First Name Basis

Ty is on a fist name basis with the medical staff at his pediatrician's office. I have spent more time in doctor's offices in the last 2 weeks than out of them. Or, at least it feels that way. We did the usual follow-up appointments after Ty's injury and Jacob had his 3-year well visit. Ty also had an additional appointment in preparation for his surgery scheduled in November.

Then, Sunday, before I had a chance to put Ty's splint on before church (he sleeps with it off to encourage soft-tissue healing) he thought it was a good time to throw on some super hero dress-up. He slipped his hand through a sleeve and realized it was on the wrong hand. Always in a hurry, he yanked it back off to switch hands and... off came the nail that had been sewn on.

The nail was supposed to come off on it's own in 4-6 weeks. But it was not completely off and with it dislodged I couldn't get the splint back on to protect the fractured bone. I had also been warned that if the nail came off too soon the nail bed may not heal properly. So I called the advice nurse and made an appointment for Monday morning.

Fortunately, the nail bed had already begun healing. Unfortunately one of the dissoluble stitches had not dissolved yet so they had to cut the flopping nail off. Ty was nervous to see the sterile tools brought out again. But he did great.

Then today I got a call from the school: Ty had shut a finger (different finger but same hand) in the heavy wood bathroom door. They felt he needed to be seen by a doctor. I didn't think it was broken, but because Ty has such a high pain threshold, I didn't want to chance missing a fracture. So, off to the doctor's we went.

When we were sitting in the waiting room two of the nurses came out to call other patients and said, "Hey Ty! What are you doing here again?" Then they would look to me and say, "Is this the same finger again?"

Nope. New finger. And I am so pleased to see you know us by name. Sigh.

I was glad to discover there is no fracture in the new injured finger. And Ty asked to go back to school. By the time we got there he was his normal bouncy self, just with a swollen finger.

He told me as he got out of the car, "Mom, I have only 3 fingers now." while pointing to his right hand. Well, let's hope we can keep the rest of them intact...