Well, let's see. This day...not so good.
This week shall be forever known as the week of doctors. T has a tremor in his hand. When he was first learning to eat, we noticed that his hand was sometimes really shaky. Took him to the Dr., who said it was just that he was learning to control his muscles and he'd grow out of it. But he hasn't. So, when I made an appointment for his last immunization booster, I asked his pediatrician about it. Of course, there was no tremor to be seen when she examined him. I've seen it, my parents have seen it, his preschool teacher has seen it - I know I'm not crazy. The pediatrician put in a consult with a neurologist in Landstuhl, which is about an hour and a half away from us. T's appointment was Monday. So, off we went..hi ho, hi ho, to the neurologist we go...
On the way there, I ran out of windshield washer fluid. Not the most abnormal thing to happen, but I ran out of windshield wiper fluid on the autobahn. One flip of the whatchamacallit and I had fluid to wash away the salt residue from the morning's questionable road conditions, and the next flip of the whatchamallit and..nothing. Speaking as a woman who tends to check fluids in her vehicle ONLY when there is an issue or a warning light (hey! You guys want us to check stuff like that? Put more warning lights on the dashboard or a guide we can incorporate into our already too full lives..I'm just saying...) I was a little mystified that there wasn't some sort of decreased flow or spray power than would lead me to think..hmmm...maybe I'd better check that. I'd point out that in the US, these sorts of things would be automatically checked when taking your vehicle in for an oil change (which I am actually VERY good about), but we aren't in the US, they don't check here, and I would then have to talk about the $100 oil change which still makes me sick to my stomach, and this was before the dollar took a real nosedive against the Euro.
So, the kids and me, driving along on the autobahn, no wiper fluid. Salt residue is being flung our way from everywhere, so in a matter of minutes, visibility through our windshield is very poor. In Germany, you are not allowed to stop on the autobahn or on the shoulder unless your vehicle is unable to function. They have parking stops fairly frequently along the side, so I've never thought much about it. Of course, I have never run out of wiper fluid on the autobahn before either. So this is a real dilemma. I have a small patch of decent windshield on the lower left side, but soon that too is murky and hazy. So, I find myself rolling down the window and looking out that way for a bit. That was kinda dumb in retrospect because the residue that was clouding my windshield was now flying in my face. Fortunately, we weren't too far from a restplatz, so I pulled over. Fortunately, I carry bottled water with me pretty much everywhere, so I at least could put some water in the fluid reservoir until we got to Landstuhl, where I was pretty certain I could buy some.
Now, for whatever reason, T did not sleep the night before. He was still awake when I went to bed at midnight and when I opened my eyes at 4:15 am, every light in the house was on, which leads me to believe that he didn't sleep at all. Of course, he passes out as soon as I strap him into the car seat, which irritates me on one level and is a relief on another. I find parking, get out our stroller, and get ready to put S in it, when T wakes up and wants me to hold him. So negotiate putting T in the stroller, and I put S in the snuggli and strap her onto me. And off we go....this poor stroller is creaking and groaning like at any minute it's going to collapse into a pile of overworked plastic and fabric pieces. Of course, we've been overloading it since we moved to Germany and has been the saving grace for us on more than one airport visit. I'm just hoping that it will make it through this doctor's visit so I don't have to carry T, S, and a pile of stroller.
On a side note - I had people open doors for me, offer to help me push the stroller, in general everyone was just extremely helpful. So I conclude that the issue isn't the military, it's the obnoxious miscreants that live where we do. My faith in human nature has been restored.
We met with the Dr, who had the wonderful beside personality of thinking I was a hysterical mother because of course there was no sign of the tremor when T was examined. Nothing like driving three hours round trip to be treated like an idiot--correction, a hysterical idiot.
Moving on - Tuesday we went to the dentist and T was a model patient. Last year he tried to kick the dentist in the special places, so this was a great moment for me at least. The dentist didn't seem to remember him from last year, so I'm guessing he's not the first kid that's expressed his displeasure physically. T's teeth looked great, no cavities and he's digging his new toothbrush.
Wednesday I took T to the Dr on base because his cold had turned into a deep hacking cough with a fever - aaaaand... ear infection. Wednesday night I started feeling bad and S started coughing and had a fever too, so we went to the Dr on Thursday. T can now open child safety caps, so it's been interesting to keep the amoxicillin in the fridge but in a place where he doesn't know where it is.
So, this morning, I was feeling so optimistic. T was going to school, S didn't feel well so she was really sleepy, and that meant that maybe just maybe I could get a bunch of stuff done and take a little nap myself.
And then...
T slams his finger in the bathroom door. I was right there, but facing the other direction trying to get S ready to go. I look around and he's holding his hand out and there's blood everywhere. So I take him into the bathroom and look at it, thinking perhaps he just smashed his fingernail. Nope. He's almost completely separated the tip from the rest of the finger. Honestly, my first thought is PANIC - but I pull a trick from Winnie the Pooh - think think think. I wrap his finger gently in a washcloth. I call Tricare and ask if I can take him to pediatrics, since we live right behind them. Nope, they tell me, I'm going to need to take him to the nearest pediatric trauma unit, which is in Trier. Trier, by the way, is about 30 to 40 minutes away. I call T's preschool teacher, tell her what's happened, and ask if I can drop S off. She says of course, God bless her, so I grab the kids, throw them in the car and off we go. I drop off S, and T and I head to the hospital in Trier. Except there are three and I don't know which one to take him to. And you can't use a cell phone in Germany while driving. So, I pick the nearest one. T, who has been very, very brave during the drive, starts to cry when we park. "Hold me, Mommie, hold me!" So I carry him down the three flights of steps and into the emergency room.
I have to give the staff there credit, they were amazing with him. They took us right back and called a patient liaison to come and help. Patient liaisons work in partnership with Tricare and area German hospitals. They are fluent in German and English and are familiar with how to fill out the forms for both Tricare and the hospital. They also, as I found out, are pretty much willing to sit with you and hold your hand if you need it.
So! They look at T's finger and tell me it's going to need stitches, but they need to see if the bone is broken first. So off we go to the X-ray department. T is being so good, but not really thrilled about the x-ray. But we get it somehow, and they even let us look at it. They tell me that it doesn't look like any bones were broken, which is a good sign. But, because of the extent of the injury and his age, they are going to have to put him under general anesthesia. So, we are in for a long day at the hospital. We finally get him into a room, there are two other German kids in there and prep him for surgery. They take him at 11:45 and tell me it will be a couple of hours. So, I decide to go and pick up S and a change of clothes for T. When I get to J's, the day care provider, she tells me that I can leave S there as long as I need to today, to go back and be with T. So, of course I dissolve into tears, which I'd actually done pretty well at not shedding until that point. Deeep breaths.
I run home, grab some stuff for T and head back to the hospital. They don't bring him out of recovery until after 3 pm. The Dr said that it went well, but that he did break the bone in the tip of his finger. His hand was at the wrong angle on the x-ray, and he was being difficult when we did the x-ray, so I can understand that. But he was able to reattach the tip and save the fingernail. I have to take him back on Monday to change the wrapping and then a few days later to remove the stitches.
T, upon seeing me, wants out of the bed, his IV removed and his hospital gown 'osh' which is T speak for off. So, I know he's going to be okay at that point. And then he starts pulling on his IV. You'd think that he'd be drowsy from the meds, but it sure didn't seem so. So we sit and sit and wait and wait. I'm now on my third patient liaison, and all three have been wonderful. They tell me he has to drink and eat and hold it down, walk around, and go to the bathroom and then the anesthesiologist will probably release him. So, the patient liaison and I push, push, push for water, which he gulps down, food, which he devours and for the IV to be removed, which T ended up pretty much doing for them. I tried to warn them.
As soon as he got something to eat and drink and the IV out, he was back to normal. We went for a walk in the hallway, and I had to chase him down. And then he tried jumping on the bed. The patient liaison said, "wow. You are going to have your hands full." No kidding!! We finally get out of there around 7 pm. T is wide open, dancing in the elevator (and pushing all the buttons), walking through the lobby calling out "bye! byyyyeeeee!!" and touching anything he can that he's not supposed to. I finally get him strapped in the car, and off we go.
You would never know this kid almost lost part of a finger. He is insisting on doing everything he usually does - riding his bike, eating and drinking... so for a pretty horrible day, it turned out okay.
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