The inch is down

[footfootfoot]

Today was a very weird day. The beginning of extra weird began at about 6pm when inch was running in the yard with one of his friends and he did a face plant and began screaming in a slightly over the top way. It sounded like actual pain, but only fractionally more than the low blood sugar/emotionally intense/end of a long day/ bruised ego kind of scream.

Still it had a hint of authenticity to it. Custom G ran outside and I actually walked over to the screen door and called out.

G carries inch into the house and he is doing his "feedback loop" thing where he hypnotizes himself into some kind of trance which involves his hyperventilating and crying and not making sense. I decide to go to the package/liquor/wine store before they close, figuring G can field this one, he probably needs a 20 minute break from high glee and a snack to stabilize him.

I'm gone about 30 minutes and return expecting hiim to be smiling on the couch, snack and drink in hand explaining why grave digger can crush outlaw. (monster trucks) instead he is exactly as I left him although no longer crying as loudly. G is mouthing "I'll tell you about it later..." implying a new level of crocodillian emotion.

My spidey sense tells me otherwise and I sit down with him and start asking him questions about where it hurts, does this hurt? etc. He is consistent in his story about what hurts and he isn't a boy who cries wolf! so I have no reason to disbelieve him. He says his knee hurts, I can't even say I want to look at it or he screams and he can't turn his foot. He can move his toes.

"how did this happen?" "I fell on some sticks and rocks." I don't see any signs of impact injury, but I point to various spots and ask if they hurt. "Point to where it hurts." He points to a spot where there is no mark. The he says "I was turning a corner really fast..." and I wonder ACL? I get up and he screams again, I touched his toe.

We go to our "as useless as tits on a bull" emergency center only to wait 45 minutes to see a doc who tells us we need to go to the hospital 25 min away. We get to the hospital which we should have just gone directly to (and we know better, why we thought today would be different...)

The staff at this hospital (southern Vermont Medical Center) are fantastic. Really, really superb, gentle, thoughtful, patient centered, caring people. We can't say enough good things about them.(both the inch and the Millimeter were born there)
Xray shows a fracture of the Tibia just below the knee.

Mom feels like shit because she thought he was faking and being a pussy. She really doesn't handle other people's illnesses well at all. Now she feels really bad and Inch is too young yet to realize how far he can milk the guilt.

They give him a shot of morphine so they can splint him. I'm hanging out with him as the shit kicks in and he is fucking hilarious. I see his whole internal dialogue verbalized. I wish I'd ahd a pen and paper. One thing I remember is an orderly comes into the room to empty the trash and as she is walking out Inch shouts after her "My grandmother has a shirt just like that." The he turns to me and says "It has cows on it. She must like cows."

The whole ride home was filled with his perceptions of the world and the conclusions he drew from those perceptions. He's sleeping now, but the morphine should be wearing off shortly.

Poor little guy. What a day.