Thumbs Down

So yesterday--the one day I left my cell phone on the charger at home when I rushed out the door in the morning--the school nurse tried to call. My husband got the next attempt, but he was two hours away. Already on an important call, my mom didn't answer the call-waiting beep from Paul, not thinking it was anything that couldn't wait. By the time Paul reached me at work, Hannah had already been sitting in the nurse's office for almost an hour! I left immediately to get to school. She had an accident in PE, a run-in with a boy during a tag game. Her thumb was jammed backward. Why 7th grade boys & girls share PE is beyond me. Boys obviously tend to be more aggressive & want to win at all costs. Ironically, I had a similar call when Hannah had her collar bone broken in 5th grade over this same game. I'm so irritated that she had to go through this. Her thumb was very swollen & black, so I took her for X-rays immediately. After almost two hours, we confirmed her thumb was fractured, a splint was in place, & I had to schedule a follow-up with an orthopedic dr. for Mon. The concern is that the injury is on a growth plate. The saddest part is that this strips away Hannah's opportunity to play the piano accompaniment at the upcoming school Christmas chorus concert. She has been practicing for weeks for this part & tried out last week. Here she is giving the thumbs-down to it all.