Pink cats and the ER

What an eventful week we have had!

Grandma and Grandpa Utah were here. Betsy and Lucas were here. We had a full house.
We took our guests to the nature museum and zoo. We went shopping. We went out to eat (with three tired kids) and they gave us a private room... go figure.

On Friday we had a Halloween party at the church. Alli was a pink cat (costume by Grandma Utah). Ruby was a little pink cat (Alli inflicted her will on Ruby this year). I was a pink cat too. Andy was a blue cat. I whipped up Andy's and my own costumes moments before the party, so they weren't nearly as cool as the kids' costumes.

It was fun to see the creative costumes of our friends: a family of bees, propaganda poster figures, a bar code, blues brothers, and lots of other stuff that made me think, "Why didn't I think of that!?" Alli won a prize for her cute costume.

The party included dinner, games, and trunk-or-treating in the parking lot. Very fun. But the highlight of the evening for us was Ruby's injury which sent us to the ER.

Ruby was holding Grandma's hand when she (Ruby) dropped to the ground. A pop was heard. No crying nor fussing. A few minutes later, we began to notice that Ruby was not using her right arm. She would fuss if her arm was moved. I held out a piece of candy, and she couldn't reach for it. Then I knew that something was terribly wrong.

Everyone felt terrible. Ruby dislocated her shoulder in June, and we thought it was an injury repeat. We ended up taking Ruby to the emergency room at the Children's Hospital around 9pm.

Walking into the ER, I felt lucky to have the healthiest kid there. Ruby was cheerful, she just couldn't use her right arm. The triage nurse checked Ruby out and determined that it was Ruby's elbow that was dislocated. The nurse inadvertently reset Ruby's elbow in the process of checking it out. We didn't know it was healed, and we were sent to the urgent care area.

While waiting there, we noticed that Ruby was using her arm normally. We waited for the doctor anyhow. We were told to wait down the hall away from all the sick kids. We sat in the hall while Ruby ran up and down the hall laughing and playing. She tripped and cut her lip. Luckily it wasn't a big cut, but it bled a lot. She truly goes from one accident to another. (She currently has a scar on her forehead from the park, a scratch on her chin from ???, a bruise on her forehead, and a scrape on the side of her head from running into some furniture.)

I discovered I was still wearing the tail to my cat costume. Very cool.

We finally got in to see a doctor, and he confirmed that she was indeed fine. Apparently dislocated joints can be common in the under-3 crowd. Only a year-and-a-half to go with Ruby.

By 11pm, we were good to go. We walked the 1+ block home and went to bed.

I am now quite paranoid about Ruby's arms. We do not pick her up by the arms anymore. I am nervous about holding her hand. The monkey bars are a no-no. I feel like another dislocation is inevitable because she is so adventurous and active. I am going to pray that her guardian angels be extra attentive.