CraigSca
11-24-2003, 06:47 AM
Went to a birthday party that my 4 year old was invited to. One of those bowling parties, with 10 other kids running around screaming, and 10-15 parents trying to make sure no one drops a bowling ball on their foot.
Anyway...as is the modus operandi with 4 year olds, about half of them lost interest in bowling after their second ball or two. So, my wife asks me to take our two year old up to one of the lanes to see if she'd like to try a crack at it. I carry her up there and bring her right up to the foul line (or whatever the official term in bowling is). I'm getting ready to put the ball between her legs, so we can both give it a proper push, when she kind of kicks at the ball. She succeeds in only giving it a partial blow (taps at it, essentially), causing the bowling ball to roll at about a quarter mile an hour. Seeing this, I know it's going to stop, at best, a quarter way down the lane, so I decide to retrieve it so we can have a "do over" :). I'm wearing the usual "it's autumn, and it's cold out" hiking boots....
Now...I know there were signs posted everywhere ("WARNING, slippery surface!), but since when are bowling alleys the equivalent of ice skating rinks?! I take ONE step onto the lane (past the foul line) and I go FLYING. I land completely horizontal to the ground, on my back and head. I hear a collective "gasp!" from the peanut gallery behind me (including a male voice distinctively saying "That had to hurt!") and then a little girl's crying. I get up on my hands and knees and turn around (ego bruised, but I'm feeling ok physically at this point) and see my daughter sitting down, a little past the foul line, crying. I ask one of the other fathers if she was crying because she saw me fall, or did she fall herself? The guy told me she fell too...but only on her rear-end. So...I slowly CRAWL my way towards her, pick her up and bring her to my wife (who is engrossed in conversation with another mother and didn't see any of this). At this point, I begin to realize my left ring finger "hurts".
And now we can bottom line the story.
1) Beware of bowling alleys. I can remember as a kid being able to turn on a dime and basically run all over the things. Now, however, they apparently coat these things with teflon and other space-age materials. Beware :)
2) How can you tell if your finger's broken? I looked online, but I can't tell whether it's a sprain or a fracture. It doesn't "look" broken (out of alignment), but it's bruised and very swollen. If I touch it in anyway, my central nervous system makes me very aware of it :). I CAN bend it, but only ever so slightly, as it looks like someone stuffed a breast implant between my hand and first joint. Should i just let it go, or do i definitely need to have it x-rayed? Quite frankly, I'd rather not bother with it unless it's one of those - "If you don't do it, it'll become infected and your finger will rot off" type of things.
Any doctor in the house that can give some advice with no risk of being sued :)?
Anyway...as is the modus operandi with 4 year olds, about half of them lost interest in bowling after their second ball or two. So, my wife asks me to take our two year old up to one of the lanes to see if she'd like to try a crack at it. I carry her up there and bring her right up to the foul line (or whatever the official term in bowling is). I'm getting ready to put the ball between her legs, so we can both give it a proper push, when she kind of kicks at the ball. She succeeds in only giving it a partial blow (taps at it, essentially), causing the bowling ball to roll at about a quarter mile an hour. Seeing this, I know it's going to stop, at best, a quarter way down the lane, so I decide to retrieve it so we can have a "do over" :). I'm wearing the usual "it's autumn, and it's cold out" hiking boots....
Now...I know there were signs posted everywhere ("WARNING, slippery surface!), but since when are bowling alleys the equivalent of ice skating rinks?! I take ONE step onto the lane (past the foul line) and I go FLYING. I land completely horizontal to the ground, on my back and head. I hear a collective "gasp!" from the peanut gallery behind me (including a male voice distinctively saying "That had to hurt!") and then a little girl's crying. I get up on my hands and knees and turn around (ego bruised, but I'm feeling ok physically at this point) and see my daughter sitting down, a little past the foul line, crying. I ask one of the other fathers if she was crying because she saw me fall, or did she fall herself? The guy told me she fell too...but only on her rear-end. So...I slowly CRAWL my way towards her, pick her up and bring her to my wife (who is engrossed in conversation with another mother and didn't see any of this). At this point, I begin to realize my left ring finger "hurts".
And now we can bottom line the story.
1) Beware of bowling alleys. I can remember as a kid being able to turn on a dime and basically run all over the things. Now, however, they apparently coat these things with teflon and other space-age materials. Beware :)
2) How can you tell if your finger's broken? I looked online, but I can't tell whether it's a sprain or a fracture. It doesn't "look" broken (out of alignment), but it's bruised and very swollen. If I touch it in anyway, my central nervous system makes me very aware of it :). I CAN bend it, but only ever so slightly, as it looks like someone stuffed a breast implant between my hand and first joint. Should i just let it go, or do i definitely need to have it x-rayed? Quite frankly, I'd rather not bother with it unless it's one of those - "If you don't do it, it'll become infected and your finger will rot off" type of things.
Any doctor in the house that can give some advice with no risk of being sued :)?