Sunday, September 12, 2010

And I Didn’t Even Say, “What Else Can Happen?”

I really have no clever lead-in for our news from this weekend, so I’ll just say it straight out.

Charlotte fractured her left leg playing soccer on Saturday.

Yep.  No joke.

It was the freakiest accident in the world but evidently not unprecedented, as Jeff discovered at the ER.  Charlotte was playing midfield and kicked a ball with her left leg, which, incidentally, is not her dominant leg.  Another child from the other team had planted his left leg to take a swing at the ball with his right foot, and his and Charlotte’s shin guards collided with a sickening crack that could be heard all over the field.  The other child hopped away, holding his leg and saying, “Ow, ow, ow!”

Our child collapsed on the field, screaming in pain.

I called our pediatrician’s office and left a message for the after-hours clinic, and then we loaded up and headed back home because it was time to feed the baby.  I was hoping to avoid a Saturday visit to the emergency room, and Charlotte’s leg was showing no signs of being broken.  It wasn’t bruising or swelling or misshapen, so I was hoping that we could be seen at the after-hours clinic or at a prompt care.

However, when the nurse called me back, she told me that, if Charlotte couldn’t put any weight on it, we needed to take her to the ER.  If she could limp, we could take her to a prompt care clinic.  Charlotte couldn’t even put her toe on the ground without crying in pain, so Jeff loaded her up and drove to the ER, while I stayed home with Elijah and Jeremy.

Of course, Jeff and Charlotte had a typical ER experience in that they were there for over five hours before they could leave.  In the course of their time there, Charlotte was examined by a resident, who really didn’t have any authority to order an x-ray, which is what Charlotte needed. 

Eventually, the supervising doctor came in and told Jeff that, while Charlotte’s leg did not appear to be broken, he was going to order an x-ray anyway because, when his now-23-year-old daughter was a kid, she had a soccer injury just like Charlotte’s.  He had been working in the ER, and his wife called to describe the injury.  Even as a doctor, he told his wife that it wasn’t broken and not to worry.  When he got home that evening and his daughter couldn’t stand up and was still in a lot of pain, he took her to the ER, where, sure enough, the bone was fractured.

So, Charlotte had an x-ray, which clearly showed a fracture of the larger bone in her lower leg.  The crack goes about 2/3 of the way through the bone.  They put on a temporary cast, left a message at an orthopedist’s office, got a pair of crutches, and finally let Charlotte come home.  I will call the doctor at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow to see when she goes in for her permanent cast.

Here’s our girl.

Charlotte's broken leg--12 September 2010

Sigh.

Yesterday should have been a big, exciting day for Charlotte.  She had her soccer game in the morning, which she always enjoys.  In the afternoon, she and Elijah were going to test for their brown belts in tae kwon do, and Charlotte was going to be presented with her black uniform top that she had earned for completing her four-month-long leadership project in running.  Then, we were going to take the kids out to eat to celebrate and go to the Saturday night service at church because I was running a race on Sunday morning.

Obviously, we had a major adjustment to all of our plans!

But I do need to say this…God definitely knew that this was coming down the pike and has been quietly arranging things for the past few weeks to make this much less troublesome than it could have been.  I have been meaning to make reservations and buy tickets for a road trip to Williamsburg, Virginia, at the end of October and haven’t gotten around to it.  With this new circumstance, I highly doubt that a fifteen-hour drive to Virginia is in the cards, even if Charlotte’s cast is off by then.

Jeff and I also did all of that freezer cooking last weekend, so we have few worries about food preparation for the next six weeks or so.

And this could have been so much worse.  If she had broken her leg in the big upper bone, she would have been in a hip cast and completely immobile for six weeks.  As it is, she’ll have a knee-to-ankle cast and be able to get around on crutches pretty easily.  (She’s already hobbling around pretty well today!)

On the bright side, Charlotte’s tae kwon do masters want her come on Wednesday night to another test to get her black uniform and so that they can sign her cast in Korean!  She is pretty excited about that.  Actually, her spirits have been great through this whole mess.  While she was disappointed to miss the rest of soccer and her tae kwon do activities, she said, “Well, at least I’ll be better for basketball!”

And my race went decently this morning.  I ran a half-marathon relay with a friend, and I averaged 10 minutes for each the the 6.55 miles.  This was my first race since having the baby, and I was satisfied.  I ran it more quickly last year, but I don’t think it’s so bad five months out from Jeremy’s birth!

I hope that your weekend had no broken bones in it!  I’ll keep you posted on Charlotte’s progress.

1 comment:

  1. I started catching up on your blog and saw that Charlotte had a broken leg so I had to scroll down and see what was up! I am so sorry! UGH! I hope she's doing better and adjusting to the crutches. So glad it wasn't any worse and she didn't have to have surgery or anything. Awesome that you had food frozen already. Hang in there

    D

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