Clinic (Times 2)

Yesterday was a medical day, though no emergencies (phew!).  Our youngest Sprout has been up the past few nights coughing away (so no surprise that his parents are walking zombies at this point), so I stayed home with him to give him a rest day and to take him to the clinic to get checked out (mostly because a lot of his daycare-mates were sick, and pneumonia has been working its way around the community).  The visit to the clinic was painless - we arrived when it opened, had a visit with the nurse, JK said "Ahhhh" when he was supposed to and all was ok (just a cold).  A sick note later, JK and I left the clinic and went home.

Then...

My lovely spouse calls and at 11 AM JK and I are on our way to the school to pick up the oldest Sprout because her nose hurt. 

The nose backstory:
Somehow, on Monday, FK fell out of a chair reading a book at school, did not put her arms out to catch her fall, and banged her nose on the floor.  Blood and tears ensued.  A trip to the office, a cold compress and some quiet time later calmed down Fi for her to return to class, albeit with a very swollen and bruised nose.  We kept a close eye on it over the next day, but she didn't complain about it, so all seemed fine.

Back to the main story:
By the time we arrived at the school, Fi was sulking on the front porch because she claimed her nose didn't hurt anymore and she did not want to go to the clinic (who could blame her?).  However, a number of staff members told EK that the doctor was at the clinic for his weekly monthly visit, FK's nose didn't look great, so why not take advantage of the doctor's visit?  So we did.  This time, however, the clinic was packed with people (due to the doctor's visit), so we waited just over two hours to get FK's nose checked out.  Let me point out that this wait happened over lunch ("Papa, I'm hungry" was an incessant refrain by 12:15 PM), there is nothing in the clinic for children to amuse themselves except reading pamphlets on Hep C or watching a fishing show on the television, and even though we have lived in the community now for two and a half years, we were politely ignored (yes, I get that we will never be fully welcome in the community, but a smile or hello would be nice.  Sigh).  At least we didn't have to drive to town to hospital, where the wait is four to five hours long (as we have personally experienced in previous visits).

The good news is that the doctor took a good look at FK's nose, said that it appeared alright (aligned, no deviated septum), though to keep close watch on the swelling (it should be gone in two weeks).  Apparently, without surgery (painful!) it is impossible to tell if there is a hairline fracture, as it doesn't show on X-rays.  If the swelling does not go down, then something is not right and then we take the next step (go to Winnipeg, we were told).

So, who knows the future of FK's nose?  (I couldn't resist the use of homophones!).  We hope it is fine (please, please, please...).