February 18
th was a beautiful Friday and the
forecast was sunshine for days, so Barry and I decided to pack the girls up and head out to the local
nurseries to buy some spring vegetables for our garden. We thought it would be a nice treat to take the girls to Chick-
fil-A for an early dinner before hitting the last couple stops. Leslie ate her dinner really fast, so she got to go play in the
play area while Daddy got her ice cream. Everything was good.
Leslie is always nice and overly
cautious in these activities, so I wasn't worried about her. I sat at the table with Calla while she finished up her meal. Luckily, we had a table by the
play area, so I could watch Leslie, too. She climbed up and twisted her way through the maze to the top of the slide. She slid down it and popped up with a big smile on her face. Then she started to hop back to the entrance... and tripped...
She
immediately started screaming. I ran in there, picked her up, and she started yelling that she needed to go to the hospital. At first, I just thought she was scared and being dramatic remembering breaking her elbow last spring. I mean, how bad could she really have hurt herself falling on a padded floor?
Luckily, this was not my first rodeo with her elbows. We came home, put ice on it and watched for any swelling or bruising.
By dinner, it looked fine, but she still wouldn't move it, so we decided to take her to the doctor. We had already contacted the family and had them on stand by. So with Calla's bed time approaching, we mobilized the troops. Mom and some other helpers came over to watch Calla, and Barry and I headed to the minor emergency clinic for x-rays.
Luckily, we didn't have to wait too long, because the PA quickly looked at her elbow and told us he was afraid it might be dislocated and the x-rays they provide are not sensitive enough to picture kids bones well. So now it's 9 o'clock on a Friday night, and we know the ER is going to be packed. She was in good spirits, it wasn't hurting her anymore (as long as she kept it still), and I could touch it without any pain. We decided to tough it out 'til morning, and if she still can't move it, Barry will take her first thing in the morning before it gets crowded.
She had a rough night... much worse than when she broke it last spring. She couldn't get comfortable all night and kept accidentally rolling on it and waking up screaming. Morning couldn't come soon enough. But in hind sight, I'm glad she got the rest she did, because I can't imagine us going through everything on no sleep in the middle of the night.
Barry was awake and showered before Leslie even woke up, and we had packed her bag the night before anticipating the early morning trip. So as soon as Leslie woke up, Barry rushed her out the door and headed back to the ER (which was now nice and empty). I, once again, mobilized the family unit to help watch Calla and then headed up to the hospital.
By the time I got there, she was already in a room and had x-rays done... so we were just waiting for the doctor to come tell us everything looked okay and send us home. She was in a really good mood and generally acted a ton better...
Then the doctor came in and quickly told us that her elbow was broken and needed surgery. They had already called the on-call
orthopedist, and he would meet us at the main
hospital. And then walked out to arrange the mandatory ambulance transfer. Wait. What? It was
alot to take in and sort through with the clock ticking. After several phone calls and with much hesitation, we decided to have the surgery done as planned and prayed for the best. Since the surgeon was waiting on us to be
transferred and the
ambulance was taking forever to pick us up, the hospital went ahead and did as much of the
pre-op stuff as possible. So by the time the ambulance picked her up, she had a gown on, an IV in, and blood drawn. She was really brave through it all and did as good as can be expected out of a four year old! She really liked getting to ride in the ambulance but was disappointed they didn't run the lights or sirens for her...
It was a whirlwind of activity as soon as we pulled up to the main hospital doors. They
immediately rushed her up to
pre-op. The
anesthesiologist came and spoke with us, and then asked if his 12 year old son could watch. It kind of freaked me out to think about her being
intubated and seeing the heart monitor cords stuck on. This was a full scale legit
surgery. She was officially
anesthetized for her ear tubes, but that didn't involve an IV or being
intubated.
The doctor then came out and told us that he had looked at the x-rays, and her elbow was not broken which was a huge relief... but she did have a dislocation of the radial head which needed to be reduced. He showed us the x-rays and explained what probably happened when she fell was that she put her arms out to catch herself, and since her arms over extend a little, the Ulna flexed up and pushed the Radius out of socket. On adults, the ulna would have just broken, but since kids bones are so flexible, it simply bowed. He told us that it should be a really quick and easy procedure and that most of the time would be allotted to wrapping her cast. I was very relieved when he said that if for some reason it didn't pop back in easily, he would just wrap it up and send her to Lubbock to see a pediatric
orthopedist. And with that- she was off...
As promised, the surgery was really quick. He came out, told us everything went great, showed us new x-rays, and said she should be out soon. I went back to sit with her while she woke up. She did not want to wake up for anything, but finally, with the help of some ice packs and the promise of ice cream, she came around...
She took a nap, ate some ice cream, used the bathroom, and was home in time for bed.
I am so thankful for all the family and people God has put in our lives to help us through these crazy times. I can't imagine having to go through all that with Calla in tow! And the orthopedist, whom we very anxious over because no one had heard of him before, turned out to be a Godsend. He's new to town, but is very good at what he does and is taking over a lot of the trama calls. He is a very direct and down-to-business man with Barry and I, which I respect, and he has 3 little girls, so he knows how to talk to Leslie well.
Leslie will continue to have regular check-ups with decreased frequency over the next 3 years just to make sure everything is growing right. Now if I can just figure out where they sent Sam Bradford to teach him how to fall right...
