On Monday, Nov 8th, while I was babysitting Nathaniel at his house, we had a bit of a scare. I was bringing both kids down the stairs (which we have done a million times!). I carry Nathaniel on my left side and hold Eliah's hand with my right hand as she walks down beside me. She always wants to walk down by herself. Well, as I was coming through the baby gate at the top of the stairs, for some reason, I let go of E's hand for a second. She was standing on the top step and was just adjusting herself so that she would be ready to walk down holding my hand. She doesn't and wasn't trying to walk down by herself. She was just trying to turn around. In that small second, she lost her footing and toppled down the stairs. An entire flight of stairs. At this point, I was screaming and running down the stairs as fast as I could while holding Nathaniel. I was terrified of how badly she would be hurt. There is also a baby gate at the bottom of the stairs. She landed face down with her head stuck between the baby gate and the bottom stair. Thankfully she had rolled down on her side, as if she were rolling down a hill, rather than head over heels. There were tears, mine and hers, as I checked her out to make sure she was okay. I sat Nathaniel down on the last step and picked up my little one. She did not seem like she was in pain, but her left wrist was swollen a little. I held her and held her and held her. No bruises or cuts or anything other than a swollen wrist. We finished up the day at Nathaniel's house and Eliah was playing and doing fine, but she was being careful with her left hand. She was able to grip things, but was having trouble when putting pressure on it. We spent the rest of the night worrying about her. And she just acted like it was no big deal...
On Tuesday night, Nov 9th, with the swelling not going down, I took Eliah to visit our PA friend, Laura. Her comment was "I don't love how this looks." So she offered to do x-rays at her office if it did not look better soon.
On Thursday, Nov 11th, we took Eliah to Laura’s office to get x-rays. Eliah’s wrist was still swollen and I had been a nervous wreck for the past couple of days worrying that she was going to fall on it and make it worse! If any of you have ever had x-rays, you know that you have to sit very still for a short time. If you have ever had a toddler, you know this is a hard thing to accomplish! We tempted Eliah with M&M's and played a "game" with her to get her to keep her little arms still while taking an x-ray. Stressful for her mommy! (Did I mention that I was in the middle of babysitting on this day. Christine (the mom) had to come home during her lunch so that I could take E to get x-rays. Also stressful.) Finally, the x-rays were finished. Eliah was stuffed with M&M's. We left the office and headed back to finish out the babysitting day while waiting on the doctor to call after he looked at the x-rays.
Around 4:00 or so that afternoon, Laura called with the news that Eliah needed to have an orthopedic specialist check out her arm. The doctor had seen something that he didn't like, so she was trying to get me in ASAP. More stress! I was just waiting for the specialist to call me. She was supposed to call that day! After Laura got off work, she brought the x-rays over and explained to me the parts that were looking rough... I still had heard nothing from the specialist's office, so Laura and I parted with the determination that we would find someone to fix E's arm first thing Friday morning. Eliah was still being a trooper, but still having a hard time pushing herself up to stand and putting pressure on her arm. By this point, I was really hoping that the specialist could do something to help her little arm. I felt so bad for her!
On Friday, Nov 12th, I took Eliah's x-rays with me to my babysitting job. Christine (the mom) took a look at them and immediately said "Distal Radial Fracture" (she also is a doctor) and "buckle fracture." She insisted that I get someone to see Eliah that day--even if it was in the ER! I explained how the specialist was supposed to call me. Christine wrote down a couple of names that her sister recommended and left me with instructions to call them and let her know when she needed to come back home while we went to the doctor. I had to wait until the offices opened up and immediately called the office that was supposed to call me. They weren't able to see us until the following Monday! I was so frustrated. Eliah had gone long enough without anything on her arm and I wanted desperately for something to be done! So I called the other specialist that Christine had recommended. Of course a random person (me), not a doctor, calling in for an appointment doesn't carry a lot of weight, and this office said they couldn't see us until Tuesday! More tears for me when I got off the phone with them... I was so upset and frustrated at myself for not taking Eliah immediately to the doctor when the whole episode happened back on Monday! I finally took a moment to pray about it. "Lord, you know about all of this. You know about Eliah's arm. You know that she can't be seen until next week. You are able to keep her safe all weekend, just like you have all week! You love Eliah more than I do. Please help me to trust Your hand in the life of my daughter." I then called Christine to tell her that it would be next week and she wouldn't have to worry about coming home during lunch. Her response: "I'll call you right back." A few minutes later, she called back and said the specialist would be calling me shortly. Almost immediately after I got off the phone with her, the specialist called and said, "Come in as soon as you possibly can." Whew! What a relief! And, when I looked outside, I noticed our friend Allen was working in the yard (he does the gardening at Christine's house). I asked if he were able to come in and watch Nathaniel while Christine was on her way home. He was glad to do so! So I called Christine, who was going to wrap up at work and get home ASAP to watch Nathaniel. Then, Allen comes in and says he is free for however long we need him so Christine was able to stay at work while I took Eliah! What a blessing that he was there at just the right time! While he and Nathaniel had fun together, Eliah and I went to get a precious pink cast on her precious little arm. The doctor took one look at the x-rays, reiterated what Christine had said earlier about the fracture and gave us a color chart so we could pick out a cast color. Eliah picked out the color herself! Then we had the difficult task of getting the cast on her poor little arm. She cried and cried and cried (and I did too--a little). Thankfully, the ordeal was over quickly and by the time we were saying good-bye to the receptionist, Eliah was smiling again. Praise the Lord for my precious girl. The doctor said we had 3 weeks in the cast, that it was a minor fracture, and that the growth of her arm would not be affected in any way! Praise the Lord for that news!!! We then went back to finish out the day with Nathaniel and show off Eliah's super cool pink arm! So thankful that Allen and Christine were able to help that day! By the evening, Eliah had figured out how to carry things with her new arm, and by the next day, she was able to grip things in her little hand by holding them between her fingers and the cast. She has not been irritated one time by the cast. She hasn't fussed or complained. She's been wonderful and has adapted so well. Her sleep hasn't been affected or anything! And I have been able to relax a little, knowing that if she does fall, the cast will protect that little fractured arm. :)
While I am sad that this happened to Eliah, I am so thankful that God has placed all these people in our lives to help us out! Laura, Christine, Allen, Christine’s sister… all of them made this difficult thing much easier!
oh bless her heart! and what an ordeal for mommy too! so thankful everything worked out! praise the Lord!
ReplyDeletePraise the Lord for His goodness. Kids are so resilient!
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