Busted

Scottie broke her arm and if you haven't already heard, here's the saga. I dropped her off at gymnastics Friday afternoon and by the time I got back home the phone was ringing. It was a day Joe had stayed late at work so I loaded up all the kids and headed to pick her up at the gym. (This was of course pointless I had several friend who would have happily watched them but I just wasn't thinking straight.) When I got there she had a magazine splint made by her coach, and and ice pack and one of the dad's carried her out to the car. She said, "I fell and I screamed and then my arm was flopping all over" eeeewww! She had fallen off the regulation height beam (4'6") with no mat underneath and hit arm first. She was in a lot of pain and getting her into the E.R. with all the other kids was a major ordeal. (By way of warning, Valley's new E.R. is a complete disaster, strike out with that re-model.) The nurse who "helped" us was also one of the rudest I'd ever met. At one time she just flat out told me I had too many kids. After we were admitted though, everyone was terrific.

I had refrained from looking at the arm because it caused her such pain just to move. Eventually, I did catch a glimpse and it is an image that I'll never forget. I hope, some day, the nausea will subside just from thinking about it. The only thing that might be worse is the X-ray image which showed how horrifically displaced the pieces of broken bone were. After about ten nurses and an E.R. doctor took a gander it was decided an orthopedic surgeon was needed and immediate surgery. Her fingers were getting numb and discolored so I only had time to call Joe to get a sitter and race back to give her a kiss as they wheeled her into surgery. Her humerus broke right above the elbow joint and they ended up having to pin the fragment to the bone and then to the condyle.
I have learned now, to never ask how long the surgery will take because every minute after the time they gave me seemed like forever. When all was said and done things worked out perfectly. Her doctors and nurses were excellent and she was so brave. She hardly cried at all and waited so patiently through the whole ordeal. One of her coaches even came to wait with us in the E.R. and a friend brought flowers and Easter candy. I know this sounds cliche, but I would have so much rather it be me hurt and in surgery. Joe went home around 11:30PM to find Sandra, our neighbor had cleaned the house and put all the kids to bed! I stayed with Scottie overnight. They wanted to manage her pain and make sure there was no nerve damage. We did discover that codeine has an opposite than expected effect on Scottie and we spent a lot of time from 2am to 4am talking. Both she and I were glad when Joe brought the kids and well-wishes of her friends the next morning and we were even happier to go home. The first day back was hard, she and I were very tired and Scottie was in a lot of pain but each day since has been much better. She is excited to pick out her hard cast in a week and is already talking about going back to gymnastics!