Whew - what a freakin' day! Don and I were out running errands and just got to a restaurant to have lunch - I went into the restroom while Don got us a table and my phone rings. I see it's the school. I'm thinking - what now? With three kids I feel like I'm always getting some kind of call from the school for something or other. Yesterday it was "Elle broke her glasses." Her BRAND-NEW-ONLY-HAD-THEM-A-WEEK-GLASSES. Luckily it wasn't too bad and Don was able to fix them last night.
Anyway, I answer and it's the principal. Now, I love her and I consider her a friend - but she has NEVER called me. Not one time. I answer and hear it's her so I'm all "Hi Brenda, how are you?" in my super friendly voice and I can hear the seriousness in her tone. I immediately start to sweat. Did someone get in super duper trouble - what's going on? It's then that she says - "Mila, there has been an accident with Jack. We've called the EMT - the paramedics are on their way." I really don't remember anything she said after that other than "do you want to meet them here at the school?" I ran out of the ladies room, Don was at the bar while he waited for our table - he was about to order some water when I just grabbed his arm and said "come on - we've go to go now!" And then I burst into tears - I couldn't even talk. I'm not a big panic-er - I can stay calm usually - but I lost it. And I've learned that in cases like this with my children - I do lose it. (When Macy broke her leg - I lost it. When Jack was at the skating rink and we thought he broke his arm - I lost it.) I was shaking and felt like I was going to throw up. Seriously - when the principal said "accident" and "paramedics" - I felt like someone punched me!
Anyway - we were twenty minutes from the school. If it hadn't been for facebook as a distraction - I would have gone crazy as Don was racing there. It felt like it took forever. When we pulled up to the school - we didn't see an ambulance, so we thought - good, he was fine and they left. Then I saw him laying in the field and the stretcher was next to him. And panic washed over me again. I don't think I even waited for Don to stop the car - I jumped out and took off running - in my 4+ inch hooker heels - across the field. I remember at one point, I stopped running and through off my shoes. The Principal who is usually all smiles had a very serious look on her face and that freaked me out even more! The paramedics were kneeling next to Jack - and he was clearly upset - then when he saw me he lost it and I had to hold it together but I wanted to lose it too. They had just put an IV in and given him some medicine to help with the pain and to calm him down.
They transported him to the hospital in an ambulance and I rode with him. He was in good spirits in the ambulance - the meds had kicked in. And he talked the paramedics ear off. He is such a sweet kid - he kept thanking the paramedics for taking such good care of him.
They had to cut his jeans off of him - before I got there. At the hospital while we were waiting for the x-rays, he said to me "I wish I wouldn't have worn my good jeans today." I thought - me too!
The x-rays showed no broken bones. They are concerned with a torn miniscus though - so they referred us to an orthopedic doctor. We have an appointment on Friday morning. He's in a full leg brace - a knee immobilizer - what's funny is it's the exact same thing Don just got out of from his knee surgery. Jack wants Don to put his back on and to take a picture of them both wearing them. He's on the couch now, resting. I'm hoping that it's nothing serious and just a bad sprain. Praying no surgeries are needed.
Thanks for all the prayers. Just thinking about it makes me want to cry all over again. It was definitely the scariest call I've ever received and I'm sure I got several new gray hairs today.
I love how sweet my kids are to each other though - when this happened at recess - Jack and Macy's class are both at recess (on different playgrounds) for a short time together - they overlap. So Jack told someone to go get Macy. Then when we were leaving with the paramedics, we got the girls out of school too since we knew we wouldn't be back in time - the principal went to get the girls and when they came the paramedics were about to load Jack into the ambulance. Jack asked them to stop and if he could give his sisters both a hug. He had an oxygen thing in his nose and he couldn't get close enough to give them a kiss, so he asked if he could take the oxygen out - and the paramedics said he could. Both girls hugged him and gave him a kiss. Everyone said "awww..." They really can be sweet to each other when needed. He's really a great brother to them - much nicer than they are to him.
