A 6:30 a.m. Call ~ A Trip to the Emergency Room with My Son

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My 24-year old son had a problem with his wrist a few days ago. It was red and he was complaining that it hurt. He hit it on something and I told him he may have chipped a bone and he should get it looked at. He told me that I was a worry wart and that he would ice it and take some ibuprofen and he would be fine. Now it is Sunday, my day to sleep-in. I heard the phone ring at 6:25 and it woke me. I lay there and hoped I was dreaming. The phone rang again at 6:30 and I got up to answer it much to the displeasure of my hubby. I don't much like to get phone calls at that hour of the day, they are usually bad news. I didn't reach the phone in time and had to call the number to see who it was. It was my DIL and she said that my son had been up since 2:00 a.m. in terrible pain. I told them I would be over to pick him up as soon as I was dressed. We arrived at the hospital at 8:45. Thankfully the waiting room was empty and he was taken right in. They did an xray and found nothing. The drew blood too. My DIL and I were allowed to sit with him after a few minutes. He had an IV in his arm and they gave him pain medication. It was nearly 10:30 before the doctor actually took a look at his hand. He told us that he would have to lance the hand to relieve the swelling. My son began to panic. His wife had told him that it was probably what they would do. He was relieved that he wouldn't have to spend the night in the hospital. The doctor cleaned the area and numbed his hand. He then made an incision and you could hear the puss gush from his hand. That was gross. My DIL watched the procedure, I sat at the end of the bed doing my crochet. I occasionally rubbed his leg to calm him down and told him to breathe through it. He was getting tweaked over it. The doctor left us for about 30 minutes while he attended other patients. He returned and packed the wound. The nurse started an anti-biotic drip and told us it would be about another hour before it was finished and we could leave. The swelling in his wrist and hand began to go down almost immediately. He has to go back tomorrow and have the packing removed and so the doctor can check the wound. The infection had started to spread up his arm and the doctor drew a line around the red site so they could check it tomorrow. He was put on oral anti-biotics that he has to take 2x a day. He also has some pain meds that he can take too. When my kids were young I would often hear people say that when the kids grew up that you wouldn't have to worry so much and your obligations were less too. I believe that once you have children your job as a mother never ends.