Calamity of the Week, Day or Hour? Chris' story!

Ever have one of those days when nothing seems to go right? Welcome to my world! But maybe I should back-track so you'll understand my plight...

We are a family of five - mom, dad, almost 14 yo son Chris, 10 yo daughter Victoria and 8 yo son Sean. Formerly a medical technologist and then a teacher, we decided that I would be a stay-at-home mom shortly after our daughter was born.

Fast forward a few years... All three children are attending our parish school, Holy Cross Academy. Chris is in 8th grade and will be graduating this year. It seems like only yesterday, I was tearfully bidding him goodbye on his first day of kindergarten! Victoria is in 5th grade and Sean is in 3rd grade. I am what might be described as a "volunteer junkie" at our school -- I tend to throw myself into whatever volunteer task is at hand - currently, I'm a co-chair of the Copy Room Volunteers, the Uniform Closet, the PTO webmaster, Cafeteria Volunteer, 3rd grade co-room mom, and the parent liaison for Virginia Catholic Conference. Add to that, an occasional subbing job (less of that this year as our funds are tight at the school) and my participation in our parish Moms' group on Friday mornings, and you might say my plate is full!

Our oldest son has always been the typical "firstborn" child -- he wasn't into hitting, biting, making messes, wreaking havoc on the house, etc. Healthy child, a few allergies, biggest issue was ezcema brought on by allergies - nothing earth-shattering! Then, as if to make up for all those peaceful years, eighth grade reared its ugly head...

First week of school -- August 30th, Chris has his first flag football game of the season at the Fredericksburg Field House. Dad is coaching the team and everyone is in attendance. Within the first five minutes of play, Chris is down as he has been down perhaps hundreds of times before, and yet this time there's a difference! As he fell onto the turf-covered cement floor, he tried to stop that fall with his left arm, and in doing so, came down on it at a poor angle and snapped both the radius & ulna several inches above the wrist. Big drama ensued, as Chris was whisked away via ambulance to Mary Washington's ER department. End result -- closed fracture, no pins necessary (whew!), bright Mets-orange cast over the elbow for 4-6 weeks.

Bones having healed nicely, the cast finally comes off - yuck! The ezcema has caused skin breakdown so Chris is deemed as not to casted again unless absolutely necessary. Okay, we can deal with that! Wrist brace goes on to help that wrist rehab a bit. Chris thinks - "I'm free of the cast! Yeehaw - back to football at recess I go!" A few weeks later, open gym in preparation for basketball tryouts and boom - wrist got jostled excessively during a lay-up attempt on Chris' part so we're back in the doctor's office. Despite a possible crack in one of the healing bones, Chris was cleared to try out for basketball and made the team again for the third year.

First week of basketball practice, the school nurse tracked me down after recess to let me know that Chris has somehow fallen during a football game and can't seem to put much weight on his foot. Off we went to Prime Care after school because they had an xray machine and it wasn't the ER - heaven forbid! The doctor seemed to think it was sprained but might be broken as well. First thing the next morning, we were back in the orthopedist's office -- sprain in the left outer ankle joint with a "dancer's fracture" of the distal metatarsal bone in his foot. Into an "air cast" style boot and on the crutches he went!

After some gradual transition to walking without crutches on the boot, Chris graduated to a lace-up ankle brace and a script for physical therapy. But alas, the physical therapy was to be post-poned for the following week, Chris was on his way out to recess with his friends and managed to step into a hole on the field, twist the same ankle which, though "protected" by the lace-up ankle brace, ended up causing him so much pain that ... you guessed it! We were back in the orthopedist's office the following morning. And... drumroll please... the inner left ankle joint was now broken! Back into the boot and back on crutches for another few weeks. No weight on the ankle, please. Too bad Chris seemed to have missed that admonition! But, as he must have a very cooperative guardian angel, his ankle managed to heal well enough despite Chris' inability to follow the doctor's directions.

Noting the absence of crutches and boot, teachers & friends alike began to wonder aloud how long Chris could go without another injury... would it be minutes, hours, days, weeks?? Four days... four days! As I was going about my daily household chores this morning, the school nurse, who no doubt feels like Chris is her "frequent flier of the year" in the clinic, called to let me know that Chris had been playing basketball out on the blacktop during recess. During the course of the game, he had jumped up and fallen backwards onto the blacktop, hitting his head and blacking out in the process.

So here I am, waiting to hear back from Dad, who has taken Chris to his "home away from home," the over-crowded ER... And I am off to collect my other two from school and begin the never-ending task of homework completion! Tune in later for more exciting thrills!