The Rest of the Story

I said that there was more to Saturday than just the puppy birthday party but that it would take its own entry. This is that entry.

We got home from the party and I was trying to put together a journal entry. Rupert, the new puppy, seemed to be getting along all right with the other dogs and hated to be in the cage, so I left him running around. Walt was outside working in the yard.

Rupert really, really wanted to be in my lap, though, and I remembered that he had been left in the night box at the animal shelter two nights ago, that he had obviously been attacked by something or somebody because his nose was bleeding and swollen (not when I got him) and he had some head trauma. So I decided that the journal entry could wait and I would give Rupert some lap time. It would also give me time to catch up on watching some of the things on my DVR, which is 82% full.

We were sitting there peacefully, Rupert curled up in the crook of my arm, asleep and me watching NCIS or something like that. I saw Walt lean the ladder against the tree outside the family room window and head up to cut some branches. "All I need now is for Walt to fall off the ladder," I thought, with a laugh.

NCIS finished and I went into the kitchen about the time Walt came through the back door, holding his left arm.

"I think I should go to the emergency room," he said. "I fell off the ladder."

His wrist didn't seem to be badly swollen so we put ice on it, but it was less than half an hour later when he decided we really needed to go to Kaiser. So we put Rupert in the cage, fed all the dogs, I got my camera (of course) and, figuring it would be a 2-book night, an extra book to read and off we went to Sacramento.

By the time we got there, the wrist was very definitely swollen.

I was pleased that there was hardly anybody in the waiting room, after all the horror stories I've heard about hours-long waits in the ER. In fact, Walt barely had time to sit down before they called him. He was gone for awhile and then someone came to tell me he was being taken to the Treatment Unit, following his x-rays.

We sat in the treatment unit for a very long time, then I waited for him to get assessed by the doctor there, then we were off to another part of the hospital where we waited for another long time until the Ortho Tech and the doctor came with the x-rays, a big bucket of water, and casting material.

You can see where there is an ink drawing on the x-ray where the bone should be and how far it was moved. "It's supposed to look something like a clarinet," the ortho tech told us, which we thought was kind of funny, since Jeri plays the clarinet. But then we're easily amused. The ortho tech tended to explain things with mannerisms reminiscent of Mister Rogers, as if explaining things to a very young child, with pitch of voice higher than it would be for normal conversation, and a sing-song cadence to it. I asked him if he had been a flight attendant in a former life.

The doctor and the tech set to work after the medication injected into Walt's wrist had started to numb it. There was much grimacing involved by all, the medical professionals and the patient.

They sent me off to the pharmacy to pick up his pain medication while they did follow up x-rays (fortunately the pharmacy is on the same floor -- I remember that 2007 started with my mother going to the pharmacy to pick up medication for her friend and falling down stairs!). Things look "much better," they say, though not perfect. I'm not sure what that means for down the road, but perhaps we will find out on Tuesday, when he goes to see the orthopedist. We will probably also find out then about how long he is expected to remain in the cast.

It was after 11 when we left Kaiser and since I had not had lunch (Walt had) and had only eaten an English muffin for breakfast, I found the very first McDonald's I could and we stopped to get something to eat. Then I was up until 2 a.m. writing the report on the puppy party.

Fortunately, Rupert seems to be a very considerate puppy and, sleeping quietly in the playpen, he let me sleep until 8 a.m. today.