Spraining the Hand

When we arrived home from the Reptile Zoo, I unbuckled Ephram like usual and then went around to pull Macie out of her seat.  At this point of time, Ephram's legs were not quite long enough to easily step out of the car, so he usually waited inside until I came around with Macie and helped him down.

On this day he was so happy after our trip to see the Reptiles and two hours of playing at McDonalds, that he was a little manic.  He loves doors.  Our car's back passenger doors go automatically once you pull on the handle.  If the door is starting to close, you can pull on the handle again or push on the side of it and it will retract and reopen.  This makes the door very appealing to a kid like Ephram.  Despite many reminders from me, he just could not keep his hands off of it.

During the two minutes it took me to extract Macie, he opened the door, shut the door, opened the door, shut the door, and then tried to catch it just before it latched closed.  But the door caught him.  And all of his fingers.  All of them.  While my son screamed in agony I scrambled to grab the keys I'd dropped and managed to get the door open again after at least 30 seconds of it trapping his hand.  To add insult to injury, he fell out of the car to the ground when it opened.

I set my non-walking baby down on the driveway and abandoned her while I grabbed my son in the biggest hug I could manage and ran him inside.  Setting him down on the couch, I ran back out for Macie and then tended my son.  He cried and cried and cried.  He wouldn't let me put anything cold on it and he wouldn't take any tylenol or ibuprofen.  He just wanted his Mommy to hold him.  So I did.  I held him while he cried for nearly an hour.  And then he fell asleep.  Charlie came home and then Andy arrived, (after I'd requested his early departure from work,) and I left two of my children at home and took the injured one to urgent care.

The diagnosis was a hand sprain.  His knuckles and upper fingers were all twice their normal size.  He could barely move the hand.  But it was just sprained.  Thank goodness.

They offered him a sticker when we left, but what he really wanted was the doctor's business card.  They gladly gave it to him.

These pictures are from the day after his injury.  He was so tired.

Ephram was very tired for the next two days and favored his hand for about two weeks.   Then he went back to normal.  About a month later he started messing with those sliding doors again.  But now, he stops when I remind him about the car that ate his hand.