Broken
Never did I imagine that my littlest girl would be hurt so terribly. That's the thing with accidents they are so darn unpredictable. What I thought was going to be a simple Monday enjoying fellowship with some of my Mom friends discussing a book ended up being a lousy beginning to the week. Adelynn was in such a fantastic mood Monday morning. It gave me such hope that she would enjoy her time in the nursery with some fellow babies. That she did. She was having a great time as was I until.....she was hurt. When I put her on the floor at the Mom's group nursery I told the caregivers that she was a crawler still not ready for walking. I filled them in about how she was just fed and should be ready to play with some friends. Not long later I heard Adelynn screaming terribly. Nothing new I just assumed that she was getting upset realizing that Mama was no longer around, or even a toy was taken away from her by an older child. Nothing to make me think that she was in serious need for me.
I was wrong. I should have known that scream was significant. Too bad it took 10 hours for me to put it together. A very upset Adelynn was brought to me very upset and crying loud. I tried many things to help her calm down but nothing worked. We walked the halls trying to soothe her. She did stop crying constantly but would release a loud wail time to time. It wasn't until I went to retrieve her piggy that I was told she fell. I must have had a look of "What do you mean she fell" because the caregiver continued by saying they forgot that Adelynn could not walk. I was speechless. I wanted to ask how they could forget when I specifically told them that she was still crawling. I was very confused how that important detail was forgotten. With a screaming baby still clearly upset I just didn't have the desire to interrogate them. I just wanted to calm her down. I tried to nurse her but Adelynn was not interested. She just kept screaming. Finally I just packed her stroller up and we went to the car. Going home would have been the best thing to do but I still had to drop off Keith's cell phone to his office 15 miles away. He was leaving for a trip later that afternoon so having his phone was a must. I sat with Adelynn in the van and tried once more to nurse. She was calm enough to try and we were able to sit 5 minutes to relax. Still she whimpered. I know she was tired too so I just figured that her fall was just very scary. Maybe she hit her head. After a thorough look over I could not find any spot on her head that looked like it was injured. She didn't grab or rub or anything. She just cried. Eventually she just fell asleep. We arrived to Keith's office and still she was crying. No matter what she just could not stop feeling so sad. She ate some lunch which we hoped would cheer her up. Nope. She was so upset that she didn't want anyone but Mama. Cutting our lunch short on account of her loud crying disrupting the office we headed home. She slept some more and I hoped it would make her feel better.
Once home she didn't want to be anywhere but on me. In my arms or on my lap. She sat sadly in my arms only giving a smile when the girls came home. Thankfully we had plenty of leftovers to eat which made supper a cinch for heating up. Adelynn ate but with less eagerness. After supper was when I figured out the problem. While changing her diaper I was positioning her legs when she wailed. I thought it very strange. By this point she had been calming down. Still sad but she was not crying. With a fresh diaper on I began to touch her legs to see where the problem was hidden. When my hand brushed her left ankle she wailed. After putting gentle pressure on both legs in all spots I narrowed it down to the left leg. Because just a minor touch to the skin was setting her off I suspected that something my be sprained or worst broken. I compared her legs to see if the left leg looked swollen or bruised or different in any way. Nothing to make it apparent that her leg was injured. Then the doubt set in. Maybe I'm being overly concerned. Maybe it's just a bump. I put her on the floor and tried again to see if that left leg was the culprit to her sadness. Same reactions as before. Although at this point I figured out the injury was just above the outside left ankle. By this point it was 9pm. Adelynn was tired, we were all so very tired, bedtime for all was right in front of us. I debated going to the ER but decided that would do no one any good to sit all night in a hospital. Plus there was still that doubt lingering.
The next morning we went to the family doctor to rule out ear infections, head injury, really anything else I may have missed. At the conclusion of her visit the doctor agreed that it would be best to have her leg examined further. We were sent to the hospital for an outpatient x-ray. Of course when I got to the hospital I went in the ER entrance. It was a terrible night's sleep for both of us. Even with pain medicine Adelynn had difficulty sleeping without being in my arms. So that made my mental sharpness not so sharp. Lack of sleep and worry will do that to any Mama. Thankfully a nurse was filling in for the clerk. I explained what happened and it was at that point when I realized I was in the wrong place. The nurse was very clearly concerned about Addie. Adelynn was still looking very sad. We made our way to the x-ray office where we waited surrounded by adults angered by my baby's cries. If only they knew how awful she felt. The x-ray went quickly. I was hopeful that we would get an answer immediately but that was not the case. I was told to go home and wait for my doctor to call with the results.
Baffled. Confused by the idiocy of it all I didn't know how to respond. Go home. Go home with a baby who is clearly in pain. It was crazy. Go home. Home? Why? She is hurt fix it.
I had no other option but to do what they instructed. I was too tired to fight the stupidity of it all. The ER was on the other side of the building so Adelynn and I began to walk outside back to the van. As I approached the van a tall female doctor was coming towards the ER entrance. She heard Adelynn screaming and called out to us. She asked me if I was the lady with the baby who ma have a broken leg. I confirmed her assumption. She asked what I was doing. Confused I just responded with what I was told: going home to wait.
Wait for what?
I explained that I was told to go home and wait to be told the results of the x-ray. She didn't like that answer either. She ordered me back into the ER. As we walked back to the building she told me that she'd look up the results for me. She did not see any point for me to stuff Adelynn, clearly in pain, back in her carseat to wait at home to be told to come back here to get treatment.
Thank goodness someone had a brain.
After five minutes the Doctor returned. She told me to come into her office to see the x-ray. She explained that first she's not an orthopedic expert but that in her opinion there appeared to be a teeny tiny crack in Adelynn's left lower tibia. Although it is possible that it was not broken too, since the crack was in a location that made it very difficult to confirm but considering her pain the doctor thought it best to treat her as if it were broken. They admitted us to the ER and proceeded to put a splint on Addie's leg. The doctor said "Because babies and drunks are non-compliant a full leg splint will be put on to stabilize the bone." I love that doctor. She had such a great sense of humor making a lousy situation fell less so. An intense upsetting 25 minutes later Adelynn was fixed. She was so terrified for those 20 minutes with all those people doing so many things to her. Once that splint was wrapped she stopped crying. The bone being stabilized stopped the crying. Her pain was over. Moments later she was fast asleep. I was so very thankful for that nurse. It was the nurse who told the doctor on duty about us. Both the doctor and nurse were worried for us. Bottom line is we got good care because of two people who do their jobs well. Two people who know what it means to be go getters. And for that I was thankful.
The visit to the orthopedic specialist resulted in less significant answers. That doctor is of the belief that Adelynn did not break her leg. Only because when he pressed on her leg she did not scream. Still just to be safe she has to wear a splint for 2 weeks. We'll come back get another x-ray and see if her bone shows evidence of re-growth. No evidence means no broken bone and she is free to be her normal self. If there is evidence of growth then she will need another splint for a few more weeks.
At this point we are hoping for nothing broken so that this will be all over in 2 weeks. In the meantime we are taking it day by day.
I was wrong. I should have known that scream was significant. Too bad it took 10 hours for me to put it together. A very upset Adelynn was brought to me very upset and crying loud. I tried many things to help her calm down but nothing worked. We walked the halls trying to soothe her. She did stop crying constantly but would release a loud wail time to time. It wasn't until I went to retrieve her piggy that I was told she fell. I must have had a look of "What do you mean she fell" because the caregiver continued by saying they forgot that Adelynn could not walk. I was speechless. I wanted to ask how they could forget when I specifically told them that she was still crawling. I was very confused how that important detail was forgotten. With a screaming baby still clearly upset I just didn't have the desire to interrogate them. I just wanted to calm her down. I tried to nurse her but Adelynn was not interested. She just kept screaming. Finally I just packed her stroller up and we went to the car. Going home would have been the best thing to do but I still had to drop off Keith's cell phone to his office 15 miles away. He was leaving for a trip later that afternoon so having his phone was a must. I sat with Adelynn in the van and tried once more to nurse. She was calm enough to try and we were able to sit 5 minutes to relax. Still she whimpered. I know she was tired too so I just figured that her fall was just very scary. Maybe she hit her head. After a thorough look over I could not find any spot on her head that looked like it was injured. She didn't grab or rub or anything. She just cried. Eventually she just fell asleep. We arrived to Keith's office and still she was crying. No matter what she just could not stop feeling so sad. She ate some lunch which we hoped would cheer her up. Nope. She was so upset that she didn't want anyone but Mama. Cutting our lunch short on account of her loud crying disrupting the office we headed home. She slept some more and I hoped it would make her feel better.
Once home she didn't want to be anywhere but on me. In my arms or on my lap. She sat sadly in my arms only giving a smile when the girls came home. Thankfully we had plenty of leftovers to eat which made supper a cinch for heating up. Adelynn ate but with less eagerness. After supper was when I figured out the problem. While changing her diaper I was positioning her legs when she wailed. I thought it very strange. By this point she had been calming down. Still sad but she was not crying. With a fresh diaper on I began to touch her legs to see where the problem was hidden. When my hand brushed her left ankle she wailed. After putting gentle pressure on both legs in all spots I narrowed it down to the left leg. Because just a minor touch to the skin was setting her off I suspected that something my be sprained or worst broken. I compared her legs to see if the left leg looked swollen or bruised or different in any way. Nothing to make it apparent that her leg was injured. Then the doubt set in. Maybe I'm being overly concerned. Maybe it's just a bump. I put her on the floor and tried again to see if that left leg was the culprit to her sadness. Same reactions as before. Although at this point I figured out the injury was just above the outside left ankle. By this point it was 9pm. Adelynn was tired, we were all so very tired, bedtime for all was right in front of us. I debated going to the ER but decided that would do no one any good to sit all night in a hospital. Plus there was still that doubt lingering.
The next morning we went to the family doctor to rule out ear infections, head injury, really anything else I may have missed. At the conclusion of her visit the doctor agreed that it would be best to have her leg examined further. We were sent to the hospital for an outpatient x-ray. Of course when I got to the hospital I went in the ER entrance. It was a terrible night's sleep for both of us. Even with pain medicine Adelynn had difficulty sleeping without being in my arms. So that made my mental sharpness not so sharp. Lack of sleep and worry will do that to any Mama. Thankfully a nurse was filling in for the clerk. I explained what happened and it was at that point when I realized I was in the wrong place. The nurse was very clearly concerned about Addie. Adelynn was still looking very sad. We made our way to the x-ray office where we waited surrounded by adults angered by my baby's cries. If only they knew how awful she felt. The x-ray went quickly. I was hopeful that we would get an answer immediately but that was not the case. I was told to go home and wait for my doctor to call with the results.
Baffled. Confused by the idiocy of it all I didn't know how to respond. Go home. Go home with a baby who is clearly in pain. It was crazy. Go home. Home? Why? She is hurt fix it.
I had no other option but to do what they instructed. I was too tired to fight the stupidity of it all. The ER was on the other side of the building so Adelynn and I began to walk outside back to the van. As I approached the van a tall female doctor was coming towards the ER entrance. She heard Adelynn screaming and called out to us. She asked me if I was the lady with the baby who ma have a broken leg. I confirmed her assumption. She asked what I was doing. Confused I just responded with what I was told: going home to wait.
Wait for what?
I explained that I was told to go home and wait to be told the results of the x-ray. She didn't like that answer either. She ordered me back into the ER. As we walked back to the building she told me that she'd look up the results for me. She did not see any point for me to stuff Adelynn, clearly in pain, back in her carseat to wait at home to be told to come back here to get treatment.
Thank goodness someone had a brain.
After five minutes the Doctor returned. She told me to come into her office to see the x-ray. She explained that first she's not an orthopedic expert but that in her opinion there appeared to be a teeny tiny crack in Adelynn's left lower tibia. Although it is possible that it was not broken too, since the crack was in a location that made it very difficult to confirm but considering her pain the doctor thought it best to treat her as if it were broken. They admitted us to the ER and proceeded to put a splint on Addie's leg. The doctor said "Because babies and drunks are non-compliant a full leg splint will be put on to stabilize the bone." I love that doctor. She had such a great sense of humor making a lousy situation fell less so. An intense upsetting 25 minutes later Adelynn was fixed. She was so terrified for those 20 minutes with all those people doing so many things to her. Once that splint was wrapped she stopped crying. The bone being stabilized stopped the crying. Her pain was over. Moments later she was fast asleep. I was so very thankful for that nurse. It was the nurse who told the doctor on duty about us. Both the doctor and nurse were worried for us. Bottom line is we got good care because of two people who do their jobs well. Two people who know what it means to be go getters. And for that I was thankful.
The visit to the orthopedic specialist resulted in less significant answers. That doctor is of the belief that Adelynn did not break her leg. Only because when he pressed on her leg she did not scream. Still just to be safe she has to wear a splint for 2 weeks. We'll come back get another x-ray and see if her bone shows evidence of re-growth. No evidence means no broken bone and she is free to be her normal self. If there is evidence of growth then she will need another splint for a few more weeks.
At this point we are hoping for nothing broken so that this will be all over in 2 weeks. In the meantime we are taking it day by day.
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