The more things change.....the more they stay the same.

This oldie-but-goodie is Mikey T in '94. If you look closely on this pre-digital gem, you can see that Mikey T is playing basketball with a large, purplish growth on his right elbow. During this church-league basketball tournament in Tennessee, he braced himself during a fall to the court with an extended arm. It hurt, but you can't let a little pain hold you down when it comes to basketball, right? So, he played the remainder of the tournament and the arm grew and grew. When he returned to Alabama, and was finally convinced it was time to go to the doctor, he learned he had fractured his elbow and was put in a 90* cast for four weeks.

Fast forward to June 2, 2009. That same Mikey T was playing that same game of basketball and braced himself for that same fall to the court, yet with a different arm. That same Mikey T believed in that same fashion that is was no big deal. The elbow turned that same shade of purple and grew into the same size.

Last night, after a quick discussion with a neighbor-slash-ER nurse, Mikey T and I (along with persuading from mom and Bean) decided it was ER-worthy, since the nurse said, "All that bruising this long after the initial injury could mean a loss of circulation."

So, we left EK with BEAN (who just returned from a mission trip on the Amazon and was in need of some EK time anyway) and we headed to good ol' East Alabama Medical Center Emergency Room.

Ahhhhhhhhhh, yes. EAMC ER. The site where I almost lost my foot to a flesh eating bacteria in '99 (that's a whole 'nother post) and the site where we have spent all night watching grown men try to pry my two year old's arms above her head to do a chest Xray. Now it was Mikey T's turn.

As we reminisced about the LAST time Mikey T's elbow looked like this, we heard the horror stories of the patients all around us. Like the girl next to us who was there shopping for pain meds or the one-legged man across from us whose good leg was on the "fritz." Or sadly and painfully, we listened to the story of the young mother who gave birth to a ten pounder five short weeks ago, only to find out she had 20---TWENTY---kidney stones and was going to have to pass each and every one. Um....OUCH.

So, we finally saw the doc, who confirmed her suspicions with an X-ray of Mikey T's purple arm. The verdict?

F-R-A-C-T-U-R-E.

So, into the 90* cast the left arm goes for approximately 4-12 weeks. Try taking care of a wild 2 year old with that!! Or try coaching 11 year old tournament basketball!! Or try driving!!

I will say that our hospital stay was the best date we have had in months. We laughed, a lot--at each other, at the situation, at the other patients, at the nurses. We made people laugh- like the nurses and other patients and each other.

It is kind-of sad that we haven't had a grown-up date in so long, that we actually enjoyed a trip to the ER to get Mikey T dressed in a temporary cast.

So when he gets his "permanent" cast on next week, I am going to be the first one to sign it, like I was in '94 and it will say something like "ALT -hearts- #20" just like it did in '94.