Doctor's Note

Last Saturday fooled us. It had all the makings of a leisurely day spent at home when it did a one eighty on us and life was in chaos for a few hours. About mid-afternoon Violet had an accident while playing around in the living room. Violet was attempting to climb over a piano bench that we use as a side table by our couch when it fell on top of her. Immediately bruises popped up on Violet. As Gregg and I tried to do a thorough inspection of the damage we noticed a particularly large bruise and lump on Violet’s right arm. After some discussion, and applying ice packs to the spot, we decided it would be best to have our precious girl looked at by a doctor and so we were off to the nearest emergency room.

We were taken back almost immediately for the initial intake exam and waited a little while longer before we were taken back for x-rays. The x-ray technician was a wonderful grandfatherly man who worked magic with Violet. She was totally enamored with this man. As he moved her arm this way and that she sat there with a look of wonder on her face, forgetting the pain. I will forever think of this man as the “child whisperer” because he was just that good with Violet.

After being rewarded with a handful of stickers and a book for her bravery, we were taken to a room to wait for the x-ray results. The nurse practitioner came in shortly afterwards and did an exam. She assured me that we made the right decision in bringing Violet in because even if her wrist didn’t have a break it could have been sprained and would have needed to be wrapped properly. Thankfully there was no break, not even a hair-line fracture which is what I was most concerned about. I had one of those when I was younger and walked on it for a week before we knew I had actually broken my ankle.

Violet looks like she has been through the ringer! She has bruises all along her right leg and an enormous bruise on her right wrist. I’m going to be hard pressed to convince my parents that we’re not abusing their grandchild when we see them this weekend. Thankfully, the bruising is starting to go away and maybe we won’t get stared at by the other passengers on our flight. Just in case, it might be worthwhile for me to get a note from Violet’s doctor stating that she is indeed well taken care of in case we are questioned by someone.