That's The Breaks

The Bear visited the orthopedic specialist today who confirmed that he did indeed sustain a hairline fracture to his ankle. But the good news is that he can still play basketball with the aid of a special brace.

Actually, we all left the doctor's office in smiles: The Bear because he realized just how close his basketball season came to ending before it began; we, his parents, because he got the kind of chewing out from the medical staff that every parent gives their child for some sophomoric behavior that has a tendency to aggravate at best and cause possible harm at worst but that the child ignores because he thinks his parents are ______(choose your own adjective - we've all been there).

The Bear isn't the kind of boy that wears his pants so low that the waistband is down around the knees. No, nothing like that. His clothing problem is his choice of footwear. The doctor brought his flip-flop wearing days to an immediate end. It seems that shoes are designed to protect feet. Who knew? Well, we did, but parents don't count so we offer a debt of thanks (and several hundred dollars) to the doctor who spelled it out so clearly.

That's the breaks. Thankfully, the one on the ankle wasn't more severe.

Take Ten in '10 Week 44 Reading Schedule

Bible Reading Schedule for November 1-7, 2010

Monday, November 1st
Joel 1-3
Psalm 77

Tuesday, November 2nd
Amos 1-3
Psalm 78

Wednesday, November 3rd
Amos 4-6
Psalm 79

Thursday, November 4th
Amos 7-9
Psalm 80

Friday, November 5th
Obadiah
Psalms 81, 82

Saturday, November 6th
Jonah 1, 2
Psalms 83, 84

Sunday, November 7th
No reading. Complete any that were missed.

Going For Broke

What is the aversion males have with oral communication? Or is it just teens in general that hate filling their parents in on any of their life's details? Unfortunately for me, I've got a male teenager as a son and I suspect those two qualities have made one lethal combination. I find out the oddest things at the oddest times and sometimes I find out the most important things at the most inopportune times.

I related last week that The Bear hurt his ankle during basketball practice. We found out today that his ankle has a hairline fracture and he will need to see an orthopedic specialist.

Why are we just now seeing the doctors when the injury happened ten days ago? Blame it on that ol' communication problem! The gist of the conversation immediately following the injury went like this:

Him: "Someone tossed a basketball at me, I didn't see it coming and I twisted my ankle. It hurts."

Me: "Did you sprain it?"

Him: "Yeah."

(End of conversation.)

As a consequence, his father and I packed his ankle and foot in ice until the swelling went down. Then we soaked it in witch hazel and wrapped it in an Ace bandage. He used crutches for three days before proclaiming himself well.

And he seemed well for a couple of days until too much exertion made his foot swell to epic proportions. We removed the bandage, packed it in ice again, and put him back on the crutches.

Oh, yeah. And we left town to attend a Bible conference. That's where the part about finding out important things at inopportune times comes into play.

At dinner Wednesday evening one of the preachers struck up a conversation with The Bear about the injury. Details spilled out of the kid that I was hearing for the first time! The basketball that was thrown? It hit him directly in the inner ankle. That twisted ankle? More like he fell and landed on top of his twisted ankle!

The preacher asked him if he'd had an x-ray taken? Nope. And he hadn't seen a doctor either. As the man turned to stare at me I felt like the worst mother on the planet!

Our dinner partner went on to discuss The Bear's future college years. Specifically, he asked if he has a career major in mind. He doesn't.

I just hope he doesn't choose the area of "communications."

No More Smooth Sailing

A couple of weeks ago I heard John MacArthur say that when he isn't in the middle of a trial he gets worried because he knows one is on the way. Instead of thinking, "Wow! There's a pessimistic thought!" I remember thinking, "Uh-oh! This fair sailing weather is going to be changing soon!" Experience has taught me that MacArthur was right.

I hadn't long to wait for the foul weather to find our boat and end all smooth sailing. Hurricane season hit about a week ago.

• The little gusts began blowing when the Princess sent me a message last Sunday saying Fen was developing a cold and that she was keeping him home. Before the week was out his cold had grown into a full-blown illness of high fevers, vomiting, and lethargy. After a horrible week he is now on the mend and I feel certain we'll eventually get that awful smell off of the car seat upholstery.
• Pastor Dad mentioned that he felt like he had a kidney stone. So far he hasn't had enough pain to warrant a call to the doctor but I've been on alert. Who knows when it might decide to move again and if the pain will become unbearable? He has been drinking, drinking, drinking lots of water and homemade lemonade. That's all we know to do to help it on its way.
• The Bear twisted his ankle at basketball practice and spent several days propped up in the easy chair playing video games. It has been tough on him but he's bearing this burden well. :) He's not real fond of crutches, though. We started wrapping his ankle and foot in an Ace bandage after the swelling went down so now he has begun hobbling around on 2 legs instead of 4.
• Then there's Polly. I don't even want to tell you about the knock-out punch a bedside table gave her so I'll steer you to Karen's rendition of the events here. I'll just add that my blood ran cold when I answered the phone and my daughter calmly petitioned, "Mom, can you come down? I've got a bit of an emergency." I didn't stop long enough to ask about the nature of said emergency. I just complied. I've used the analogy before of the Grinch sliding down Mount Crumpet to describe what the winding road is like between our house on the hill and their house in the valley when there is snow on the ground, but now I can honestly say that no snow is required for the analogy to apply.

We're weathering the storms pretty well but that's because we know the Master of the Wind. Our house is built upon the Rock! Nothing comes our direction that He can't handle.