Pop! Goes the...

elbow!!

Yep. That's right. You read it right.

Aili dislocated her elbow tonight.

The good news is that she's brand spanking new again, after her ordeal with the doctor. It took less time for the doctor to pop it back into place than it did for me to admit her to the clinic.

Now THAT was a painful ordeal. Here's the whole, sordid story...

I picked up Aili today and since we were too early to pick Gary up, I decided to head to a nearby mall, to look for shoes for Connor. We ran in, stopped at Northern Getaway to say hi to my sister, Teresa, and I picked up a few shirts for Connor (one very cute one that says, "My sister ate my homework!"). Aili and I headed out to go to the car... I couldn't find my keys! I dumped my purse out, all the while trying to keep Aili close by (no stroller in the car!!). So back we went, to see if we could catch Teresa.

Aili decided that she doesn't want to go back to the store. I was holding her by her wrist, so she couldn't take off. She yanked her arm away, while at the same time, plopping herself on the floor... and I heard, or rather FELT, a slight 'pop'!! She started to whimper and cry and immediately, her arm dropped to her side. Oh my Goodness!

I raced back to Northern Reflections and my sister was just leaving work. I called Gary and of course, as my luck would have it, he did not have the extra set of keys on him. So now I was panicking. We had to get Connor from Latchkey by 6pm, I had no keys and my daughter had what I thought was a dislocated shoulder!

Teresa drove me to the nearby clinic (no carseat - that was nerve racking!!). Well, if the health system didn't fail me today! I, of course, did not have Aili's health card, because it was in my Daytimer - in the VAN!! No problem - they will see her if I pay the $40 fee, which will be refunded when I return with her health card. Okay. Fine. I take out my debit card.

"Sorry. We don't take debit."

What? Are you in the 21st century here with me?!?! Okay. Fine. I take out my cheque book.

"Sorry. We don't take cheques."

Of COURSE you don't. What was I thinking?

"We take Visa."

Well, Halleluiah! I take out my Mastercard.

"No. No Mastercard. Just Visa."

At this point, Aili was WAILING away, and the man behind me was starting to get angry. Not because he had to wait, but rather, because they would not take her in to see the doctor! So while my sister and I discussed whether she would go to the bank machine, the receptionist proceeded to admit two other people, of course, adding to the time that Aili would have to wait...

Luckily, there was a pharmacy next door that let me do a cashback (with $1.00 charge, of course!). So I took my cash and back I went. And of COURSE, they were training a new receptionist so they had to go through the whole procedures STEP by STEP by STEP...

Long story short (or at least a little less long!), Teresa went home to pick up her daughter. Aili and I waited for about 25 minutes and had just gotten into the patient room as she returned. She left to go and pick up Gary and Connor ( BIG thanks to Angie for driving Gary to pick up Connor and for bringing them both home!! BIG HUGS, girlie!!). No sooner than she had left, the doctor came in, asked what was wrong, (basically ACCUSED me of beating my daughter!!), and then POP! He popped her arm back in!

So we went out and sat in the grass for a bit, then walked to a nearby mall to wait for Gary to pick us up. She was chatting away and running about as if nothing had happened.

I, on the other hand, was a basket case.

But... I do want to share something with you...

While I was waiting for the cashier to count my cash, the gentleman (and I use that word on PURPOSE) who was standing behind me in line, came up to me and held out a $50 bill.

"Here, honey, go and have her taken care of..."

I stood there dumbfounded. I had never seen this man before. I caused him to wait at least 10 minutes while I argued with the receptionist (not my finest moment, but I was STRESSED!). He didn't know me from Eve, yet here he was, offering me money so that I could have my child attended to. I wanted to kiss him.

Thank you, mister. You have completely restored what little faith I had left that there are kind, generous, good-hearted people still out there. And if I see you on the street some day - I just MIGHT kiss you!! :)

Thanks for reading!