Original list:
Buy presents
Wrap presents
Plan meals
Shop for food to prepare for Christmas guests
Plan which cookies to make
Get supplies for cookies
Bake cookies
Send Christmas cards
Clutter up the house with crappy Christmas decorations
Answer lots of questions about Jesus' birth
Answer lots of questions about Santa
Get teachers' gifts
As of last Sunday, I had of course crossed off a few of these items. But by Monday morning, I had added a few things...
New, Revised List:
Wrap presents
Plan meals
Shop for food to prepare for Christmas guests
Bake cookies
Answer lots of questions about Santa
Call school to let them know that Lily will be missing the entire last week before Christmas break because she has had her OWN Christmas break and cannot put any weight on her leg and cannot be trusted to maneuver crutches and there doesn't seem to be any need to get a wheelchair for just a few days of school
Call several orthopedic surgeon's offices and make appointments as soon as possible, which is difficult since many many people go on vacations this time of year and there aren't many openings
Go to 2 different doctors since the first doctor gives Lily a giant boot which is heavy and hurts her foot more than the original injury does
Take van to the shop to investigate crunching sound in the brakes
Carry Lily around everywhere.
Try to figure out how to stop the boys from wrestling so that they don't add to the break issues of this wonderful Christmas break.
Poor Lily. She was at a birthday party Sunday night at a Bounce party place. Jeff just dropped her off so he could do some last minute errands/Christmas shopping. About 20 minutes after he dropped her off, he was called. 30 minutes after that, he was sitting in an ER with the party girl's uncle (sent along to help) and answering questions he didn't know the answer to (who is her primary doctor? how much does she weigh? why is she wearing a shirt 2 sizes too small? why is the Indian man that you don't even know the name of answering questions about your daughter's initial injury? do we need to call social services?) I was stuck at home with 2 sleeping boys until 11:00pm, desperately wanting to be there, but not willing to call a neighbor to come sit with them, because I could hear Lily laughing and talking in the background, so I knew I wasn't really needed.
The ER put a really nice half cast on the back of her foot and ankle and wrapped in from knee to toe in ACE bandage. We treated it like a cast (no water!) and Lily felt great. All day Monday, she just crawled from place to place and was really careful to not put weight on it. I managed to make an appointment at a pediatric place 45 minutes away for Thursday morning. The mother of the birthday girl just happens to be a doctor and called me Monday afternoon and had gotten me another appointment for Tuesday. Since I was starting to be convinced this wasn't actually broken, I took the appointment (but kept the Thursday one just in case)
The doctor's appointment Tuesday was not all I had hoped for. It was not a pediatric office, and that was obvious. After answering questions on the new patient sheet about whether Lily was pregnant or smoked or had GIRT (and no space for a guardian signature...a good sign children are not usually signed in). The doctor was running 90 minutes late, but when we got in an exam room, he breezed in, unwrapped Lily's foot, announced that it was indeed broken by pressing on the ankle a bit, pronounced that she should have a boot because it will be easier for me to bathe her, then called for nurse to get a boot and left. I didn't see him again, couldn't ask any questions, and...well...that is not how you treat a nervous parent of a 7 year old. The nurse brought in this giant boot and strapped Lily in really tight.
Lily almost immediately began complaining of pain. She was up several times during the night, and I loosened it more and more. The next morning, she was whimpering a lot. This is the girl who was acting FINE with it. I took it off to let her take a bath, and a whole new bruise/sore spot has shown up on the top of her arch. I think it is from the boot. It is too heavy and uncomfortable for her to crawl with. She was in pain almost all of yesterday.
I am sick to my stomach. If I had just waited until Thursday. If I had just INSISTED on a cast. If I had blocked the door and made him answer my questions. If I had just thought of those questions fast enough. If. If. If.
I am grumpy from not sleeping. Even though she only wakes up a few times a night, I am listening for her all night. I hear every sigh and snore and rustle. I am moved almost to tears when people express concern for her and am irrationally enraged when people ignore the issue. My baby. My heart aches when she smiles and says, "I'm fine!" just before she winces and moans. I want to make it all better.
It could be much much worse. She is going to be just fine...she says she is just fine now. But the Mama Bear in me can't stand it.
As far as my list goes? I am too tired and distraught to plan the meals and shop...but I'll go anyway and we'll just have tacos instead of some nicer, fancier dish. I'm waiting for my mom to come and bake cookies with us...I hate baking, but it will be fun with her. And the car ended being totally rusted out underneath (it is only 6 years old???), so that's $800 more dollars to bleed out on top of all these co-pays... Oh! And our computer died, so Jeff had just bought a new computer last week. Ha ha! Funny how all of this rains down at once! And in December! Traditionally the month we splurge and go crazy anyway! Oh!!! And since we had money in our flexible spending account for health care that was going to be taken away if we didn't use it, Jeff got some fancy dan new prescription sunglasses to use up the money. He waited until December 13th, just in case something happened. And Lily did this on December 15th. Ha! Joke's on us!
Anyway, it is almost Christmas break. We have new BRAKES and one little BREAK in the ankle and we are hoping that is quite enough breaking for this family :) We will have a glorious Christmas despite it all...I know this from all the little notes that have been pasted everywhere. I'll write a happier post about those next time. This time was just for whining.
2 comments:
Poor Lily! I felt terrible when Brayden broke his arm too. It's hard to see your child in pain and incapacitated. Enjoy the extra time with her :)
I know things settled down from your FB post, but go back and re-read the paragraph about Jeff in the ER answering (or not answering) questions. That is funny!
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