Mmmmm, yes, well after a week of flu and all of us being cooped up in the house, Kay Leigh wanted so badly to go outside and play with the other kids. She was still sick, but I knew she was just so tired of staying inside, so I decided she could go out for just a few minutes while I finished up dinner. Literally, ten minutes......
Five minutes later, Carolyn came leading a crying Kay Leigh. She said, "The wagon tipped over and Kay Leigh fell out, and now her arm hurts." I still had no clue what we were in for. So I brought her in and took off her coat, and did the usual checks, you know, gently feel the arm up and down, see if she can grab your finger, etc. No screams, no yells of "Owie", everything seemed fined, so I put her coat back on, and was getting ready to send her back out. She wasn't even hardly crying, just you know sniveling a little, like kids do when they get scared and scrape their knee. She wanted to take her baby doll outside, I got it for her, and it fell on the floor. And that's when I noticed, she was trying to pick it up, but couldn't get her left arm to work. She was trying, it wasn't cooperating. That's when my stomach knotted. I called Travis back over, and this time we took her shirt off too, and.....mmm yeah, trouble, swollen elbow and there was an inverted curve in the back of her arm. Aaaa. So we got a long wrap bandage, and wrapped her arm to her body, I got good clothes on, and combed my hair (so I didn't take her to the ER looking like a crazy neglectful mom type) all in less than five minutes, and off I went for the first time to the ER with one of my babies. Travis called his mom and dad who were there in fifteen minutes, and then he joined me. They confirmed at St. Alphonsus that her arm was broken, they did x-rays, and I must interject, she was a trooper through all of this, no screaming, a little fussing, not even any crying. She did however, clam up, my little jabber-jaw wouldn't talk to anybody, and she'd scrunch her eyes shut when the doc or nurse would come back in :D
Well, ok, broken arm, they set it and we go home that night, right?? HA, no such thing. It was a bad spot for the break, the bone in pushed in toward the elbow, and if it's not set right, it slices through nerves and arteries, and could potentially cause her to lose all use of that arm. GASP. So they call a orthopedic surgeon, he looks at the x-rays and comes and talks to us. "So there are three degrees of seriousness in these types of breaks, 1 and 2 just need setting, 3 requires surgery. She has a 3." Then he said that he didn't work with kids much, so he was transferring us to St. Lukes where there was a top-notch pediatric orthopedic surgeon. So at 9:00 at night, Kay and I got our first ever ambulance ride :D It was thrilling :P So, surgery, ok, there's another complication, she got a chest x-ray, and they are seeing stuff in her lungs that leads them to believe she is not a good candidate for anesthesia, so when we go down to the operating room prep in the morning, they tell us she's not good to go, they'll have to wait. But there's a catch, the longer they wait the more chance that her arm will be irreparably damaged....but if she goes into surgery, she could develop really bad pneumonia and...well, let's just say, by the end of this talk, Travis and I were totally freaked out. And lots of prayer was going on. So they put her in pediatric ICU, so that she would be watched closely, and if there were any signs of the arm getting compromised, they'd rush her into emergency surgery. This is what she looked like in there, she did really well, partly due to the doses of morphine she was getting (they made her itchy and soooooo cranky) and she watched Ice Age over and over and over again :D The hardest part for her were the two times she had to fast to prep for her surgery. That was miserable for her, even worse because the morphine also causes thirst. She was running high fever, and so she was always sweaty, and they were giving her breathing treatments every four hours to try to get her to cough up the gunk in her lungs. Needless to say, Travis and I weren't sleeping all too well, but that's ok. We were just worried about her.
So finally on Tuesday at 4:30 in the afternoon, she went into surgery. The pediatric doctor thought she was probably fine, and would do well; she wasn't improving any more, and the arm needed to be fixed so they'd just do it, and watch her overnight to make sure no problems arose. This was 48 hours after we'd brought her to the ER. She went in and the surgery went great, took less time than they expected and the arm bones cooperated and went where they should right away, without any incisions being made. They put three pins in her elbow, and covered it with padding and a splint. We went and saw her in recovery and she was bit uncooperative coming out of the anesthetic, but they gave her some Demerol and she settled down. Drugs are amazing :D Back up to pediatrics, and she was watched overnight, and slept, but already seemed better, the arm wasn't hurting her like it had been, and she was talking to us a lot more. This is her the next day, I put her gummies on her tummy since she didn't have a hand to hold the bag :D She was so much more perky!! What a relief to us.
She still had moments of being pitiful....
But at eight Wednesday night, they gave us permission to take her home!! She's laying there watching us get everything ready. She was so happy to get loose of the IV and the other moniters she was hooked up too. Ironically they transported her down to our car in the very thing that had gotten her there, a big red wagon :D
As the hurt little girl, she got to pick what she wanted to eat, she said, "Nuddets and fwies". So that's what she got, and doesn't she look so much more happy here??
Well, mostly happier :D
Um, she may have gotten a little tiny bit spoiled in the hospital, with everyone doing their best to keep her happy :D
On Friday I took her back to get her real cast on, the hard one. We chose pink so it'll go with her Easter dress :D And she got these glasses in a bucket of goodies that a couple of dear friends brought us in the hospital. She's all recovered, back to walking straight (she was pretty wobbly when she started walking again) and back to being a stinker, and figuring out how to use her cast as a lever. Amazing how fast kids recover from things like this. Three weeks and the pins and cast come off, and she's good to go, the doctor said, babies this young heal so fast!!
On an ending note, through all of this, our family and church family were so kind, and helpful, and such a blessing, and it was such a comfort knowing that hundreds of prayers were surrounding our little girl, and seeing that God just kept His hand of protection over her. I can't imagine going through life without knowing that He is taking of us, and being able to trust my kids to Him. Of course something like this, even though it wasn't super serious, just reminded me that we tend to just kind of push God to the background of our lives, reading Bible once in a while, praying when we feel like, but then something happens, and suddenly we are totally dependent on Him!! Very much like our relationships with our kids...they think they're doing just fine without us, until something bad happens, then they can't get enough of us :D I'm glad He's always so kind and patient with us, and always welcomes us with open arms.
And our families, so thankful for them, they are so ready to help and support, and take care of things for us. And our church family, came a visited and prayed with us, and brought gifts, and meals when we got back home...Can't think of a better place to be when something like this happens! Anyway, it's done, we're thankful, and now we can get back to normal for a little while! Hopefully this is the last emergency room visit for a while :D
Adios!!
