Humpty Dumpty

December 31st: Blakely's Broken Arm

I am certain that all mother's experience that moment of blinding fear when you KNOW, like in your gut, that your child is really and truly hurt and needs medical attention. This is just my assumption, so I apologize if this is inaccurate.... but I assume if you are not in the medical profession, you feel helpless when your child is injured. What most people do no realize is that in this situations, I feel  helpless, too. The problem is this... I KNOW what needs to be done, but I have nothing I can do about it. Sure... if I had all the supplies, equipment and staff of an ER behind me, I can be really helpful, but otherwise, I am as useless as everyone else. Couple this then with the frustration of having to wait and hope that the medical professionals seeing my child are thoughtful, intelligent and well trained... because TRUST ME there are some people out there I wouldn't let touch my child with a 10 foot pole...and you have some idea of where my head was at.

....But I think all of this is actually good. It leaves me in a place of weakness, which helps to remember that I serve a GOOD God that is GREATER than all my fears!!

On New Years Eve, Blakely was trying out the new hammock. She got too close to the edge and it flipped. She only fell 2-3 feet on to soft pine straw, but she attempted to catch herself at the last minute and her arm landed at a bad angle. Blakely has had 5 nurse maids elbows, and by the way she was holding her arm, she looked like she had yet another nursemaids elbow. However, I knew (based on the mechanism of injury) that we were dealing with more than a nurse maids. I was certain her arm was broken.

Blakely NEVER sleeps in the car, so I KNOW she had to be in a LOT of pain to be able to sleep in the car. My poor angel!

Being new to Columbia, we had NO IDEA where to take her. Rich called the LMC ED, and they told us they would recommend we take her to an ER with Peds Ortho.  So then we called Auntie Alyssa, who called her friend Brad with Midlands Ortho, who told us to go to Richland... whew! So glad I have friends with connections!

I called ahead to their ER to let them know we were coming, and we were immediately put back in a room! Answer to prayer. Oddly enough, one of my biggest fears was sitting in the waiting room with ALL THAT FLU!! Bad enough she had a broken arm... I did not want her to have the flu too!

You can see the supracondylar fracture in the humerus (long bone to the right); it just looks like a slight disruption to the smooth surface of the bone. The easiest way to see it is to follow the outer edge of the bone and find the "stair step." As far as Supracondylar fx go, this is mild (type 1). It was shocking that she had this fracture that can be associated with LOTS of complications, but it was relieving to know that it was such a mild break.

They splinted her arm, and explained to us that with this degree of fracture, she may or may not need surgery. Ugh! We started praying right then that she did not need surgery. Poor little bit had already been through enough (...Aaaaannnnddd we were leaving for Disney in 4 days.) We were scheduled for follow-up in two days.

Matching. Blakely really got a kick out of this.

My brave little soldier! She cried so hard when they cut her "fairy dress." That's my girl! Richard and I were so proud of her for her behavior and manners. Even when she was hurt and crying, she still said "please" and "thank you" to the nurse who gave her a sticker.

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After we left the ER at 10pm (FYI this is the LATEST Blakely has EVER been up), we stopped and got her a milkshake for dinner on the way home. She was so, so, so very tired and delusional. She said some of the funniest things on the way home. There was a whole discussion about whether I thought she still had eyes when they were closed... then she would open them up really big, point to them and say "Just kidding Mama! I have eyes. They were just closed. I have eyes!" Bah-ha-ha-ha. Richard and I were cracking up in the front seat.

Friday we followed-up at Dr. Peihl's office in Irmo. We repeated the films, and he cleared us for Disney (woohoo!!), but still thought we might need surgery and wanted to see her back in 1 week. They put a pretty pink cast on her arm, and then wrapped it to her body. This was challenging, because what could she wear that would fit over a cast?? Praise the Lord for the Bishop dress!!!

After her appointment, we asked her what she wanted to eat to celebrate (she had been fasting in case they needed to do surgery)... and she shouted "waffles!" Blakely then got to go to Waffle House for the first time. She loved watching the cooks in the kitchen, the people, the picture menu and above all the waffle! We will definitely be taking her again.

Happy Ending!! Here is our happy girl with her cast on her first trip to Disney World!! We follow-up again with Dr. Peihl when we return, so please pray that he says no surgery!!