My Best Intentions

Occasionally I try to be a good normal mom. On Tuesday I decided to take the girls to the park before Emmeline's 3pm PT appointment. It was just such a nice day out and since Emmeline doesn't really get a good workout in PT it seemed like a good plan. All was well for the first 30 minutes and then she fell. I was prepared for it. Heck, her lack of balance in high places was one of my big fighting points for school PT. Well, her lack of balance in any place really. When she falls she fall big. Emmeline was on the top platform for the big slide and stopped to look at the pole for the big kids to slide down. She had no idea she was falling until she hit the ground. There was no way I could get to her and the thud she made still makes me feel a little queasy. I ran to her and stupidly picked her up and tried to comfort her. A lot of times when she falls she likes to be pressed close to me so she can tell she is no longer falling with multiple senses. In hind sight if she had really been hurt I would have made the damage so much worse.

About the time I picked her up Isa caught up to us. I hadn't even looked at Emmeline's face since I was holding her to tight so I hadn't noticed she was bleeding. Isa yelled that blood was coming from her mouth so we ran into the apartment office because it was the closest bathroom to the park. In the end the mulch had stabbed her in the gums and scraped them a bit but the bleeding stopped quickly. I was starting to calm a bit at this point so i did a quick once over of her extremities and head. She seemed OK so I went the next step and had her walk to me. wobbly but normal. We still had PT in 15 minutes and I am sad to say for a moment I thought about keeping the appointment. I canceled.

I am so glad that my favorite nurse Mandy was working when I called Emmeline's doctor. The second she heard the intake nurse say her name she got right on the phone with me to see how Emmeline was doing. In the end her doctor wanted us to go to the ER and get x-rays. when we pulled up I saw the wait time display and was a little bummed that it was 45 minutes. Good and bad but when someone falls from 2 times their height they are a "major trauma" and get bumped to the front of everyone! Yay for us! I think.

So the came and slapped one of these beauties on her. Yeah she loved that. You can tell right?

I think what made her the the most mad (at this point) was that they made it hard to keep her glasses on straight.

Shortly they came and got her for a CT scan and what ended up being 11 x-rays! I had to physically restrain her for an hour. Now, Emmeline is one tough cookie. She can handle needles, suction, cuts, scrapes, bumps, you name it but if you take away her right to move, you have taken away your right to live. She was SUPER mad. I felt terrible and I wish the radiology Technician had made more of a plan on the order of what they wanted to do before the started but hey, their job not mine. Isa was really good and waited the whole hour all alone in the ER room.

In the end we were diagnosed with a "funny" looking elbow and she was put in a sling and told to follow up with her Orthopedist in a week. If she looks distracted it's because, thankfully, all ER rooms at our local hospital come with in room TVs. Life saver when you are there with 2 small children.

It was probably good that her falling reflex is so slow otherwise we would have ended up with some nasty breaks from putting her arms out. Side note I am following up with a Chiropractor to determine what "funny"means. Isa was AMAZING and so worried about her sister. She is a little nervous to go back to the park now but I told her not to worry, that kids get hurt all the time, it's just part of growing up. She is such a sweet heart.