The ER Visit

Aaron fell on our stairs awhile back and skinned up his leg.  When something like that happens, he will talk and talk about it - to the point that I sometimes hardly pay it much attention.  Yes, Aaron, your leg hurts but it's because you fell and now it's healing nicely and you'll be fine and.............   So this week, on Monday night, I didn't give it much thought when he complained about his leg hurting.  He went on about it, though, and so I finally told him to pull up his pajama pants leg and let me look.  I was shocked to find his left leg and foot swollen, red, and hot.  Last June Aaron had Cellulitis in his left arm and this sure looked like the same thing. 

Tuesday morning found us down at McConnell Air Base to see Aaron's primary care doctor.  The doctor and PA there were concerned that he might have a blood clot, so they sent us straight to the emergency room for a scan of Aaron's leg.  This was turning into a huge and rather exciting adventure for Aaron.  He doesn't usually have any fear of medical procedures, which is a blessing, but instead views it as another time to see different things and talk to new people.  And of course, our quick in-the-van Burger King lunch only confirmed to him that even a very sore leg can have some pretty decent pay-offs!

Soon we were pulling into the Saint Teresa Emergency Room parking lot and Aaron limped inside with me in the lead.  We were immediately checked in and ushered into an exam room.  Aaron loves talking to the nurses and EMTs, and they were soon smiling at some of his comments.  It's hard to get an accurate picture of what's going on with him because when they would ask about his leg, he would go off about falling on the stairs or about how it hurt at Paradigm - like they should know all about his day group - and on and on he would go - so I would take over and explain everything while he sat there trying to interrupt with his own story.

The exam by the doctor led to an ultrasound of his leg and the good result of no blood clot.  This was Cellulitis for sure.  I was hoping that the doctor would confirm my theory that the infection was a result of Aaron not keeping himself clean enough and would give him a nice lecture on how to take a better shower.  Aaron knew that this is what I believed - I had discussed it with him earlier.  So I asked the doctor about this issue and he answered, "Well, actually, that has nothing to do with this infection."  Whereupon Aaron quickly turned his head to me and stuck his tongue out at me.  The doctor thought this was hilarious and said to Aaron, "So you won this one, didn't you?!"  Aaron was very pleased with himself for sure!

The nurses put an IV in one arm and drew blood, and then took more blood from the other arm.  Aaron barely flinched when he was poked and stuck.  He was focused on the bag of Mike and Ikes he had seen in the vending machine in the hall.  He spied those right away and they became his focus from that point on.  He got to watch some television - Looney Tunes! - and then napped while we waited for the scan results and during the hour it took for the IV antibiotic to be dispensed.  Finally we were released and went on to Dillons to get his prescription filled - and walked out with some Mike and Ikes in tow, of course!

It was fun to listen to Aaron's stories that he told the family after we got home.  His observations are funny and interesting.  Here are a few:

"They put pipes in my arms!"  

"Those nurses are my servants.  They did things for me!"

"I had to take my pants off!!  And they didn't give me any to put on!!!"

"That woman put lotion on my leg when she did the scan!"

He notices everything - how the TV remote was different, the kind of blanket they put on him, the sound of his blood flow during the ultrasound, etc. It's all an adventure to him and a chance to tell many stories when he got home.  At home, he went up to Andrea, who works there at St. Teresa, stuck his bandaged arms out and said, "Here.  You work at the hospital.  Will you take my bandaids off?"  He does love the pampering and attention!

But the best part was yesterday when he said,  "Mom, is my Cellulite better?"  Cellulite!  I don't know about your Cellulite, Aaron, but let me tell you about mine!