Learned my lesson

Charlie came home from soccer practice on Wednesday night and was complaining a bit that his ankle was hurting. He said that someone slide tackled him "on purpose and the coach didn't call it!" I could tell he was exhausted and chalked the whining about the ankle up to fatigue. So I rubbed it a little and sent him to bed.

I went to work yesterday morning without a thought about the ankle, until I saw Charlie walk -- that is, limp -- past me at the swim meet yesterday evening. Not a bad limp, just a slight one. Mike had been home with them all day and didn't say anything to me about it, so I just shrugged it off.

Once we got home (early, thank you thunderstorm!), Charlie started complaining that his ankle was hurting. I looked at it and noted that it was a little swollen. But he didn't flinch too much when I moved it in several directions.

I gave him some ice to put on it, fairly certain that he was fine. Yet, something nagged at my mind. I've been in this situation before with Charlie. And I knew that I would be out of commission today, so I decided better safe than sorry and ran him up to the urgent care near our home. A quick exam and a few x-rays later, we came home with his only slightly sprained ankle wrapped in an ace bandage.

Ibuprofen for the pain/swelling -- $4
Co-pay for the urgent care visit -- $20
Peace of mind knowing I wasn't letting my kid walk around with a fracture (again) -- priceless