I've fallen and I can't get up!

Our little Emily, who I've known for a while is an even bigger clutz than I am, fell off a bar stool at Quizno's on Friday at lunch and fractured her femur. At first, I just thought she was being her usual over dramatic self because she was really upset and holding her knee. But after half an hour of not calming down and John saying "I think she's really hurt", I called the doctor and brought her in for an x-ray. After they realized it was broken, they sent me to the ER at Wolfson's. John was still at work, Calvin was with my friend Tressa and Matthew was still at school, thank goodness. I think this was the shortest amount of time I've ever had to wait in an ER, because they got us back to Triage and into a room within half an hour. Then it was just time to wait. John got there just as they were doing more x-rays because they couldn't get the ones from the doctor's office to upload. My poor little girl was in so much pain and every time they moved her it just got worse. So, after they saw for themselves that it was broken, they decided to put her on a morphine drip. Morphine?!? They said it was a really low dosage, but I think it was at that moment that I realized that this is a really big deal. I guess I was a little naive about bones being broken, having never experienced it myself or with anyone close to me. So, this an all new experience for me. I guess that's both good and bad. Sometimes it's good not knowing fully what you are in for. Ignorance is bliss.

So, as it turned out, I had to leave her with John at the hospital just before they were about to admit her into a room where she would be staying the night so I could pick up Matthew and Calvin and bring John some clothes and things for his overnight stay in the hospital. They set her surgery, which they were able to do by x-ray, so no pins, thank goodness, for 9:00 the next morning. That was exactly when I had to be at the airport to drop off Matthew for a weekend visit to Will's. So, I didn't get to be there when they prepped her for the OR. She was apparently very talkative as they were wheeling her in and loved the "blue hair" that she and the nurses got to wear. She also chose her cast color, which is hot pink.

Luckily, as I was lying in bed, awake at 3:00 a.m., I decided to do some research on this type of brake on the internet. That's the first time I saw a picture of a spica cast. That's the first time that I realized that this isn't going to just be a leg cast. This thing goes all the way up to her chest! Yeah, this is a big deal. I'm so glad I found that, because the doctor's weren't very forthcoming with information and didn't tell us exactly what they were going to do until that morning and I wasn't there to hear it anyway. I don't think I would have been able to hold it together if I had seen her for the first time after her surgery, thinking it was just a leg cast and seeing her in a cast that covers two thirds of her body.

So, that Saturday morning, I dropped Matthew off at the airport and Calvin and I drove to the hospital where Emily was already in the OR. We waited with John in the waiting room until the doctor came out and told us everything had gone really well and gave us a copy of the x-ray. He said they were going to wake her up in a few minutes and then bring her back down to her room, so we headed back to her room so we'd be there when she got back. When she did get back, she was asleep and slept until the afternoon.

I was really worried about her waking up and realizing she was in this cast and freaking out, but she really handled it pretty well. She only asked to take it off a few times and we just told her she had to keep it on for a little while to help her leg feel better. Then, after making sure she didn't have a problem going to the bathroom, they let us go around dinner time. We brought her to the car in a wagon and it took about half an hour to figure out how to get her into her car seat, but then we were on our way.

It's been about a week and a half since the accident and Emily is doing much better. She doesn't complain about her leg hurting anymore and we are able to move her around the house a lot easier. The biggest thing is going to the bathroom and I think we have a system going with that too where we wrap her legs in press n seal saran wrap to protect the cast. We use a blow dryer on cool to help when she has an itch. And benedryl helps with that too. I think she's actually enjoying being waiting on hand and foot. She likes to get out of her bean bag chair and play on the floor on her elbows. Today she actually crawled from the living room into the kitchen. We have an appointment on Thursday to see how she's doing and I'm praying they tell me she can be out of it in two weeks after that. Everyone has been great with offering help and Becky was here for the last 5 days. I wish she could have stayed longer, but darn her for having a life! I can't wait until I can look back on this as a distant memory. Emily should make a full recovery and shouldn't need any physical therapy. Now, whether or not I make a full recovery or need therapy is a different story entirely.