Portland and Bones

 

We spent some time visiting our Friends Mark and Wanda in Portland this last weekend. It was good to see them both and get away from the usual weekend doldrums we go through this time of year. Our visit with Mark and Wanda was very refreshing. We spend a great deal of time in the company of our children and having some adult company was fantastic! Although we did talk about our families some, we also discussed photography, work, travel to Belize, summer plans, scooters, cheesecake, and wine.

We drove out to Suave island and took some photos there - It was pretty cold, so no one was at the nude beach. There is a story behind the photo that I'll tell later on....

The scooter, cheesecake, wine, and trip to Belize isn’t my story to tell – but you can check it out at http://ride-the-light.blogspot.com/ if you would like! Saturday night they took us to a great microbrew pub for some good beer and food – Bridgett had too much hard cider and started the giggles. I was somewhat concerned… but she was happy and mellow.

Late Saturday night around midnight, Bridgett and I drove downtown Portland and were quickly reminded why we like to live in rural areas – no traffic – no excessive crowds – less noise – and no strange people that make you go “what is that?!” Sorry no pictures, I was driving.

Sunday came and we had to leave the big city and head home, we took our time, the weather was good and we had a nice breakfast with our friends. We plan to make another trip soon (depending on everyone’s extremely busy calendars).

However, the trip almost didn’t happen due to Morgan’s lack of balance. He had a middle school band competition in Reedsport on Thursday (they came in 3rd). On his way home he decided to climb a tree…. Wearing good dress clothes… and dress shoes with no traction. Being thirteen and growing; balance and coordination aren’t particularly his most well developed traits.

This resulted in a short fall and a twisted ankle. Not having his cell phone and the inability to walk due to pain, a parks and recreation worker called 911. Paramedics responded and took Morgan to the ED via ambulance (not code however – he should have asked!). The ED staff was very concerned about his lack of parents, but he convinced them that I was just down the hall in surgery. Not an easy feat as it seems that most hospital staff don’t listen to children very well.

Morgan of course chose the day that Bridgett was in Kings Valley (about 2 hours away) getting a real estate listing so she wasn’t able to come in. When I arrived everyone calmed down and Morgan , being very creative, did attempt to talk himself out of trouble for climbing trees in his good clothing. “It was a clean tree – it had been sanitized!” Regardless I wasn’t too upset, it’s about time for him to break something – I was 12 when I broke my arm. I think it’s only natural for kids to do this at least once growing up.

He had the “A” team in the ED and he was quickly assessed, x-rayed, splinted, taught how to use crutches, and discharged before I was able to make arrangement for another charge nurse in the OR to take over for me.

So while we had a great time in Portland, he spent his weekend at his friend’s house with his leg on the couch. I must say that de has done very well getting around – even with the stairway in and out of the house. Today he got some bad news that it looks to be about 10 weeks at the least before he can be fully functional. He gets a hard cast tomorrow should his follow-up CT scan show only the minor avulsion fractures to his ankle. If not… well that’s another story (we will cross our fingers and toes).