Last week Bennett came home from school with a small bandaid/popsicle stick concoction on his left pinky. He told me he was playing football before school with some other guys. Someone kicked the ball within close range of his hand and it apparently made instant contact with this finger, bending it sideways.
He went to the nurse. I knew it was serious when he said he went to the nurse. In all his years of schooling he has prided himself on never going to see the nurse, no matter how bad the injury. So that told me something of his pain level. However, being that it was football, I figured it was just a finger jam. That kind of stuff happens all the time. So we decided to wait it out a few days.
I always choose the wrong answer. Especially if it involves when to or not to take the kids to the Doctor's office. I don't take them when I should. I usually take them when I shouldn't and get that look from the Doctor like I'm a helicopter parent or something. I can't win in this department.
Three days later and Bennett's finger is still killing him, more swollen, and more bruised. He has zero use of it and has been living on ibuprofen to numb the pain. Ooops...maybe we should have taken him in right away. We rushed to the urgent care clinic a week ago. Of course it was a Friday evening after 5pm. That's when all the bad stuff happens and you can't reach your normal doctor. We go have x-rays taken and sure enough. It's broken. In TWO places. He has a compound fracture. Of course he does.
The doctor puts it in a temporary splint and tells us to make an appointment with an orthopedic doctor on Monday. We go in Monday and the specialist tells us that not only is it broken, but he has to have surgery and schedules us for the next day with a hand surgeon. Apparently time is of the essence with bone healing.
We were thinking that maybe giving his pinky a good pull and taping his fingers together for a few weeks until the bone healed would do the trick. But then again, we're those parents who don't take our kid to the doctor when we're supposed to, so what do we know?
We consult with the hand doctor the very next day (not knowing we were only there for a pre-op appointment - Mr. Specialist and us had a little miscommunication going on there). The Surgeon explains how she will be screwing several pins into his bone to set it. He should be healed in time for basketball tryouts in 6 weeks.
And that's really the crux of this whole thing. Basketball. His life (and consequently ours) revolves around basketball. This is his first year at the high school. He's super pumped about try-outs and making the A Team after training hard all summer. Every time we talked to a Doctor, the one question was, "Will he be ready by try-outs?" Each doctor confirmed that he would. Whew! Collective sigh of relief.
The crazy thing is. Bennett is the 4th person on his team who has broken a bone in a freak accident within the past month. One kid broke his vertebrae during a football game. He's out for the season. One kid broke his knee at open gym. He's out for the season. One kid broke his ankle in a soccer game. He's supposed to be cleared to play a week before tryouts. And then there's Bennett. He's not going to be cleared to play until just a few days before try-outs. This is going to be an interesting season if pre-season has been this dramatic.
So...we just got back from surgery. Bennett is doing great. They numbed his arm from the shoulder down and gave him some medicine to make him drowsy. He was mortified to have to wear a 'purple dress' (his words) and 'stupid gray socks' (his words) for the surgery. He made us promise to take no pictures. Image is still everything, even during surgery, for high schoolers. He has several pins holding his finger together set in a small cast to keep it safe. Thankfully, he is healthy and strong and healing fast. I'm also thankful that we have insurance and were able to give him this option instead of our home remedy.
