A Very Tall, Sad Little Boy

my husband separated his AC joint (shoulder- acromioclavicular joint) this weekend from a fall while playing indoor soccer and has had his dominant arm in a sling and has been looped up on vicodin since then. he's pretty bummed. and sore. and pathetic. been sitting on our couch watching a lot of "batman the animated series" over the last few days. and he's a little goofy. i just found a note scrawled in big, loopy nearly illegible letters that says "2pm tommorrow (sic)." so, in his disoriented and helpless state, i have been caring for (laughing at) him when i'm not at the clinic. he went to his MD today to put a game plan together and he is being sent to the orthopedic surgeon tomorrow (thus the reminder note for 2pm tomorrow- he says he misspelled it because he was concentrating so hard on writing properly w/ his left hand). :) a separation is a pretty serious thing- potentially difficult recovery (could be surgery, definitely PT and lots of rest from sports) and expensive and time consuming. but he's remaining pretty positive, and i'm (clearly) enjoying his incapacity and vulnerability. i like occasionally having an excuse to take care of him. i like to be needed. i just hope he feels better soon and doesn't need me for TOO long. and i am praying that he is ambidextrous when it comes to, uh, bathroom needs. i'll let you know.

addendum: they say your other senses heighten when you lose one. maybe it's the same for wounded limbs. he tells me he has been using his teeth to do everything but tie his shoes (that's my job). maybe he'll learn that he can type with his tongue or hold a paintbrush in his teeth and take up impressionism or something. or maybe it's more like phantom limbs- tonight we walked by a poster of a guy doing push-ups and he said, "i remember when i used to be able to do push-ups." sigh. like he did them all the time and they will really be missed......but i guess there was always the possibility of doing them until the injury, when that dream was dashed.

so anyway...

the clinic is still going well. i'm getting a little tired of vaccines all day long and trying to see in tiny ear canals full of ear wax while the kid screams. and i still am exhausted by the end of the day from translating. my spanish isn't getting a whole lot better faster, i'm afraid. i think i'm telling people to come back in a month for a second vaccine, but i'm probably actually reminding them to "feed their hippopotamus before the grass baby front mine was." or something equally helpful. they're pretty polite- they just nod and smile and hold their children a little closer to them.