Florence Nightengale

I am the worst with kid injurys. Sickness, I'm pretty good at that. Give me a fever, I've got tylenol. Throwing up? I'll be the first one to hold your hair, pat your back, get you some gingerale and toast and tuck you into bed. But injuries, not so much. The sight of blood makes me queasy, a loose tooth makes me shudder and a broken bone, well, really just annoys me. That may sound rough, but many of you know how many broken bones we've gone through. Basically one a season. We've had broken wrists galore, from jumping on the bed to falling down, soccer injuries coming out the kazoo. Who knew soccer could be such a rough sport? I think we have had two broken growth plates, a lost tooth and a broken wrist from soccer and that was all in '06. My kids can ride motorcycles, quads, and ski all day long but literally sit one of them on a big wheel and we're gluing their split open head with some glue from CVS. Well Marc is. He is who they go to when they are hurt. They know I am kind of pathetic in this department. I mean when push comes to shove I can haul ass to the emergency room, and have on more that one occasion but usually it's Daddy who's the family docter. We also use the age old method of "How long did you cry for when it happened?" to determine if it is a break. I know this might be hard to believe but this is not entirely fool proof. Usually we know if Chase cries then it has to be bad, and if he cries for more than two minutes it's broken. A couple weeks ago the nurse called because he had hurt his finger in gym class, he didn't cry though, so we figured it was fine, put it in a little splint and then let him go snowboarding on Saturday and ride his motorcycle Sunday. Monday we found out it was broken. He's fine though, a broken finger is nothing to Chase, it's like an itch. Anyway, Saige has been complaining her leg hurts for a while. Nothing you can see. No break or bruise or anything telltale. "It just hurts." she said. "I can't sit criss cross applesauce." So I say, "You're just growing Honey." thinking that will do the trick. "Then why does only one hurt?" she asked. I don't know. Do I look like a nurse? Time to turn it over to Dr. Marc. So the other day the kids and I are waiting at the bus stop. Marc stops his car on the way to work to say bye. Saige asks about her leg. Marc tells her when he gets home he will look at it so he can make a proper diagnosis then. From the back seat of my car I hear a little voice go, "Well, they'll probably just have to cut it off." Nice Chase. He is obviously following in the maternal lineage of healthcare.