Post Christmas Fun - or NOT!!

So we had planned on going up to St. George, UT for the week after Christmas. However, we weren't able to get all of our car repairs completed and I have still been so sick that we didn't feel that it was a good idea. We were so sad to not be there with Mom and Dad Anderson!! So, that meant that we now had to come up with fun things to keep the kids busy for this week.

They played with Christmas toys, watched movies they got for Christmas. We spent a lot of time with family that was in town from Colorado and the kids spent time outside. On Tuesday afternoon I was trying to overcome a morning of sickness so I laid down to get Brendon to take a nap and rest hoping to keep my lunch down. I had been dozing off and on while listening to the laughter and fun the girls were having outside riding scooters and their bikes. Suddenly very clearly I had a thought, "She is going to break her arm." Not specific to one child but the thought came and was startling. I got up, went down stairs and just as I went to open the front door to see what the kids were doing MacKenzie lets out a blood curdling scream and says she thinks her arm is broken. I froze and immediately thought, "I did not just hear that." But the reality of it was true.

I brought her in. Josh looked at it and said he thought she just sprained it. He didn't know about my thought I had had. I had an empty pit in my stomach hoping he was correct. We immediately wrapped it in an ace bandage, iced it and gave her some Tylenol. She slept for a while that afternoon. We had family come to stay with us that night so I didn't want to leave to have it looked at and decided I would wait to reassess the situation on Wednesday morning. Josh left about 10:45 in the morning and wouldn't be back until much later. We were feeding the missionaries again on Wednesday, but as I looked at her arm and tried to get her to move her wrist around, I still felt sick that my thought I originally had was true and needed to get her in. I decided to call our fabulous pediatric orthopedic doctor. (Lexi broke her arm when she was two and I LOVED this Dr she went to. Other than peds, he also does knees so that is who I went to a year ago when my knees were acting up. LOVE him!!!). They could get us in at 2:35 on Wednesday afternoon. Yippee. I knew Josh would not be back in time so I made a couple of phone calls to get someone to watch the other kids. One friend was willing to cancel her hair appointment she had had scheduled for a while. I told her not to do that to let me make another call. Such kindness!!!

So, my friend, Alisha said she would make whatever work and watched the kids for a few hours. What a life saver. We got there hoping we would get in and out - remember we were feeding the missionaries at 5pm. Nope - not in and out. The office was running almost and hour and a half behind!!! As frustrated as I was, I kept looking on the bright side that they were willing to fit us in and were getting her arm looked at. I felt blessed for that.

Once we finally got called back it went very quickly. Because we had not been anywhere else to have it looked at, they knew he would want x-rays so we started there. She was a little hesitant. I demonstrated what I believed they would have her do and sure enough it was almost identical so she was at ease. Here is my brave girl waiting in x-ray.
Once the x-ray was completed it was back to the room for a short wait. Dr. Nielsen came in looked at the x-ray and said," Well, she has broken both bones in her arm." Sigh. It is a compression fracture. At least it was the easiest kind of break to heal. He showed me where the two breaks were and showed me how the bones had bent. He assured me that with a cast the bent part would heal. So - three weeks of a cast.

Then Mr. Steve, the Ortho Tech came in. As soon as Dr. Nielsen said it was a break he was already placing everything he would need on the bed to cast it. They are efficient. He held up the color options and without hesitation or thought, it was Bright Pink that MacKenzie chose.

So, here is her casting in pictures. The "sock" and gauze that goes under the hard cast.

Continuing to be brave and even had a smile on her face (with Mr. Steve's coaching).

This is Mr. Steve working quickly to get the cast on.

First layer of the casting. Then he pulls over the sock and gauze that is over her hand and close to her elbow. Then a second layer of the casting goes on.

All of the casting on, now he is shaping it to make sure it is set where it needs to be.

All finished with a thumbs up from Mr. Steve! All set to go.

A quick check out process and then it was a race to get home to be there when the missionaries got there. Luckily I had prepped most of everything prior to leaving for the Dr. Josh was wonderful. He got home at 4:45 and started putting everything together for me. I got home right at 5pm. We were both frantically running around the kitchen when the missionaries called to say they were running 10 minutes behind. It was perfect! It all worked out just right.

I didn't like that she had broken her arm, but I am extremely grateful that I had the thoughts and continual feelings that I needed to take her in. The timing ended up being crazy, but it worked out and we were blessed!

Now - 3 weeks of sporting her pretty pink cast. Lexi has gotten her all excited about taking a Sharpie to school to have her friends sign it on Monday! I might send a "heads up" email to her teacher just so she is aware. There you have it - our not so fun post Christmas event!