Wednesday was a normal Wednesday. Ky was supposed to have baseball practice around dinnertime, but it was cancelled at the last minute. I had the great idea to go for a family walk. Family walks are usually a really nice time. The kids pick some sort of vehicle to ride and Rob and I get a chance to talk. Well, this time it didn't work so well. Talia picked a trike that she INSISTED on pedaling herself--which she could--however she couldn't steer at the same time. So if she was pedaling, she was getting stuck in the grass. If she wasn't pedaling, her steering wheel was correct, but she wasn't moving. EGADS!! And she wanted NO HELP FROM US! And then she screamed when we tried to help. Ky fell down on Alaina's scooter (I don't know why he didn't pick to ride his own.) He had a small scrape on his knee--but you know that it is ALWAYS a bigger deal to the child injured. About 2 blocks from home I told Rob, "This is the WORST Family walk ever!" A block later Alaina fell off her bike with training wheels (the only kid who had been fine the whole walk.) Rob nor I saw her fall--we were each too busy with one of the other children having difficulties. I looked up and she was in the grass face down on her hands and knees. Honestly, I thought she was okay. When we caught up to her and she stood up, I could tell something was wrong with her arm. It wasn't hanging right. She was crying about it as well. At that point I told Rob that I thought she might have broke or dislocated her elbow. We walked the remaining block home and I looked at it more closely.
We called Urgent Care and they told us just to go to the ER. They sounded pretty sure that it was broken and I guess the Urgent Care doesn't deal with fractures around the elbow. At this point Alaina became upset. She had been whimpering from the pain before but she did NOT want to go to the hospital. It took some time to calm her down and get her in the van.
I took her to the ER while Rob put the younger two to bed. Ky was upset that we were not paying attention to his injury and Talia was--Talia...
When we arrived at the ER it was CROWDED. I knew we were going to be in for a long wait. I especially felt bad for the pregnant mama behind us that held a 1 year old boy with a gash on his head. He was somewhat listless and was vomiting. It reminded me of Talia when she had a concussion and broke her leg.
After a 2 hour wait (and let me tell you--Alaina did GREAT during all this time.) We finally were brought back. By now it was 10:30 PM and Alaina was at very low energy and in pain. After painful x-rays (she didn't want them moving her arm around), they confirmed that she had broke her arm and that she would need a cast.
At this point it was 11:30. Even I was foggy headed. I didn't think to ask what bone. I just knew it was one by the elbow. They came it to cast it and she began to scream (around midnight.) She had just fallen asleep. Poor girl. I am thankful that they have the Child Life helpers. A lady came running with a stuffed puppy (named Sarah--by Alaina) a bracelet, and an IPAD. Yup--she won Alaina over. They gave Alaina an old school cast--you know--the white pinata type cast that is VERY heavy and a prescription for some heavy pain releivers. They sawed two slits down both sides of the casts to allow for swelling. They informed me that she would receive another cast in a week and that she would have it on for about 4 weeks. They briefly mentioned the possibility of a doctor possibly needed to do surgery and put pins in it, but they thought that was very unlikely. We got home aroudn 1 AM. Daddy went to fill her prescription and we finally got to bed around 2.
We were up multiple times with poor Alaina. She could not get comfortable and was hurting at times. Poor kid.
We got up around 7:30 with Kylan to get him off to school. I am thankful for the carpool. We simply waved him off and relaxed. (Couldn't go back to bed since Talia was awake.)
I also called our provider and got a referral started for Alaina to be seen at the orthopedic pediatric department for a follow-up appointment. I then called the Ortho department and spoke with them. They called back later in the morning to let me know that the x-rays looked fine and that they would like to see her next Friday as a follow-up. They would take more x-rays then and put on a lighter fiberglass cast then.
It was a "lazy" morning. I kept the tv on. Alaina only slept until 9. Rob went to work shortly after. We tried to keep it easy, but Ky also had his music program at school and I had promised to help Ky's teacher out over lunch. (She had a sub and I was just going to help with the students and do some paperwork she usually has for me.) We went to Ky's music program and I came 15 minutes early to check in Ky's room and see if I could take the paperwork home and do it that evening. Well--it turns out they were short subs and the teacher next door was also trying to watch Ky's class. She saw me and instantly thought I could help. Um--yeah...So I had the girls sit down and tried to get the kids cleaning up. Yeah--that didn't go over so well. I was too busy trying to keep an eye on the girls that it was hard to focus on the class. Yeah--I tried to get out of there as quick as possible after that.
We went to the music concert and watched a cute little production the music teacher had put together about overstressed overtested children. VERY cute!
After that we "wagoned" home and I attempted to get the girls to nap for the afternoon. Yeah that didn't work. And when I finally fell asleep, Ky came home 20 minutes later. So much for that. We kept it low key for the remainder of the day.
The next day I got up early to get a job and sub. It was Rob's day off. None of us had slept well. Too many children waking up and then getting up at 5:20 to get a job--bleh! But it was my last sub job of the year, so I was bound and determine to do it. I took an SEA job at a rougher elementary and was ready to go. Rob was going to take the girls to the gym that morning and then if Alaina wanted to go to school he was going to take her.
Around 9 AM I felt my phone ringing in my pocket, but I was busy with kids so I ignored. I had a break shortly afterwards and was shocked to listen to the message. It said something about a surgeon had reviewed Alaina's x-rays and wanted to see her as soon as possible--Monday morning for more x-rays and possible surgery. SAY WHAT!? Okay, I panicked...I tried calling the office back--after being put on a very long hold the receptionist could not connect me to the nurse at that time. ARGH! With the encouragement of some teachers standing nearby (yeah, I was getting pretty worked up---remember, yesterday my daughter was fine!), I told them to have her call me ASAP. The teachers said they would cover for me so I could take the call and if I wanted to go home, I should just go. What a great group of teachers! (And they really are--you should see how well they are doing with this group of rough kids!) So, I waited and waited...oh and I left messages for Rob. He wasn't picking up his cell or the landline. I wasn't sure if he should let Alaina go to school with this new info.
At recess, I still hadn't gotten a call. And I had recess duty. So I checked my phone--missed call--of course! So I called the clinic back while I was outside. After being on hold AGAIN for a very long time, I finally told the receptionist that I just needed to talk to somebody--anybody because I wasn't going to play phone tag all day and at this point I was getting upset since I had no idea what was going on. She found a nurse who could look at Alaina's chart and tell me what it said. (This was kind of a help, and kind of not!)
She told me that Alaina had an appointment scheduled at 9:45 on Monday morning where she was to have new x-rays done. And that she also had a possible surgery scheduled for Tuesday. She couldn't tell me anymore. She couldn't tell me why. I asked if Alaina could go to school and she told me that would not be a good idea.
Fine. I hung up just in time for the kid I was supposed to be supervising explode. So much for that. Talk about feeling like a great teacher. I dealt with him and then spent the next hour trying to contact Rob to tell him NOT to take Alaina to school. About 20 minutes before school was supposed to start, I called the school and asked them to not let Rob drop Alaina off. (I am sure that was an odd request.)
I decided to try to call Rob one more time and FINALLY got through. WHEW! Problem solved--sort of. Now I get to spend the rest of the weekend wondering what they saw on Alaina's x-rays and why she was getting surgery. And of course by sharing this story with others (the teachers) I was getting countless horror stories of "breaks in the growth plate" and "pins in the arm". Yeah--not what I really wanted to hear--but I wanted something since the doc's office couldn't give me anything.
When I got home we got ready for Ky's b'ball game. Rob said Alaina had been disappointed that she wasn't able to go to school, but she seemed in good spirits when I got home. We made some sandwiches and enjoyed watching Ky make some good hits and plays. That night I was out! The exhaustion of the last few days took its toll.
Saturday, we got up late (yeah! We were able to sleep the whole night through!) and went to the farmer's market. We had originally planned to bike there before Alaina had broke her arm--and then just bike to Ky's game afterwards--well our plans were changed. None-the-less, it was a nice time walking around. We brought the wagon and had the girls ride in it--that way Alaina didn't have to worry about anyone jostling her arm. We took Ky to his game afterwards and I took the girls home for a nap and rest time for Alaina. Alaina actually ended up helping me plant cucumbers and kohlrabi in the garden. She is such a wonderful helper. We had a nice time together.
We went to Saturday church then so we could just stay home and relax on Sunday--and we knew we would need that since we were not sure what Monday would bring.
And Sunday was relaxing. We did some housework in the morning, but after that we played with the kids. I played some card games with Alaina, colored with Talia, and played ball with Kylan. We walked to Culver's for ice cream and had to duck under a tree half way there and cover up Alaina's cast from a rainstorm. When we got home we attempted to have another bonfire and cook our food over the fire--but more rain ended up putting it out. It was definitely worth the try though--it smelled WONDERFUL! We took our half-cooked dinner and threw it on the stovetop to finish it off it was good! It was a nice Sunday.
Mark 2:27
And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath."
Tuesday, June 03, 2014
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