Boogerman, To The Rescue!

Ryerson came up to me the other day with an apron in one hand, and a pair of goggles in the other.

“Mommy, tie these! I wanna be “Boogerman, to the rescue!”"

I tied them on and he was off and running- the dogs scrambled for a place to hide because when he’s “Boogerman, to the rescue”, he doesn’t watch we’re he’s going, and he shouldn’t have to…

He has more important things to worry about, like fighting crime and protecting the innocent against nasal discharge.

It was 2 years ago this week that Mark and I sat in a hospital room with Ryerson for four days, while doctors tried to figure out what was wrong with him, why he had broken two bones in a matter of four months for no apparent reason, why there was a narrowing in the joints in his hip. His white blood cell count was high, indicating an infection, and he was given a bone scan to test for osteomyelitis, an infection in the bone. We were told he may have Osteogenesis Imperfecta, Leukemia, or Rickets… it was, simply put, a nightmare.

His pediatrician told us later that it was “the most bizarre thing that she’s ever seen” and it was two months before we were able to get any answers, and even then, we’ll never have all of the answers. During that two months, when we had no idea if he was going to be alright and lead a normal, healthy life, I had a glimpse of what life would be like if he weren’t… it was terrifying. Up until that point, I had taken my kids for granted… I had assumed that they would always be healthy, always be safe. While I’ve always loved my kids, it wasn’t until then that I learned to appreciate them.

As parents, we love our kids… we do everything in our power to keep them safe, to keep them happy. We spoil them, and teach them right from wrong. We praise them for a job well done, and we crawl up their ass when they don’t. We do these things out of love, because we want what’s best for them… we want to watch them grow up, to be strong, happy people, and to know we had something to do with that. We try to teach them about life.

And in return, they teach us what life is all about.

In the end he was diagnosed with Legg-Perthes disease, which was the cause of the narrowing in the joints in his hip. LP causes the bone in the hip to die, and while the bones heals itself, it causes the bone underneath to become unstable, fracturing easily. He was put in a Spica cast for two months while the fracture healed and to stabilize the hip. Six months ago we took him to what would be his last visit to the orthopedist… up until that point, we had been taking him regularly to have x-rays taken, to make sure the bone was growing properly. Had it not, he would have had to have had another Spica cast put on, or worse, surgery. The bone had finally healed itself, and he was given a clean bill of health.

Finally.

Now, when Ryerson comes up to me with an apron in one hand and a pair of goggles in the other, I tie them on and tell him to “Go save the world”. I pile pillows on the floor, so that when he’s flying, he has a soft place to land… just in case. In that moment, when he jumps off the couch, he believes that he is flying, that anything is possibe… that he is a superhero.

And he is.