MaeLyn's Musings

I recognized the tall red office building the first time I saw it. It looked the same as it had when I'd looked it up on Google maps, street view. In fact, I'd already pulled into the parking lot, and was hurrying through the snowy drizzle to the front door before I saw the number on the building. This was it, though. I pulled open the front door with my left hand and walked in. On the wall to the right, next to the elevator was a directory. The office I was looking for listed, #227, just like it said on the paper in the folder clutched under my left arm. To the left was a staircase. I made my way up the stairs carefully, and soon found myself in a maze of offices. Should I take the hall to the left or the hall to the right? I wondered. I assumed that the hall went around in a circle, and that I'd get there one way or another, so I chose the hall on the left. I passed several doors, some with labels, others without, until I came to #227, and opened the door. I had no soon...

I went to the doctor this morning for a follow-up to my visit to the ER Monday. They examined my shoulder and took a couple more x-rays. I was told that I'll need to continue to wear the sling day and night for the next two weeks so the ligaments in my shoulder can heal and strengthen and hopefully reduce the likelihood of my shoulder getting pulled from the socket again. After that I'm supposed to go somewhere for physical therapy for another 6-8 weeks. I never dreamed that one little tumble could do so much damage! What's the good news? Let me count my blessings: I'm not in a lot of pain any more. Once the bone was put back in place 95% of the pain went away. Now it's just a dull ache when my shoulder moves, like having a bruise. Surprisingly, when I fell I really didn't hurt anything besides my shoulder - no scrapes, no blood, not even a grass stain or tear in my jeans.  We have health insurance. I have no idea what the bill for all this will be, but i...

  Monday was Martin Juther King Jr Day, and the kids were home from school. At one point, I sent them outside to play, thinking that it would be healthy for them to spend some time running around out there instead of staring at a screen inside. Silly me. After a little while I heard the sound of screaming from outside. This isn't a rare occurrence, so I didn't react immediately, waiting to see if it would stop quickly. It didn't. Peter came inside clutching his hand tightly, crying very loudly, and Joshua followed on his heels protesting that he didn't know Peter's finger was in the way. Calmly, I looked at Peter's finger, noticed a cut, and got a damp paper towel - the closest thing I had available to press on the cut and stop the bit of blood while I tried to hear the story over Peter's screaming. Josh had been hammering with rocks, lifting them high and then bringing them down, hard, on a larger rock. Somehow Peter's finger got in the way of the h...

Yesterday morning, I left home to take John to get the immunizations required for 6th grade. When I returned home, Peter was in tears, lying on the couch, with a bag of ice on his arm. Apparently Hannah and a friend swung him by his arms and feet, then let go, and he landed on his wrist. There was no sign of swelling, and it doesn't really look bruised, so we don't think it is broken, but all day yesterday he was in pain, crying any time his arm moved. We wrapped his wrist in an ace bandage and put his arm in a sling to keep it from moving, and dosed him with children's Tylenol and later, some children's Advil, but he spent most of the day lying around watching movies or resting - which is very abnormal for him. I hope it feels better before school starts next week, since it is his right arm, and he is right handed!

Time: Saturday evening, around 7pm. Place: Our neighborhood, a couple houses up the greenbelt. Exact location unknown. What: Peter encountered some bees. Actually, I think they were wasps or yellow jackets. One way or another, he came home that evening crying loudly that he'd been stung, and even brought a couple passengers into the house with him, clinging to his shirt. He complained loudest about the sting on his finger and one on his head by his ear, but he also sported sting marks on his wrist, arm, back and next to his eye. While they hurt a lot, they didn't seem to swell up much that night. The next morning, however, he was definitely swollen, making him look almost like he had a black eye at church. Peter thrived in the attention he received because of the eye. This morning, when the swelling in his eye and finger hadn't visibly decreased, I told him I needed to find something to give him to make the swelling go down. He replied, "No! I like my eye this w...