Just as I thought I couldn't lament what a shitty week last week was, it got worse! In fact, Thursday, as I was leaving the house to pick up Michael at preschool, my cell phone rang. It was Patti, but I was in too much of a rush to answer.
On the way to school, I called her back only to get her voicemail. "Sorry I haven't called you this week. It's just been a shitty one and I haven't had anything nice to say."
Speeding ticket on Tuesday. 24-hour stomach virus on Wednesday. Gum scraping on Thursday. Enough.
At the preschool, there was a note with the signout sheet explaining that Michael had fallen from the monkey bars, had the wind knocked out of him and his left arm iced due to pain. Great.
Then my poor little guy came out. All my issues of the week vanished when I saw how crappy his week had become. He was crying and holding his left arm out guardedly from his body. He said it hurt and I told him it would feel better when we got home.
From the school we left to get Lizzy from the pool. I asked her swim coach (a massage therapist) to take a look at the arm. "Well, I really think you should have his arm x-rayed. See how it droops in the middle?"
See, this is the thing about broken arms. When Lizzy broke hers there was no swelling or bruising and she had full range of motion with both the arm and the fingers. Michael's arm didn't look swollen to me, and he too could move his fingers. How's a mom supposed to tell, dammit?
Patti, being the dear sister I never had, took Lizzy home with her and off I went to the hospital. I'm blessed to have a friend like her. I didn't have to give Lizzy's dinner or well-being a second thought and was able to focus fully on Michael.
Off to the hospital we went. As it turned out, not one, but both bones were broken in his arm.
Michael was great when they were taking the x-rays. The x-ray techs showed him how the machine worked and let him push some of the buttons. He only said "ouch" a couple of times, but later told me that he was screaming inside his head!
On went the temporary cast with instructions to contact the orthoepedic doctor the next morning.
On the way to Patti's house to get Lizzy, we stopped for the much promised ice cream.
The gas station where we 
stopped had the greatest number of bare-footed clientele that I've ever seen. It was kind of a creepy place.
Back by the ice cream, a man was sweeping the floor.
Man: What happened to you little feller?
Michael: I broke two bones in my arm.
Man: How did you do that?
Michael: I fell off the monkey bars at school.
Man: Wow! That happened to me too! I broke my are right about here. (He pointed to a spot on his left arm)
Michael: Yeah, and it knocked your teeth out too.
Out of the mouth's of babes.
Well, tomorrow morning the doctor will realign the bones in his arm and put the premanent cast on.
And as far as how the hits kept coming? I got clipped by a car that ran a red light today. Fortunately he only got my back bumper.
