Break a leg

I haven't been online much for a few reasons, the first one being that I am on dial up. Have I mentioned how horrible it is? My computer has been crashing, I've been losing my connection, and it is soooo slow. Anyhow, I mentioned to the BC girls that I would blog about what a horrible day we had a few weeks ago.

The boys had their first P.D. day of the year. It was going to be a busy day because we had our dear friends from Hamilton coming, a family of 4 and their dog, and I needed to tidy up and get groceries for the weekend. Also, all 3 boys had a fitting at the dentists for a mouthguard and Patrick had a hockey game that night. However, Patrick's new friend's birthday fell on that day, so he had a party at his house. His mom graciously called and asked that I bring all of the kids for a swim when I drop off Patrick. I thought that sounded like a nice break in between cleaning and grocery shopping with 4 kids. So we arrived at 11 am.

Everything went well, Kira and the boys played in the pool for a little while. Then they asked to use the trampoline. At first I said that only one at a time could go on, but trying to keep them off was more difficult than I expected. So I settled on letting 2 on at a time. They were reminded to keep to their own side of the trampoline. Damon had been testing that rule, but finally accepted that it was best to follow the rule. Seeing him bounce in one place bothered Kira, so she bounced into his space, taking him out at the knees. He of course fell on her and her leg.

She did her usual screaming and crying that she does at the slightest foul, but unlike usual, it didn't end when we distracted her. "Damon broke my leg!" she hollered. Our hostess offered her ice and she accepted it. She offered her pears and she gladly snacked on them. But she kept crying and telling us that her leg was broken. There was no sign of bruising or swelling, so I took a wait and see approach.

We went to the grocery store. Luckily it was one that had a cart with spots for 2 kids to ride, as Kira was still not putting weight on her leg. I grabbed only essentials, as she was clearly still in pain. We went home. I was hoping to get some cleaning and laundry done before our company was due to arrive. I called Matt and let him know what had happened and to see how accessible he would be if I was going to take Kira to the hospital. He was very worried and said he would come home an hour early if I did not call him sooner. Kira lay on the couch, not able to put any weight on her leg.

Finally at 3 pm, Matt and I decided that something out of the ordinary was wrong with her leg and we got all the kids ready to go to the hospital. I had to pack Patrick's hockey bag and bring his dress clothes just in case. I called our houseguests to tell them that there would be a key under the mat and that we would be at the hospital. And off we all went in 2 cars.

Kira brought her quilt that Kathy D. made her when she was a baby. She napped on Daddy's lap and we waited. And waited. Well you know what E.R. is like, we waited for hours. Finally, I had to take the boys for their mouthguard appointments. I picked up Patrick at his friend's house, where his friend's mother was feeling horrible about what happened. That made me feel horrible that she felt so bad, etc. We got to the place and I was told that there was a 45 minute wait. I explained our situation and they said that I could call on Monday and book an appointment for another day. PHEW.

So we went back to the hospital and we all waited for a while. Finally Patrick had to leave for his game. Matt took him and left me at the hospital with the other 4 kids. I needed Damon to carry Hanna for me because Kira needed to be carried, and Campbell chose to wait with us.

I guess I was a bit of a spectacle in the waiting room, alone with 4 young kids. They all stopped staring at me when the mennonite family pulled up with their horse and cart and the whole family, grandparents and all brought in the 2 year old. No, seriously they did.

We were finally taken in to a room and we waited another 45 minutes for a doctor. While we were waiting we bumped into one of Patrick's teammates' mother and the coach's wife, who happens to be an E.R. doctor at the hospital. Kira wasn't on her list. Finally the E.R. doctor saw us. I will never understand why a triage nurse can't order x-rays for something as obvious as Kira's case. It would have saved us at least an hour and a half, because that's how long it took to get the x-rays done and see the doctor the second time. Anyway, the doctor couldn't see any breaks on the first set of x-rays. So he asked her to walk on her leg, and I give her credit, she tried really hard, but she could not bear any weight on it, so he sent us back for more x-rays of her hip and her foot. When he looked at those x-rays he still didn't see anything, but decided that since she couldn't bear any weight that he would err on the side of caution and he put her leg into a splint and wrap. He said she needed to come back on the Monday to see the orthopedic surgeon.

It was now 9:30pm. I was exhausted. All of the kids were exhausted, but especially Kira and Hanna. I didn't have a stroller with me, only a baby sling. I loaded the kids into the van and I called Matt. He was just leaving the game, the team had lost, but Patrick had scored a goal. Our houseguests had called his cellphone and they were just arriving at the house. The kids and I drove home and Matt stopped in town to get pizza for dinner.

We were thrilled to welcome our friends to our messy house! While we waited for Matt to arrive with the pizzas, I was running around trying to find the bed linens for them showing everybody where their beds would be. Then my father-in-law called to share some sad news with us. His mother, Matt's grandmother and "Grandmama" to the kids and I, had passed away in her sleep earlier that evening. I knew her as a sweet gentle lady and we will all miss her terribly.

The kids really enjoyed having their friends over and they had a good weekend. Kira definitely enjoyed being waited on by myself and my friend. On Monday, I called to get Kira's appointment time. The secretary said that she had a note that the doctor was to see Kira NEXT week. I'm glad I insisted that the E.R. doctor had said THIS Monday, not NEXT Monday. The Orthopedic surgeon looked at the same x-rays that the E.R. doctor saw and declared that there was no break because he couldn't see one and he took the splint off and said she was fine, that she probably had some soft tissue injury but by now she could walk on it. Yeah, okay, except that she won't/can't/shan't. I felt horrible. How do you tell a 3 year old that the doctor knows more about her body and her pain than her? 4 days of carrying her everywhere (don't forget I carry Hanna everywhere already), my back was hurting, so I convinced with her to crawl. She did a great job of getting around the house by crawling. I was worried though and decided that if she was not bearing any weight on it by Friday, I would be taking her back to the hospital on Saturday.

We were urging Kira to do her best to walk in time for Grandmama's funeral on Friday. She did a great job. She had a definite limp, and often needed support, but she was doing her best to walk on her own.

The next week we were at a hockey game and saw our friend the E.R. doctor. She said that if Kira wasn't bearing weight on her leg after 2 days, she would have told us to bring her back or take her back to the orthopedic surgeon. All of Kira's patient files had been sent to her, but there was still no clear diagnosis on what Kira's actual injury was. Ah well, at that point she was walking, so we were happy.

I'm sorry to be so horribly long-winded here. You can probably tell that I don't get out much these days. LOL