I took my boy on a “special date”. In our home, that means one on one time with one of our kids. I felt like it had been a while since it had been just the two of us, and we needed it. So we headed to the mall one evening to return a few things, and then I was taking him to dinner and dessert. We picked Ruby’s because he likes the kid toys they have. But when we got there, he couldn’t find anything he was dying to have except a “bunch of fruit”. So we ordered him a bowl of melon/pineapple/grapes, etc. Too bad it seemed like it was sitting out all afternoon. But he ate some, and we had a good time.
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Fast forward to four hours later. I was putting him to bed and then went to take a bath. As I got out, he told me his tummy was hurting. This boy is pretty good at getting to stay up later by being hungry/itchy/not tired etc. (All that are true at times.) So I was wondering if this was a time he was finagling. But when I got close to him, I could tell he was telling the truth and feeling pretty bad. So I took him in my robe to sit on the couch. I asked him several times if he had to use the bathroom or if he was going to throw up. I even put him on the toilet, but as a tear rolled down his cheek, I took him off and just cuddled him on the couch. A few minutes later, I could hear his tummy gurgling so I asked him all of the same questions again. Not a moment later, my poor boy started to throw up. Within a second I had my robe covering what was coming out of his mouth. But that first rush of junk went directly down his cast. It was surreal, and as I was helping my boy,I could just picture the doctor saying, “Take good care of this cast because you only get one!”
The bummer is that we have kept his cast spotless. It is clean. There have been no accidents. The last appointment we had, the doctor commented on what good condition it was in. So now, we were faced with possibly the worst thing that can happen to a permanent cast. Wet, smelly, goopy, acidic throw up — all down the front.
I ended up pulling out all of his adding that protects his body from the cast’s hard surface. I pulled it up, and just cut around it. Then with wipes, I wiped down the front and back of his cast as much as I could. By this time, he was so exhausted, he said he just wanted to sleep.
So against my better judgement, and with throw up in his hair, I let this poor guy finally shut his eyes for the night. I just wanted to spend hours cleaning him properly, but he needed to sleep. SO Micah manufactured a good arrangement. He put his waterproof running jacket on him. And we placed him on a waterproof-covered bean bag, propped his feet on a hospital pillow, covered him with blankets and had a throw up bucket next to him.
I slept on the couch next to him, and he didn’t move a muscle until about three that morning when he became pretty restless. I bought us some time by moving him to our bed next to Micah. Somehow a switch up usually gets us a few more hours.
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So when he woke the next morning - as happy and non-sick as a person can be - I finally got to scrub him down. I put him over the bath and washed his hair a few times. I pulled more padding out of his cast and cut it out. Then I got a soapy washcloth and reached as far as I could down his cast. I know it is wet, but the alternative was far worse. After that, I lotioned him up, put a few squirt of cologne on him, got a clean new shirt on him and WALLAH…almost as good as new. We had Bella smell test it (the girl with K9 sniffing abilities) and she gave it a thumbs up.
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So now, I would like to thank Ruby’s for a night from you know where.
I mean food poisoning from meat, I get.
But your fruit?
That’s NASTY!
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I was interested to see how a non padded cast would work out. I knew not to say anything like, “Is it bothering you” or “Does it hurt” because I knew that might open the flood gates. So without saying anything, I have yet to hear a complaint. So I guess it is all good.
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And let’s hope so. I guess Scout got picking fever, because I walked into the family night room a week later, and saw that he had picked out a bunch more if his lining.
When I asked him why he did it….
He said, “Mom, it is so cool. I am making a city around my cars.”
Well my little artist…have at it!
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