Jim Dalrymple.com

Having a drink through a syringe is probably not the best way to have a drink of water, but right now that’s the only way Michael can do it. When he gets thirsty, we pour a glass and then dip the syringe and shoot it into his mouth.

I must say he is talking this like a champ, but it must be difficult to not even be able to something as simple as having a drink. We have to give him his medicine with a syringe too, but he doesn’t enjoy that nearly as much.

So far, his food consists of apple sauce, chocolate pudding and oatmeal. We just take a spoonful, tilt his head back and let it slide past his teeth. He just moves his tongue and swallows it down.

Again, not the best way to eat, but it’s all he can do right now.

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I talked to my parents last night and told them all about Michael’s accident. Then we talked about how freaky my accident was compared to what Michael went through yesterday — the similarities are kind of incredible.

When I was 11 or 12, I had a similar accident to Michael. Most people don’t know, but I have a false tooth in the front — it came out through my lip when I crashed. For many years I had a mustache, which hid the scar, but over the past few years the scar has almost disappeared.

Here are a few of the similarities:

Jim: Riding down a hill a few hours before my soccer game and lost control of my bike.

Michael: Riding down a hill a few hours before his soccer game and lost control of his bike.

Jim: Went over my handlebars and knocked out my front tooth.

Michael: Went over (or sideways, we don’t really know) his handlebars and knocked out the same front tooth.

Jim: Two strangers (a young man and woman) stopped and took me home.

Michael: Two strangers (a young man and woman) stopped and took him home.

Jim: When I got home, my father said I just stood in the driveway bleeding. When I approached him, I stuck my finger through my lip where the tooth came out. I don’t remember most of that.

Michael: He got out of the car and just stared at us bleeding, not really knowing what to do.

Jim: My parents got the tooth (I’m not sure if they went back or if the people that brought me home picked it up).

Michael: I went back to the accident scene and picked up the tooth off the road.

Jim: My parents took me to see Dr. Christie to have my tooth put back in my mouth. We then went to the hospital.

Michael: We took Michael to see Dr. Christie (yep same guy) and he sent us to the hospital.

The next day, Michael and I both looked about the same. I feel so bad for him.

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I seriously thought my heart was going to break as I watched my 10-year-old son lying in the hospital, covered in blood. earlier today Michael was driving down a steep hill on his bike and lost control. Besides the fact he lost nine teeth, we know very little about what happened.

Mike left the house with his friend to spend the afternoon bike riding — the last thing Monique said was “don’t race down the hills.” A few minutes later she walked into the family room and said “I hope he listens to me about going down the hills too fast — I would hate for him to crash and knock out some teeth.”

She turned around, walked to the front door as a strange car drove up and stopped in front of our driveway. The passenger’s door opened and a young woman got out with Michael, completely covered in blood. Monique screamed and I ran to the door.

After we made sure he had no broken bones, I hopped in the truck and went to the accident scene to recover the missing tooth. It was still in the middle of the road where it landed. I grabbed it drove home, picked everyone up and went to our dentists office. He quickly told us to go to the IWK Childrens Hospital.

They took care of us pretty quickly at the hospital. First they had a doctor check him out, both physically and mentally — until then Michael had no idea where he was or what happened to him. He checked out okay, although they were a bit concerned about him.

When the dental sergeon came, he didn’t have good news. He said they could not put in the front tooth that got knocked out. In addition to that, they had to pull three other teeth because they were so loose. To make matters worse five other teeth had to be wired in place or he would lose those too.

Even though those teeth are now wired in place, Michael will have to go through five root canals in order to save them. The doctor said those teeth are already dead.

Michael spent two or three hours in surgery this afternoon. We left for the hospital at 1:30 pm and arrived home at 8:30 pm.

At least he is alive and has all his limbs, eyes and was wearing a helmet or it could have been much worse.

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Thirteen years ago today, Monique and I got married. At that point in our lives it was really a formality — we already bought a house, had joint checking accounts and had lived together in an apartment for a couple of years.

That many years certainly brings with it a few trials and tribulations, but all in all it’s been quite a journey. I can’t imagine life without Monique and luckily, I don’t have to.

Smartest thing I’ve ever done.

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Our heat-wave hit yesterday as promised. The highs certainly didn’t disappoint as it went over 110º at times in the afternoon heat and humidity — unfortunately the promised respite didn’t materialize today.

Despite wide predictions of thunderstorms overnight a return to livable temperatures on Sunday, we are still sweltering in the heat and humidity. We went up to Monique’s parents house today to help her father with a printer problem and to hook up a stereo component for him. The kids took the time to go for a swim in their pool and cool off a bit, but their has been no relief for Monique and I.

After we left there, we stopped off at the local park to see a dog show. Actually it was more of an exhibition, all intended for fun, no real competition. Lots of cool dogs, although not a Border Collie in the mix at all — kind of strange considering how smart they are.

The dogs did relay races and agility competitions, darting in and out of obstacles. Some of course, did better than others, but it was a lot of fun watching. Unfortunately, we were in the heat for the hour or so we watched — I was just cooked by the time I got home, but it was worth it.

Everyone is doing there own thing right now, trying to cool down. I have another feature due tomorrow, so I’ve been working this weekend, but the break this afternoon was nice.

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No, that’s not a minus temperature for the blustery northern Canadians. They issued a weather warning in Halifax tomorrow telling us to stay inside for the majority of the day as temperatures are expected to hit between 30-35 degrees Celsius or 85-95 degrees Fahrenheit.

The temperature itself isn’t the big problem. We get incredible muggy weather here and that’s where the problem comes in. With everything else factored in including the haze and other crap, they expect the temperatures to get up to 40-45 degrees Celsius or 104-113 degrees Fahrenheit.

To make the day even worse they expect a cold front to move in tomorrow evening causing severe thunderstorms.

Sunday is supposed to be back to normal.

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Michael actually started Soccer season on Tuesday, but I was in Cleveland so I didn’t get to see the first match. No big deal really, the first night they get their jerseys and meet the coach and stuff like that.

Tonight was their first real game. They played really well, but ended up losing 2-1 – a heartbreaker considering they had two breakaways in the second half and missed. One was saved by the goalie and one went wide.

The first match the coach is figuring out who plays what position and so on, so perhaps they’ll win next time.

Michael and I are going to start working for a half an hour or so every night on some soccer skills. It should be fun, I have a lot I can teach him and we’ll get to spend some time together.

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