altogether, but that was a no-go. So, since he starts school and soccer tomorrow and I'm not interested in taking any chances, we made another emergency trip to occupational therapy where they fixed his splint with super glue (they were out of Bondo). Granted they used some type of heating device to remold it a bit and tack the layers of plastic together a little better, but I think Justin could have super-glued the thing at home. Anyway, we're good to go for tomorrow, and hopefully this patch job will last til x-rays next week.

Jordan's Arm

If you're reading this, chances are you know that Jordan has had a broken arm for most of the past 9 months. But since I'm as tired of answering the questions "What happened to his arm?" and "How is Jordan's arm?" as he is of hearing me say "Where's your splint?", "Settle down, you don't have your split on." and "Go put your splint on." I thought I'd address the issue publicly, so to speak.

Last November Jordan broke his right arm. Justin was giving him an "airplane ride" and he fell. He screamed and cried and carried on (not helped by me blurting out, "Did he break it? I heard something crack." as soon as he fell). We hemmed and hawed, finally decided it looked swollen and he seemed to be in real pain, and headed to Urgent Care. He got a splint and a sling, then one week in a cast, then six weeks in another cast, then another splint. By March or so he was really restless, practically left-handed, and cleared to run and play with no splint. Things were all good until May when he got kicked in the arm while having a bear crawl race with the neighbor boys. He came inside crying and saying he heard his arm crack. Another trip to Urgent Care, another splint and sling, a baffled orthopedic doctor (baffled because the x-rays showed that he healed well and had no reason to break the same arm in the same place, and because he didn't have nearly enough pain or swelling for a true break, although the x-rays showed a break) and another four weeks in a cast. Then, to be on the safe side, another four weeks in a different cast. Then four weeks in a splint. Then approximately his millionth set of x-rays. The verdict as of mid-July? He's healing well, but slowly. He's got only minor range of motion issues related to the extra bone growth around the break site which will thin down over time. Better safe than sorry. Eight more weeks wearing a splint "when he's active" (a.k.a. any time he's awake), then more x-rays. That was five weeks ago. Last week the his custom-made, took two hours of my time at the hospital waiting to get it made splint cracked practically in half where it bends around his elbow. We made an emergency trip back to occupational therapy (where the waiting room contains nothing remotely interesting to children) to have the splint reinforced. So now, we wait...and try to think of creative things to do with the two slings, one cast, one plaster splint, one plastic long arm splint and one shorter plastic splint we'll still have hanging around the house when he's all done with this.

Free Fruit!

On Monday my boss told me that there were all kinds of blackberries along the Ice Age Trail between Brooklyn and Belleville. I love berries, and free blackberries aren't something I can easily pass up. Late in the afternoon Justin, Sasha and I went out to pick some berries. Sasha immediately fell down and scratched one leg up pretty badly, so she was relegated to picking up fallen apples by the wild apple tree. Justin and I braved the thickets and got quite a few berries. Justin also got quite a few scratches, while I was covered in mosquito bites. The three jars of no-cook freezer jam I made the next day made it all worth while though. We also froze a lot of blackberries. Now if I could just figure out what to do with all the sour wild apples and even sourer wild grapes growing along the trail I'd be even happier. Foraging for food is fun (as long as you don't have to rely on it for survival)!

Insomnia

Here it is, 3:42 AM and I'm awake. Again. Still. Not sure how long I've been awake. I try not to look at the clock, but eventually I give in. I'm guessing 2, 3 hours. Tonight I woke up with a jerk from some dream. Don't remember much about it except that it made me nervous. Anxious when I was asleep, now I'm too anxious to drift back. Tried to empty my mind, relax my body, think about something else. My eyes kept popping open, and I couldn't slow my breathing. So here I am. Feel sorry for the kids. Mom will be a witch tomorrow. The thought of waking up and staying awake for hours almost half the nights of the rest of my life is daunting. Not sure how I came to this, or what I can do to fix it. Tomorrow, or later today I guess, I will stumble around in a fog. Wondering why I'm so exhausted until I remember the hours I spent fighting to go back to sleep. Then I'll do it all over again tomorrow night or the next night or the next. It's been like this for a year, maybe two, or three? I think I slept most of the night every night for a week back in July. That was nice. I should take the time to do some research, come up with a plan, but I can't seem to motivate myself. Justin said, "What's wrong with you? You should go to the doctor." But what can he do? He and I both know I have anxiety issues. He suggests daily exercise, join a yoga class, go for a walk. I try, but I'm not a stick to it, make yourself do it kind of person. And I'm really not a fan of prescription drugs either. So here I am. Stuck. 4:03 in the morning.