Eli’s leg, sponges in the ear, hitting the slopes and more…

I took Eli to the doctor this afternoon and the ankle is healing well, meaning it is not infected. But goddamn it looks nasty. It was the first time I had gotten a really good look at it since the accident, which was a week ago. Every time we have bathed and cleaned it, he is screaming like a cat being skinned, so we have to move fast and it is impossible to linger and get a good look. Today I got that good look and, wow, it’s a pretty extensive and serious wound. The doc today said it will ‘almost surely” scar and that’s obvious, really.

I asked the school nurse to take a look and change the dressing yesterday because it was getting so hard for us to do with him. She thought it looked pretty good but there was one part she was worried about and thought a doctor’s visit would be a good idea. The cutting was worse than I initially realized since I was so focused on the swelling and bruising. His teacher Deanna told me after taking him, “now that I saw his injury I realize how brave Eli has been.” The little Mr. Softee is pretty tough.

All of which makes me feel a little sheepish about the fact that my new column, just posted, is about the accident and our trip to the hospital. Maybe I should have waited until he was fully out of the woods. Drop me a line if you want me to send you the column. I already got an email chiding me for joking about taking Percocet and giving Eli a double dose of Motrin without “proper medical authorization.” Stay tuned.

Today was really warm, I’d say about 45 degrees. Yesterday was quite cold and in the afternoon downright frigid when a very strong wind picked up. But it was worth it because it blew all the nasty stagnant, thick-as-pea-soup air out and brought in some nice crisp clean air, which felt, smelled, tasted, breathed much better.

I celebrated this beautiful, clean air day by going skiing. Theo and another friend, Anan belle, have made Friday their skiing days and invited me to join them. We drove up to a mountain about 45 minutes away and skied for a little over two hours. I can tell you this precisely because you pay by the hour. I will post some pictures and write more about it later, but it as not bad and quite nice just to be in the hills, exercise outside and breathe some relatively fresh air.

I received the following email from Leah Gomberg about two hours ago and thought I would share it with you. When you become a parent, no one tells you about going tot the doctor hoping your kid’s leg isn’t snapped off.. or because they shoved a sponge in their ear… Read on…

Alan,
so here i am, up at 3:43 am..noah has not been sleeping well and was just up fussing for an hour..maybe he’s teething..so I gave him tylenol..maybe he wet…changed his diaper…he finally went to sleep but now i’m up. so i’m on the web..read your blog..checked the weather (50degrees??!!).

Hope all’s well there. Later this morning, when there is daylight, both Sam and Eli have their Winter Concerts..should be a nice day..

We had an interesting visit to the ENT this week. I got a call from the school nurse who told me that Sam put a little sponge ball in his ear, which actually got stuck in his ear..at which time he tried to get it out but pushed it in further..the nurse didn’t want to attempt to get it out b/c it was close to the drum.David was inbetween patients so we both went to school..we saw it with a light…David attempted to get it out but decided it was too deep in so there I was driving Sam to the ENT..we waited almost 2 hrs in the office..to be greeted by a funny dr. who asked Sam why he did it..to which Sam replied he really had no idea..it just kind of fell in…

the dr. advised him to put nothing in his ear smaller than his elbow and then used a vaccuum cleaner to remove the sponge ball. we put it away and will attach the story to the crazy little ball. sam, needless to say, is quite embarassed but is expressing quite a decent sense of humor about the whole thing…I look forward to less crazy days sometime in the future.

hope all’s well there..love to all,
leah

Thanks Leah. My dad’s been using that “don’t anything in your ear bigger than an elbow line for years. I guess he was right. Q Tips drive him nuts. The days will never get less crazy though, you know. In five years, you will have a teenager in the house, remember.