My mom invited our family over to celebrate my birthday. We went by and picked up my grandma and drove to Mom's house. Mom lives in a cute little house in Hamilton that is all one level. You would think this would be a great place to be for my girls because of this fact. Well, the last time we were there Elizabeth tripped on a vacuum chord and injured her hip. This was a couple of days before the ambulance ride from school back in September.
Anyway, Elizabeth and my mom made a great dinner and we were just about to eat when I see Erica's legs give out as she was coming around the corner. Her ankle then gave way and her full body weight landed on the ankle she broke over the summer. I knew it was bad before she could even cry. It reminded me of the slow motion footage they have during football games where everyone winces.
Chuck took her to a bed and we applied ice. She said it was broken and from the look of the swelling, I guessed she was right. I called the girls pediatrician and he told us to bring her into the ER.
Chuck said that he would take her to the ER, but Erica was not happy about this. I think she cried more about me not going then she did about the injury. I stuck to my guns because I thought we could salvage a little normalcy from the evening.
The rest of us ate dinner and started to clean up the kitchen. My mom said that she was doing better, but I could tell she was tired. I was anxious to get home myself. CJ and Elizabeth were helping me clean up. I sent Elizabeth to find my purse. She walked into the family room and apparently twisted as she walked.
She felt a pop in her hip and just froze. She was around the corner so no one saw her. She wanted to keep this quite as it was already a crazy night, so she called CJ to her. CJ then came to me and whispered that Elizabeth hurt her hip.
When I looked at her I could tell she was in a lot of pain too. I tried to help her to the floor, but it was difficult. Try to sit on the floor without flexing your hip some time, it is almost impossible.
We finally got her down and I tried to reduce the joint. I just did not have enough strength. I tried to have CJ hold the top part of her body while I pulled, but it was not going back in. The only person able bodied enough was Chuck and he was already in the ER.
I decided to take my grandma home and stop by our house to pick up a TENS unit, pain meds and a heating pad. As I was in the car, I got a call from my mom saying that Elizabeth has to use the bathroom. No one could help her go.
I tried to call Chuck but the cell phones get no reception in Children's ER. I went back to my mom's with the stuff and see if she could put it back in herself. By this time, she had been down for quite a while. I decided that I would head to the ER and swap out duties with Chuck. I was hopeful that he would be able to help her at least go to the bathroom.
I called the front desk of the ER and explained that I had to get a hold of my husband. I did finally talk to him and he said that Erica did indeed break her ankle. Then I told him about Elizabeth and the whole bathroom deal. I told him I would switch out with him. The ER staff had to think we were mental!
Chuck raced back to my mom's house only to find out he was too late on the bathroom trip. Mom was very resourceful and laid down plastic and a bunch of towels. By then Elizabeth had had the TENS unit on, pain meds in her system and heat applied to help make the realignment easier. He tried repeatedly and it was not working.
Chuck called me and I called our pediatrician back. I told him what we tried and for how long. I asked him if there was anything else we could try so we could avoid going back into the ER. He told us what we knew was coming... go to the ER.
The question was, could Chuck get her into the car by himself. Being the stud he is, he was able to get it done with a little help from CJ. We were all relieved that we did not need another ambulance ride. Then the decision had to be made about which ER. The smaller, closer ER did not have an orthopedist. If it was dislocated, they would have to transport her to the base hospital in downtown Cincinnati. I told him that by the time Elizabeth gets into the car and into the ER, chances are her hip will already be back in place so we would take our chances and go to the closer ER.
So Chuck is back for another episode of ER. We have had multiple trips in a week, but this was a new record; two trips on the same night!
Elizabeth's stay was longer because of a trauma case came in during her visit. The ER doctor was successful eventually in popping it back. It did not show up on the x-ray, but everyone could tell when it popped back. She was relieved immediately.
A couple of days later we talked to another doctor and he thought it was a tendon that was in the wrong place. It still hurts like crazy, but it would not show up on the x-ray.
Everyone was finally home at 2:00AM. Again, when can we have a nice boring evening. I feel like I am on the world's craziest roller coaster and I want off!
No comments:
Post a Comment