So Ethan has now taken his maiden voyage to the Children's Hospital Emergency Room. He is four months younger than Caleb was for his first visit, but I'm actually surprised that it has taken Ethan this long since he is MUCH more of a daredevil than his brother. Well, on to the story...
About 14 hours after we got home from Florida, on the afternoon of December 23rd, Nanna and Papa arrived for their Christmas visit. Shortly after they got to our house, Ethan was playing in the play room with Nanna while Daddy, Papa, Caleb and Mommy were upstairs. According to Nanna, Ethan suddenly decided to take a leap from the top of the playroom steps into the playroom (something he has never been permitted to do, but since when do two-year-olds obey all of the rules?). Nanna said that he hit the ground left foot slightly ahead of his right, and that his left leg immediately buckled under him. Initially, he cried a little bit, but was easily calmed down. He resumed crying anytime he tried putting weight on the foot, so he compensated by crawling and dragging himself around the play room for about thirty minutes. After observing him for a while and Marcus examining his foot, all the adults agreed that an X-ray would be a good idea. Marcus and Ethan headed off to Children's hospital while the rest of us went ahead with our dinner plans.
Since I didn't get to be there for the ER visit, this part of the story is second-hand, but I have no doubt that Marcus will correct any errors I make :) They arrived and were admitted quickly to an exam room. Apparently, children in the ER over Christmas week get the royal treatment, because, during the 2-3 hours they were there, Ethan received a bunch of stickers, an adorable new teddy bear, a really cute Christmas book and a lot of playing and tickling. (Marcus said that he's pretty sure Ethan's infectious smile and eye contact won him more 'rewards' than the average patient.) Whether due to the holidays or to his personality, Ethan had a great time from beginning to end. He was very cooperative and still for the doctor and for the X-ray, and we were all very relieved to hear that there were no breaks or fractures anywhere in his foot. He must have just pulled a muscle or bruised the bone.
It has been over a week now, and he is still limping, but the foot has improved a lot. For the first three days, he wouldn't even walk without a dose of ibuprofin in him. By the start of day four, he was putting weight on it without meds. The ER had suggested that we follow-up with the pediatrician if Ethan was still limping in four days, so I took him in on Monday afternoon. The pediatrician recommended no further X-rays as long as he was improving, and said that he had no concerns at this point since Ethan was walking on it without complaint (albeit, with a limp). The only hard part the last couple of days has been trying to keep him from doing any further jumping until the foot is completely healed. Ethan's feet have been spring-loaded since he could jump, so keeping him grounded has been no easy task.
The one funny thing about this foot injury has to do with the timing. Since Ethan was limping everywhere we went the whole week of Christmas, Marcus ingeniously taught him to say "God bless us every one" whenever someone asked about his foot (just like Tiny Tim from A Christmas Carol). Ethan's childish enunciation of this phrase is perfect and the image of him limping around and delivering that line has been absolutely hilarious.
More about our Christmas with Nanna & Papa next time!
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