Water Buffalo: Lydia paves the way

Yesterday was a long day. It started like any other wednesday. I dropped all the kids off at school and went for a 5 and half mile run, came home and showered and had a snack. Half way through my snack I got a call from Lydia's preschool saying she had fallen off the monkey bars and wanted her mom. Everyone knows that Lydia is as tough as 4 year olds come so her wanting her mom and crying is a big deal. They told me that she wasn't wanting to move her arm but that it looked normal as far as they could tell. By the time I showed up to pick her up she was curled up in her teachers lap and still crying. I looked at her arm and thought her elbow didn't quite look right. It looked a little swollen. Had it been any other child I may have just said lets go home and ice it and see what happens. I called Brad and asked him what he thought I should do and he told me to just take her to the ER, so I did.

We sat maybe 5 minutes in the waiting area before we were able to go back. It continued to swell and she still wouldn't move her arm. At first glance the check in nurse thought it could be dislocated or broken. Pretty quickly Lydia was given a small dose of Vicodin and juice and was feeling much more comfortable. I was able to go back with her to do xrays. This was the worst part of the day. They had to take xrays from every angle and kept making her twist her arm every which way which caused whimpering and tears to fall. It was heartbreaking to watch but Lydia did so amazing. She made her momma so proud. Once they took us back to her room we waited some more. While we waited different staff members took turns coming to say hi to Lydia and bring her stickers. You sure get good service when you are a cute 4 year old girl. After awhile the doctor came back and said they wanted to xray her good arm now to compare the growth plates...oook. Brad was there at this point and he went back with her that time. Obviously these xrays went more smoothly. When they brought her back this time they put a splint on her arm. We were told we were waiting for xray results and then would meet with the orthopedic surgeon to discuss when she would get her cast. An hour later the doctor came back and said the orthopedic surgeon thinks it is best to do an MRI to check on the growth plates because the xrays didn't show them enough. Awesome! They had to take the splint off to do the MRI. I had never had an MRI before but was able to go right in the room with her. We both had ear plugs and head phones on. It was over an hour of standing there in a noise filled room watching Lydia lay down and be as still as possible. She did perfectly but I felt like I was an anxiety attack waiting to happen. Once we got back to her room the orthopedic surgeon was waiting for us and had already seen the results of the MRI. He said the brake is not in her growth plate yet but its really really close. Basically I have to keep her from doing everything my very active 4 year old does on a daily basis. It wouldn't take much for her brake to worsen before she gets her cast put on. By the time they put the splint back on her arm was huge. It looked like a big giant man arm:) Hopefully by this time next week the swelling will have gone down so she can get her cast. Unfortunately because the brake is in a joint she will have to have the cast taken off every week to xray it to make sure it is healing properly. Hooray for good health insurance! She is doing well this morning so far. She has discovered care bears on netflix:)