February 16, 2011

Emergency Stop Please

In a span of 13 days, our cat died, I found out I was pregnant, and Sassy broke her tibia. Please tell the operator of this ride called life, that I would like to get off. . . NOW! Hit the emergency button. I can't take one more thing.

To say that I am overwhelmed with my life would be the understatement of the century. As I write this, my daughter is hanging out on the sofa in a full leg cast. It starts at the very top of her thigh and goes all the way down to her toes. She is non-weight bearing for six weeks. She is too little for crutches. That means that every time she has to go to the bathroom, I have to carry her there. The cast is so high that it actually rests on the toilet seat when I sit her down. With my own non-flexible knee, to say it is awkward would be another gross understatement.

Last night, I put the crib mattress across the kitchen counter, put her on it and washed her hair in the kitchen sink. This morning, I gave her a sponge bath.

Six weeks.

Did I mention that I'm pregnant? That I pretty much require a three hour nap each day, that I have no energy to do anything at all, and that the bouts of nausea are wicked when they come?

Should I also add that Mr. BBM called me this morning to tell me he has a week long trip coming up? Because I needed that news like I need a hole in the head.

This is how it happened. This past weekend, we were in Delaware visiting friends. They bought a new trampoline and Mr. BBM spent part of Saturday morning helping our friend put it together. Trampolines make me nervous; they always have and I was secretly hoping that it would take a week to put together. It only took a couple hours though, and soon the girls were jumping away on it. We kept an eye on them and when the big neighbor boys were on there, I told her to take a break. At one point, she fell off the short step-ladder to get up into the trampoline and cried for a bit. But she was back up and out there within minutes.

On Sunday, we were all packed up and ready to leave. Mr. BBM wanted to get some pictures of our kids with their kids. The kids wanted to get the pictures taken while on the trampoline. They got in; Sassy jumped and instantly went down on her knees and then her side. She grabbed her leg and said she couldn't walk. I was inside when Mr. BBM came running inside with panic in his eyes. I knew something was majorly wrong. This is the kid who split her face open near her eye and sang "Kung Fu Fighting" while they super-glued her shut.

We got her into the car and propped her leg up on pillows. We gave her ibuprofen and iced it the whole way home. We wanted to see a doctor at home. We knew the ER would probably take a while. We dropped Big I off with family and went straight to the ER. Sassy told me her leg felt broken and that she heard a crack. I knew it was broken and I was right.

She fractured her left proximal tibia just under her knee. The orthopedic surgeon thinks that she may have also fractured her growth plate a bit. We'll have to keep a close eye on it and follow up with x-rays to make sure it doesn't close. Growth plate injuries can be serious and can require surgery. She has what they call a "buckle" fracture. From simply jumping on a trampoline along with a bigger kid, it can break a leg. Since this has happened to her, three other people have told me the same thing happened to their child. I had no idea it was so common. I had no idea trampolines were so dangerous, from just the jumping part.

Despite the doctors telling us that this is one of the slowest healing fractures and that it is also one of the most painful, she is in surprisingly good spirits. She is enjoying wheeling herself around in her little rental wheelchair. She has to be enjoying all the attention because there are balloons throughout our house, presents galore and visitors around the clock wishing her well. The nights have been rough and it is absolutely horrifying to see your child in so much pain and discomfort. Today, she started screaming and told me her leg was burning and that it felt like a volcano.

Knowing what I went through and how agonizing it was, I can't even imagine how this child, this 5-year old little peanut, is dealing with this so well.

Two days down, 40 more to go. That's about 42 too many. Needless to say, my kids will not EVER be going on a trampoline again. Never.