It wasn't broken!

Everyone needs a little excitement, just to feel alive...right?

On Sunday afternoon, I'd just been "chatting" with my Mom via IM, and had ordered everyone to the baths/showers for their pre-bed clean-up.  About 5 minutes into Magpie's shower she's yelling, "Momma, come here, quick!"  A few bounding steps had me in the bathroom where the water was coming up over the tops of my slippers.  (A "Life Here" note:  the Chinese bathrooms are so clever, in that they have TWO drains.  One in the shower/bath...and if there is a toilet...one on the floor somewhere.  Usually the floor of the bathroom is several inches below the level of the floor in the rest of the house too.)  We'd encountered an epic fail of our drainage system...neither drain was draining...and soon the recessed floor was going to overflow in the rest of the house.

I ran to find a chopstick to start pushing through the drains and told The Bug to get our "plumber extraordinaire" aka "Daddy!"

Apparently, once she located said plumber on the other side of the house attending to some bathing monkeys (also see Bub, The Bruiser & The Singer)...she came running through the apartment...judged that the corner of the couch an impediment...and attempted to leap over it.  Something tragic happened with her calculations...and instead she flew threw the air and landed fully on her left elbow (onto our tile/concrete floor.)

It was a crazy 30 minutes as she suffered badly from it and for Daddy who was certain, after seeing the crash, that it was damaged significantly.  We determined that we'd better go to the hospital (enter emotional feelings of being out of control, fear attempting to course through the veins, stomach flip-flopping.)  So Daddy stayed home with the rest while the Bug, our teammate Mrs. Wu, and myself loaded up into a rented van to make the trek.

I determined before we'd left however, that I was missing ALL our insurance cards (which is NOT like me)...and The Bug's passport (which is required at the hospital admitting)...was currently in the possession of the Gov officials getting a new Visa in it!

(We determined that we've got to get ourselves in much better order in case of an emergency...so, I will undertake that effort this week!)

Once again though, I was encouraged by the safety net He's put around us.  (Teammates who go with us to the hospital, our Chinese family, Uncle, who dropped his plans to meet us at the hospital to lend any translation help, and private cell number contact with the Chief Doctor of the ER who personally called me 3 times to ensure we were getting good care at his ER.)

It was also funny that I wasn't surprised anymore by any conditions that I saw there...or the smoking of people in the hospital building...or the lack of amenities in the rooms.  I guess, in year 3, I've got a sense of what to expect.  It was surprising that we saw not a single person in the ER beds though...for such an enormous city...I thought, it must be that so many could not afford the "cash up front" demands without insurance.  I said a prayer of thanks right then again for this blessing we have via the school (insurance.)

A first x-ray was inconclusive.  A further CAT scan was ordered.  And the result was all good...it wasn't broken...and we were home 5 hours after the incident.  What a relief.

I'll take a quick moment here to update you also on Little Kevin.  I wrote about him in September and October (he was the classmate of Bub's that was hit by a truck outside of our Living Quarters Gate and then subjected to 4 months lying in bed in traction, in an attempt to fix his broken pelvis.)

We saw him not long ago.

He hasn't returned to school and as far as I knew...in January...he was to finally be let out of bed. (He is 3.5 years old and has spent the past 4.5 months tied down in a bed.)

We were on our way to a wedding of a colleague.  And, Kevin's family brought him along.  He was in a stroller.

Because, he cannot walk.

I was absolutely devastated.

Bub, saw him too.  Remember, Bub was his best friend at the Kindergarten.  When Bub approached the stroller, Little Kevin wouldn't even make eye contact with him.  This is a MASSIVE change from the bubbly, playful and outgoing Kevin before the accident.

I was SO PROUD of Bub though...he was NOT daunted by Kevin's lack of response.  He kept trying to get Kevin to respond.  Darting around behind the stroller, trying to play peek-a-boo....but Kevin would just hide his face.

It was so sad, I looked away.

Then I heard it.  LAUGHTER...GIGGLES...Little Kevin was laughing at Bub.

Bub, in fast and fluent Chinese was playing a peek-a-boo game, hiding behind the stroller, looking through the "window" in the sunshade above.

Over and over Bub's enthusiasm produced peals of laughter.

They told us that they planned to take Little Kevin to some new doctors in Shanghai...in hopes that now...something can be done to...to restore their son.

Please, keep lifting that little guy up...it is such a tragedy...it is what we feared.

Must get the tribe to school...