First Break

Kids are amazing creatures. How did God make them so tough and at what point in their lives does it wear off? We've experienced first hand this week how tough our oldest can be.

Anna fell on her right arm (she's left handed, thankfully) a week ago and complained of some discomfort that day but showed no other symptoms or complaints.

On Tuesday the 11th she fell on it again. This time apparently it really hurt and she went to the school office crying. She got an ice pack and was seemingly fine after that. So fine, in fact, she forgot to tell me she had fallen on it again until about 6 that night. It was obviously swollen but tender only when pressure or weight was applied to it. She had full range of motion in her hand and wrist and no discoloration (says Mommy RN who poked and prodded her every which way, poor thing!). We iced it again and decided to re-evaluate again in the morning.

Wednesday morning it was still swollen but still no complaints from "Miss Tuffy". After icing it again I was tempted to just send her off to school with a kiss and maybe an ace bandage but we didn't have an ace bandage. Surely if it was serious it would hurt more, right?

Then the two halves of me began to debate each other.

From the pediatric RN side - "she's not showing any signs of major pain, she has full range of motion."

From the Mommy side - "But it's still swollen and it could be sprained. What if it is actually broken?"

From the RN side - "Maybe it's best to just get it looked at to be sure."

From the Mommy side - "So the paranoid Mommy shows up at the doctors office again for something that turns out to be nothing?"

Finally the two halves merged and I made an appointment with the pediatrician for 1:30, after bible study and before school got out. I sent her on to school with an admonishment to not play hard on the playground and a note to the teacher about why.

When I picked her up I asked her how her arm felt, she said "ok. I did the monkey bars".

"What!????" "What in the world made you want to do that?"

To which she replied, "It only hurt the tiniest little bit and I only did two bars".

Sheesh.

The pediatrician looked at it and was undecided but, based on where she was tender, it was worthwhile to get an x-ray. So, off to the imaging center we all went (me and all three girls). An hour and a half later the films were done and lo and behold, it was a serious break to her distal radius. In non medical speak that is the end of the large bone in the forearm, closest to the wrist.

Amazing.

Mommy side kicked in here and was immediately thinking, "OK, we've got to get a cast on this quick". The orthopedic office, however, was perfectly comfortable with giving us an appointment for the next day at 2 PM.

Anna woke up today as excited as Christmas morning that today was the day she'd get "The Cast". I was praying that it would be a simple cast and not need setting, or worse, surgery.

In the end she got her much anticipated light blue, fiberglass, waterproof, short arm cast without much ado. The Orthopedist was impressed that she was not in more pain considering the extent of the injury, but says it isn't uncommon for kids. He said if it happened to an adult we'd have huge swelling and tons of pain.

She is so excited to have everyone sign it and to get to show it off to her friends and classmates. I'm glad she has such a great perspective about it all! I'm just amazed.