Thursday, May 24, 2007

Displaced distal both-bone fracture

I was packing up C's softball equipment after our final practice before our first game of the season, when I heard her little voice calling out from near 2nd base...
Daddy, I think I broke my arm!
PK, you didn't break your ar...oh crap, you did break your arm.
5 minutes later we were sitting in the emergency room registration window.

7 minutes later they had given her a morphine shot in her little bottom and she was feeling just fine.

20 minutes later we had this to look and cringe at...


To paraphrase the last two and a half days...Wearing a splint and arm sling home from emergency, unflavored hydrocodone syrup, search for a pediatric orthopedic surgeon in OKC that wasn't on vacation or totally overbooked, call made by our family doctor to a Ped Ortho specialist he was buds with, got an appointment that same afternoon, surgery this morning, resting comfortably on the couch eating freshly made cotton candy and watching her Cars DVD for the umpteenth time, hot pink cast ready for signatures.I know it was an accident and I know these things happen to kids all the time, and I know that even had I been watching her spin around on the grassy field that she may have tripped and fell and broke her arm...

But it happened to my little girl, on my watch -- and that makes it pretty hard to take.

My 4-year old is ready for the onslaught of queries and questions aimed toward her new brightly colored appendage. She's even made up a poem to help her field questions from the press and other concerned parties...I was spinning around,
on the ground.
Then I got dizzy;
and fell down.

3 comments:

eccentricego said...

Welcome to the club! My daughter did the same thing at the same age, I didn't catch her in time as she and the bike went whizzing down the driveway. We parents aren't very good at forgiving ourselves, but it happens to everyone. Hope your little one is feeling better soon. Ouch!

Patience said...

Poor thing!!! I hate it when the little ones get hurt, but it's bound to happen. I saw my share of e-rooms growing up, to be sure! No broken bones, just sprains, stitches, minor things like that.

Great poetry!!

Anonymous said...

If C is still in her cast by late June, you might consider taking her to Clinton for the big Route 66 festival; the Sheriff of Radiator Springs, who will be in attendance, has been known to autograph a cast or two in the past and could probably be persuaded to do so again if she smiled for him. Rumor has it that Dawn Welch, the inspiration for Sally, and Dean Walker, considered by many to be part of the inspiration for Mater, will also be floating around.