Do we take him to the hospital???

Last Tuesday Micah came home from school in pain, limping and upset. Faith tried to get out of him what had exactly happened, but he was reluctant to share. As soon as Mark came home Micah unravelled. He started crying, couldn’t move it, and would barely hop. Faith had looked at it before and it didn't look TOO terrible, but we thought we should examine it again just to be sure. The bruise extended from the top of his foot about 1/3 of the way down and then went around the sides. I (Mark) thought it was bruised badly, but since we weren't sure and the bruise had increased in size, we brought him to his coach so she could look at it, since she's an EMR. She told us that it was probably not sprained because the swelling wasn't that bad, but thought that it might possibly be broken. She told us that if it didn't improve by morning we ought to take him in to the clinic or hospital to have a doctor look at it. She also told us there was no point in going into Moose Jaw that evening because there would be no way we would get in before midnight or later. However, she wasn't willing to be wrong again since just the week before a kid on Micah's hockey team broke his collar bone at practice and acted like there wasn't much wrong.

Of course, this is all happening during a week that I am in class from 8:30 AM to 5 PM. It ended up that we sent Micah to school in the morning with a note to excuse him from gym and recess (which are his passion for going to school). He wouldn't limp, but hopped around everywhere. Even his teacher was concerned. I think that since he rested his foot, it seized up which just made matters worse. Faith took Micah in to clinic after school, and the doctor sent them home after only being in town for about an hour, maybe a half hour more. We still made him miss hockey practice on Thursday night. If he can't walk without limping, he can't play hockey.



He's walking fine now. I think it's because he doesn't want to miss another hockey practice.

He told us that he had slid down a hill and went feet first (as opposed to face first - see below). Near the bottom, his foot hit an icy lump that we think caught his foot and then – who knows! Maybe it twisted it under him. He was able to make it home without crying. He didn't tell us whether or not he had gone down a few hills after his injury. This was a change from the previous week. The week before, Micah came home in tears with blood around his mouth – apparently he had slid down an icy slope headfirst and did a faceplant. Aslynn looked at her lips in the mirror and dejectedly exclaimed, “My bleeders don’t bleed anymore!" Crazy kids!

- Mark