Thursday, March 22, 2012

When it Rains it Pours!!

    Nothing could be more true than that phrase at this moment. In my family we have another saying that usually precedes the title and that would be "It comes in threes". Around the large and boisterous Thompson clan when one bad thing happens two more quickly follow. We've just finished up two back to back rounds of the Thompson threes.

    It all started when Mom and I were bringing in the groceries. As per our usual we brought them in as many bags as we could hold at a time and set them in the kitchen floor in front of the cabinets because our food cabinets are on the bottom. Little Miss Lexi, my twenty month old niece, came into the kitchen wearing her little socks and slipped on the floor. She caught a can of soup just right with her nose and it essentially peeled open her nostril. The whole nostril was a wide open flap.

    All day in the hospital, surgery, and twenty stitches later we were on our way home with an okay little girl. Our biggest fear was that the injury would disfigure her little nose but thankfully the ENT doctor did a great job. By school (Kindergarden) time and summers in the Alabama sun will make it all but a memory. That was the catalyst.

     Two days later one of our cats was pestering mom and she went to put her outside. On her way through the kitchen she caught her toe on the table. I hear my sister saying," Jessica! Mom's toe is turned the wrong way!"
A trip to the Emergency Room, two numbing shots in the base of her toes, and the sickening pop of a broken AND displaced toe being set and we were on our way home. That was two.

     Now it was time for something else to happen and this time it befell not a human Thompson but a furry one. Achilles, my brother's new German Shepherd puppy was headed to the vet to start his routine puppy boosters and his fecal test for worms. All was going according to plan until the doctor comes into the room with a vial of what looks like blood. Yes that's right! Achilles has the parvo virus. Now if you know anything about parvo you know how deadly it is. After two days at the vet getting medicine, iv fluids, and being looked after in a better environment than I could have done he survived! When we picked him up he weighed 5 pounds...his sister weighed 10 and she never got parvo. He's now a healthy eighteen pounds or so and has surpassed his sister, Athena in weight.
BUT as I mentioned above we went through two rounds of it so now on to the next three! The catalyst for this round was unfortunately my mom. She managed to hurt herself again, this is obviously not her month. She was up doing dishes and washing this pretty blue potpourri bowl that's been on our kitchen counter for years. It's cobalt blue and made of VERY thin glass. She had a hold of the rim with one hand while she had the rag in the other. Somehow the force of her holding the glass and pushing on it with the rag put her hand through the bowl. She cut three of her fingers, one she almost took the whole top off of.

Another trip down to the Emergency Room, four numbing shots in the base of her fingers, four stitches on one finger and six on the other to hold the fingertip on and we were on our way home again. Unfortunately moms accident doesn't end there. After a few days of diligently cleaning it, taking her meds, airing it, and changing the dressing and the fingertip started turning black. A second trip to the Emergency Room and we were told all is well, that some of the fingertip didn't take and would right itself by falling off. She will have a pronounced scar but it could have been much worse. That's one.

     The next two accidents did not happen within the immediate family but to my Uncle and his four year old daughter Bailee, so it was still within the Thompson clan. Uncle Jason bumped his arm at work (he's a pipefitter) and a lump that can be described as a softball under the skin appeared. he went to the doctor and it turned out to be just very badly bruised and nothing was broken. That's two.

    The third accident happened just yesterday. Bailee was at her Nana's house riding one of those small four wheelers with her cousin. Someone slipped and hit the gas and she came off the back onto her shoulder. A trip to her doctor and she had a broken collarbone and was strapped into a brace. Now we are hoping beyond all hope that we have filled our quota for accident and mishaps and sickness for the rest of 2012! I say this because while all this craziness was going on the Norvo virus blazed through this area causing hospitalization for dehydration, absences from school in the hundreds, school closings, and my own personal Hell. I was in bed for five days. I couldn't eat or drink, had zero appetite and all I wanted was ice. My lips cracked open and bled and I nearly passed out one day but started getting sick and my mom got me some ice and a cool cloth. That is literally the sickest I have felt in my entire life. Needless to say after that the house got disinfected.