Saturday night I dropped Zack, 14, off at the Stake Dance. We noticed our neighbor had just pulled in and decided to ask Zack to get a ride home with him. I then headed to Walmart to pick up a few groceries. I added bananas and bread to my cart when my cell phone rang. Oddly, it was Zack. When I answered the phone I could hardly understand him. I managed to hear that he got hit and his nose might be broken. Zack's girlfriend, Annie had arrived at the dance right after the accident so I called her mom, a nurse practitioner, to turn around and come back to look at his nose for me. I don't trust doctors much and she is better than most doctors I've met!
It wasn't 'til after I got there that I got the story of what happened. The neighbor asked Zack to help him do a back flip. Zack was willing, but I'm betting he'd never helped with this before and was obviously in the way, as the neighbor's knee hit Zack smack in the face, nose and mouth to be specific. Nose bleeding, they headed out to the restrooms and then decided to call me.
Marcy, Annie's mom, told me to take Zack to the ER to have Zack's nose x-rayed. It looked quite broken. She told me what normal treatment would be and what to expect. We headed to the ER at the local hospital. Surprisingly, they took us right in and got the process started. I was honestly amazed at what good service they provided and how many people came in to see what they could do to help. Luckily I thought to give Zack ibuprofen for the pain before we went into the hospital, as they wouldn't give him anything to eat or drink in case they had to do surgery. Nice precaution, but what an awful thought.
X-rays went well and after sitting there for two and a half hours, it was decided Zack doesn't have a broken nose, it's just the swelling that is making it looks so very broken, and they finally offered him a drink. They also gave us the number of a plastic surgeon in case we weren't pleased with the diagnosis. How odd is that? Anyway, they did give us a prescription for an antibiotic to prevent an infection from the bones having been so rattled. They don't expect an infection since the nose was not broken; however, it is a precautionary measure.
Our neighbor friend whose knee hit Zack's nose while doing a backflip felt so very bad about hurting Zack so badly that we called him in the middle of the night as we left the hospital to let him know it was not broken. This young man was very sweet and stopped by to visit Zack before church the next day.
So, in hindsight, the doctor pointed out that helping friends only gets us hurt, so no more helping people. *heavy sigh* Luckily we don't do everything doctors say. That would be a sad day that we quit serving each other.
Besides the antibiotics, I have been treating Zack with essential oils and I am amazed at how quickly he is healing. Zack's lip was badly hit and quite swollen as well as a huge bruise inside his mouth. The essential oils have helped reduce the swelling and the bruise is going down quickly!
Somehow after nearly seventeen years of child rearing, we haven't had any broken bones, knock on wood. I honestly don't know how we've managed that, but this sure was a close call.
Next time you're at a Stake Dance, be very careful. It's not those gorgeous girls to be careful of or even all those handsome young men. Watch out for flying knees!
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