Eric's detour to school

Eric and his friends like to go skateboarding before school since there is a skatepark on the way. He usually forgets to call and tell me that he made it to school safely. So I was surprised when my cell phone rang. When Eric called, he calmly told me that he had an accident on his skateboard and that he couldn't feel his right arm. Talk about panic...the first thing I thought was maybe a spinal injury. Fortunately it was a half day of school so the boys had morning kindergarten and I didn't have to drag them to the hospital with me. I quickly loaded up the three younger kids and dropped them off a block from school. Then I rushed to the skatepark to get Eric and take him to the ER. The nurse took us to x-rays right away. Then they brought us to a hospital room to wait for the doctor.

There was already a young woman in there talking to a doctor on the other side of the curtain. The doctor left and a cop appeared. I could hear the woman say, "I was hoping they wouldn't call you." Then Eric and I had to endure several minutes of questioning about domestic violence. I felt so bad for the girl. She wouldn't provide the police with the man's name. I had never met (to my knowledge) a victim of domestic violence. But it was just like on the show "Cops." I've watched countless women on tv defend the actions of the abuser and now I was seeing it firsthand. I wasn't so thrilled that my 12 year-old had to be subjected to this talk. But I think he was intrigued and didn't want me to find a nurse to ask if we could be moved. I kept thinking how sad I would be if that were Erin in the hospital after being abused by her husband or boyfriend.

Anyway, back to Eric. The doctor came in and told Eric that he had fractured his right humerus (of course he is my only child that is right-handed) but there wasn't much he could do for him due to the break being close to his shoulder. He referred us to an orthopedic surgeon and told Eric to leave it in a sling and take his prescription medications.

So now Eric is excused from the piano recital that he has been dreading. I am not sure how he will write in school but fortunately I am sure his teachers will go easy on him since it is the end of the school year and they all love him. When I called his piano teacher, she said that he could still come to lessons and work with his left hand. Poor Eric!

The kids were so worried about Eric while in school. All they knew was Eric was hurt and couldn't feel his right arm. Zach vowed to not ride his skateboard anymore. At first he didn't want to go swimming after school because he wanted to be home to take care of Eric. So it is very sweet seeing everyone being kind to Eric. Even with a broken arm, Eric went to Erin's talent show tonight. I love when the kids show their support for each other. Sometimes I can tell that they really do love each other.