Should I Be Worried?

I drove up to the school the other day.

From the parking lot, it’s easy to see the Varsity practice field.
While waiting for a car to back out, I scanned the field for tiny baby.

He’s easy to spot since he’s sooo short. I didn’t see him. But he could be on the sideline. Nope. He could be getting a drink. He could be getting something out of his lacrosse bag. He could be running an errand for the coach. He could have gotten demoted to another team on another field. The possibilities are endless.

So I parked and headed to the girls’ lacrosse game. That’s when I saw the ambulance on the path near the lacrosse field. Interesting.
But there were no flashing lights, no paramedics, no throngs of curious bystanders.

Right then, my cell phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Hi, this is John Doe (someone whose name I didn’t immediately recognize) and I have Andrew (another name I didn’t immediately recognize) here with me. He had some breathing difficulty at practice.”

OHHHHHH! I’m starting to come to! It’s the Athletic Trainer and he has Parker. (All my kids go by their middle names, so when someone uses their first name…….well….you can’t really expect me to respond.)
Okay, so he has Parker and Parker can’t breathe. Is that all?
Phew!

He told me that he was near the field and the coach called him over. The coach doesn’t like to handle non breathing kids by himself. Weird.

Parker’s pulse was up over 100 and he was pale and had difficulty getting air. The trainer took him to the training room and had him lie down and elevate his legs. Within minutes, his color returned and his pulse was down around 65. He was fine.

I told the trainer that I was already at the school and I would be right down. It’s one of the few rooms in the school that I don’t have an all access pass to.

Parker was fine. He looked fine. The trainer said that Parker did mention a recent chest injury. Oh yeah that……….that was 2 months ago or at least a month ago. He pulled some muscle or something and was in major pain for awhile. The doctor is the one who decided it was nothing. (after I had diagnosed it as nothing)

But while we were in the training room, the trainer also noticed that while Parker has a very straight spine, two of his ribs (back ribs) were out of place. Hmmm….that might lead to discomfort. He asked if he could pop them back in. Sure! It’s not my back you’re manipulating. He popped Parker’s ribs back in, gave him some ibuprofen, and sent us on our merry way.

Parker went back to practice (to watch, not to play). I went to the girls’ lacrosse game. And we never did figure out why the ambulance was there