It’s 4 in the morning, just like the beginning of one of my favorite songs. . . Why am I up?  John called at about 2:30 (AM!) on the way home from San Francisco with his friend M because you know that belt that’s been squeaking for oh, I don’t know, two months or so? well, it no longer squeaks.  It just sort of sits there, floppy and useless.  The engine is sad and refuses to go anywhere without its belt.  It’s throwing a childish tantrum by freezing up the steering wheel and overheating.  And you know how on the weather report they keep talking about the major storms hitting the bay area?  Well, they’re here.  Much less fierce than I was expecting (where’s the 50mph winds?  the thunder?  the torrential downpour?) but it’s still really coming down out there, to coin a phrase. 

So, after I made eight or so phone calls, I got ahold of Bob Jr.  If you’re in South San Francisco and need a tow, I command you to call Bob Jr.  He’s the man.  He’s bringing my menfolk home right now, and he gleefully undercut the other tow companies by $25 since I said I could pay cash.  It costs over $300 bucks to get towed to our place from where the van is.  Ouch.  Unless you call Bob Jr., and then he’ll cut you a deal.  But, my car insurance is contracted with them and we should get mostly reimbursed.  I just want my guys to be home and not sitting on the side of the freeway where somebody could drive into them.  I asked them fifty times if they had their seat belts on.

But wait! there’s more!       

The guys were in the city performing at a place called the Elbo Room.  250 people showed up, so YAY!  They were doing a similar thing to what they did up in Portland and Seattle.  It’s hard to describe, but imagine a few guys making musical noise with egg slicers, balloons, homemade instruments that sound like musical saws, and those little kid toys that moo like a cow when you turn them upside down, and you get the gist of it. 

People they didn’t know asked for their autograph.  Cool. 

The car breaking down wasn’t even the most drama for the week around here though.  My little buddy, Lexy, fell at school on Thursday and broke his arm again in exactly the same place as last time, which was September.  Talk about sucking.  He is pretty discouraged, but taking it well all the same.  I called his original ortho doc while I was driving him to the hospital with all the kids in tow and they told me to come directly to the office.  They took some xrays and said he needed to have the break set at the hospital across the street.  So, John came and took the uninjured children home, Lexy’s dad came and stayed with us and we went and sat and sat and sat in the emergency room waiting area.  We got there at 3:30, and didn’t get taken back to the exam area until something like 5:30.  I think it was a combination of waiting for Lexy’s stomach to be empty so he could be sedated, waiting for his doctor to finish his office hours, and his injury not being quite as emergent as some of the other patients, like the young toddler who was brought in by his mom and grandma because he had a swollen red hivey face.  His mom dashed in, went to the window and said, (I am pretty sure) "His father gave him a peanut butter cookie and he’s allergic," before being sent straightaway to the exam area. 

Of course, I start crying, because I’m a nerd about stuff like that.  I’m sitting there imagining the asshole dad going, "Naah.  All that food allergy stuff is bullshit, man.  It won’t hurt him.  Watch, I’ll give him a peanut butter cookie and nothing will happen."  Then I wonder if he did it on purpose, but that’s too awful.  Then I realize that maybe they didn’t know about the allergy, and maybe the dad giving him the cookie is how they found out.  But if that’s the case, where is the dad?? 

Back to Lexy.  After waiting for ages, with nothing for pain but the tylenol the school nurse gave us, we were taken back to a bed.  We waited there for another long stretch.  Finally, they came back and started and IV, somewhere around 6:30 I think.  They gave him morphine, then versed.  We thought he’d sleep, but he didn’t and he was UPSET that he was awake while they set his arm.  His dad and I waited outside the curtain, because they asked us to and told us that he’d yell in pain, but not remember anything afterward.  Oh. MY. GOD. did he yell.  He begged them to stop.  He kept crying out, "but I’m not asleep, don’t do it yet, you’re hurting me.  Excuse me, please stop, it hurts. . ." and on and on.

I was crying and his dad was wincing.  He pulled the curtain back and talked to Lexy to reassure him.  They were done setting it pretty quickly, so we went back in with him while they put the cast on.  He was so tearful and scared.  I rubbed his foot while they worked.  He remembered everything until about the time we got home (about 8pm), and then when I asked him about it he said he didn’t remember them putting the cast on.  I’m really glad, but still I think the memory of it is in there somewhere and that’s upsetting.  I’m going to tell his therapist and see if she wants to discuss it with him.  It sucks to have medical procedures inflicted on you against your will. 

Now he’s back in a cast for at least six weeks.  I’m taking him to the pediatrician to see if there is something going on that would cause his bones to break so seemingly easily.  The orthopedic doctor says that everything looks fine to him, but that if we wanted to have him checked out to go through his pediatrician.  It seems like what happened is that the original break was really bendy and he had some residual curve in the bone that was within the acceptable range.  I think that when he fell, he landed with his elbow locked and his palm down, so that the impact of the fall hit in his forearm.  Then the bone snapped, because is was already bowed a little.  But, it should have been stronger in that area, too, since it broke before.  I don’t know.  We’ll go talk to his doctor to be on the safe side.  Mothers worry about scary things. 

He has had lots of love and visits.  My mom came and brought some of his favorite things; Stewart’s root beer, a baguette, madelines and brownies, plus Arnica (cause I only have the gel) and some beautiful flowers.  My brother and his girlfriend came over tonight and brought me a bottle of vino and we all hung out and had some good homemade pizza.  (Thanks for the recipe, AJ!)  We noticed that his fingers were REALLY swollen, so I had him sit and prop his arm up and ice it.  I checked on him around 3 am, and he seemed to be getting better.  I hope the swelling stays away and we can stay out of the ER this weekend. 

Well, I suppose that my boys will be here with Bob Jr. soon.  Somebody will have to dash over to the atm (walking distance, luckily) and get some cash for Bob Jr.  Then we’ll all sleep for as long as the kids let us.  I’ll have John and M sleep in our bed so they can rest; they’ve been up all night.  I, at least, got to sleep from 10 until 2:30, and I’m sure the kids will sleep until 7 or 8. 

Here’s to a less exciting week ahead.  Goodnight.   

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