the embreakening

2006-04-19

I intended to write an update on Monday, but it was another drop-in visitor day, and I had more people come in than came in on Friday, which was highly unexpected. So, totally busy, no time to write. But I intended to update yesterday, which was Not a drop-in visitor day, except I didn't even get to work until about 3:20, due to spending almost all day at various medical offices so Sharky could get a cast put on his hand:

cast: the final product

He had Monday off school and he'd gone over to his friend, Ryan's, house for the day. He called at around 6:30 to ask if he could attend Ryan's brother's baseball game and be dropped off at home at around 9:30, and we said okay. When he got home, he immediately started complaining about the pinkie finger on his left hand, which was swollen, and which he had injured at about 6:00 when playing football with Ryan and his brother. He hadn't mentioned it on the phone when he called because he didn't want us to say he couldn't go to the baseball game--canny, huh? Ryan's mom is an R.N. and she thought it was probably just sprained, so rather than take him to the ER on Monday night, we opted to wait and see what it looked like in the morning. What it looked like was groce. It was starting to bruise and was swollen in a really weird way--I took one look and decided he needed to see a doctor, so Francisco got Sharky a 9:00 appointment at his pediatrician's office, and I took him in. They x-rayed it and said he had a fracture right where the pinky meets the hand, and it wasn't aligned correctly, so they said we needed to see an orthopedist. They called around to various offices for us for about an hour, at which point they said too many orthopedists were on vacation and etc, and they couldn't get us an appointment, so we should go to the emergency room at Duke hospital. Off we went. I've been to Duke hospital a number of times (not as a patient, thankfully), so I know how vast and confusing and maze-like it is, but I still was unprepared for the difficulty in actually locating the ER. We ended up going in the back way, into a section we weren't supposed to be in, but fortunately some hunky intern-type guy took pity on us and looked Sharky's name up in the computer (the pediatrician's office called ahead for us), at which point he said we were supposed to go to a clinic in Duke South (the ER is in Duke North). Bemoaning the lack of a compass or official guide, we set off and got lost repeatedly before finally finding our way over. The clinic was full of wounded people, but we only had to wait about an hour before getting called back--we ate our lunches while waiting. Once in the back room, things moved slowly, but they moved. The x-rays had apparently been sent over, so the doctor looked at them and then came in to inject Sharky's hand full of painkillers--that hurt a lot but Sharky was brave. Once it was numbed, the dr. took him into a room where there was a special x-raying machine he could manipulate Sharky's hand under, to set the bone correctly. Then it was cast time, and after that it was going home time. Sharky has to go back in a week to get that cast removed and another one put on; Francisco will take him to that appointment. Sharky went back to school today fully intending to tell people his two fingers were amputated; we'll see how that goes.

This whole fascinating story can be seen in pictures, here.

Other than the breakening, I don't have a lot to report. This weekend I did some projects, including trying to crack open the Argus to fix it, but nothing doing. I was able to take apart bits of it and clean those, but the part I'd need to get into doesn't even have screws holding it together; it has weird tiny rivets and I don't know how to get those off (or back on, if I managed to get them off). So for now, the Argus is nonoperational. After we move I'll seek advice from a professional, but I don't have the time for that right now and will have to settle for using one digital camera, one film camera, and one super crappy film camera. Sigh...I guess it'll have to be enough. I also cleaned up a plant bed I consider my own personal gardening territory, on Sunday; here are the results:

after

AND I worked on Francisco's sweater--I have 5 more rows of decrease before I start the saddle shoulders, and when those are done, it's just the neckband to finish. So far so good. I'm starting to feel like I could knit ANYthing--it's quite empowering.

Songs of the Day:

Rihanna -- SOS, at Dilate.Choonz. We're going to try this one again, so get it quick if you want it, because based on the previous time it was a song of the day, it probably won't last much longer.

Coldcut -- True Skool, at 3hive.

I Am The World Trade Center -- Going Underground, at The Sound of Indie.

Today at work I've been breaking hearts and destroying lifelong dreams, and if I didn't have such a stony little grinch heart, it might make me feel bad. But I'm tough from years of working this gig so I don't let it get to me, and the month will be over soon enough anyway. I'm going home soon to have dinner and walk with Francisco and hear about Sharky's first day at school with his cast; should be interesting.

Love,
E |

cats-kittens

come over some time & see me - 2011-02-25
let's not say goodbye - 2011-02-23
the Rachel Zoe collection - 2011-02-10
I feel happy today - 2011-02-04
the tiny snow stalker - 2011-01-25

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