Oh Snap . . .

I'm apologizing in advance for the title . . . I'll explain it below.

That's right, shortly before Martha posted this, Campbell was enjoying a Sunday afternoon playing on this.

 Campbell was standing above the ladder and leaned out to tell me something (I was standing in the pool).  Before I tell you that she fell out, I will say that Martha and I are sticklers for her and Maggie sitting once inside.  Anyway, she fell out head first onto a patio chair cushion we had put at the bottom of the ladder since there was no protection from the ground.  I was right there and I unfortunately heard a snap.  I picked her up and rushed her inside where Martha and Maggie were.  I laid her on her back and felt what I heard . . . a broken forearm.  Martha called her mom to meet us at the hospital (to get Maggie).

We arrived at Piedmont Medical Center's Emergency Room and after just a few minutes in triage, they took us right back.  The nurse came in and cut off her sleeve.  The visual was something no one should ever see . . . . the only good news was that there was nothing protruding from her skin.  Just a nice "c" curved forearm.  The doctor came in and asked "what's the problem" and we pointed . . . . "Oh yeah, it's broken" he said.  They gave her some pain medicine and ordered an x-ray.  At this point, she's still laying on my chest with a wet bathing suit.  For the x-ray, we had to lay her on the bed so they could take the picture.   Warning . . . . x-ray image below . . . .I'll put some spaces so you can scroll down past it quickly if you want...or not.

The doctor said the good news is that it's not a "shorten" break (where the bone goes past where the other bone is).   He wanted to sedate her (conscious sedation) to set the bones.  At this point, our family friend Rob, who is a paramedic and emergency room technician at the hospital, came in (off duty) to assist.  They started an IV and gave her "the medicine."  Within 15 seconds, Campbell, with her eyes still open and awake, was sedated.  I'll be honest, it's quite a freaky thing to see . . . . anyway, I couldn't leave Campbell's side, so I stayed there holding her good hand while the doctor realigned and casted the arm.  After about 3 - 5 minutes, the doctor was done and Campbell had a temporary cast.  She stayed in her "sedated" state for another 10 minutes.  I will say the highlight of the day for all of us in the room was watching Campbell coming out of her sedated state.  Imagine someone with a perma-grin, who couldn't talk but could shake her head to respond to questions and apparently thought we were all floating.  We asked her if she wanted Nana's macaroni and cheese for dinner.  What seemed to last for about 30 seconds, was a perma-grin emphatic head nod yes . . . yes . . . yes . . . .yes.  Several times, she'd lift her hand as if she was trying to grab something that was "floating" (most likely our heads). In all of this silliness, there was a sweet moment that I will not forget.  At one point, still unable to speak, she lifted up towards me with her lips puckered.  She wanted a kiss from her daddy.

Here's my princess post-sedation.  After one more set of x-rays showing a good placement of the bones, we were discharged. The ride home was something else that was memorable.  They didn't tell us that the side-effect of her procedure would be a "chatty-Cathy."   "Daddy, what am I going to do if I want to play with two toys?"  "How am I going to eat ice cream?"  "Why can't I have a pink cast?" "Why does everyone in the house have two hands and I only have one?" The questions lasted for 30 minutes . . . .and they were hilarious.  What was even more funny was when I asked Campbell, "If you like chocolate, raise two hands." =)

After making it through the night, we went to the orthopedist today (the next morning) and after a painful "molding of the cast," Campbell has a new accessory for the next 6 - 8 weeks.

Pop signing her cast

All kidding aside, it's a good thing that the break was on her right arm.  She's left handed and the next 6 - 8 weeks is going to make her stronger with her left hand.  On the down side, because of her full arm cast, Martha is going to have to come up with "First Day of Kindergarten" outfit Plan-B.  Plan A won't make it over her upper arm.

I'm sure that on Martha's Five-on-Friday, we'll have some more cast stories. Thank you all for keeping up with us and for the prayers . . .  we definitely appreciate it.