Wednesday May 21 2008 - Great weekend...burned hand...broken arm... and TENDER MERCIES

OK, so I'm up late as I'm trying to stay awake now after feeding Dane cause Mya is due for medicine and I don't want to risk falling asleep and not giving her her meds on time. First, we've been out of email for 4 days and suddenly, in the middle of the night now, it's working? Go figure! I feel like I'd better do this mostly as a journal opportunity and to write it down while it's all so fresh! Here are a few shots from this weekend. We had a great time! Went to Waterton for the day on Monday. Here`s a creation made by Mya and Paige in our backyard.

Ice cream from the BIG SCOOP.

Dane always has his tongue out lately. It`s so funny. I remember our cousin Kale did the same thing. He`s just so cute with that tongue hanging out all the time! I was glad that Johy`s friend snagged this shot of him! We had a great time this weekend with everyone!

Had to include a shot of these two. Inseperable as usual.

In front of Cameron Falls. It`s been a long time since I`ve felt the spray from the fall like we did that day!

So I don't have a picture of it but Brooklyn burned her hand pretty bad on Saturday. I felt like the worst mom ever cause I was right there when it happened. Like always, she drags a chair to the counter or stove as I'm preparing dinner. So that night, she pulled the chair over and was next to the stove. I told her to get down cause it was hot. She said "hot mommy" "yes Brooklyn, it's hot so get down" as I take the pot off the burner. So then she says "my no touch cause hot" ...followed again by "my no touch this right" as she put her hand directly on the burner. Each pad of all 5 fingers totally blistered up as well as down the entire thumb and 1st finger (today the blisters over her joints split so I've had to put band aids on). Needless to say, it was a lesson learned for Brookie (and me!!!). Poor thing. So tonight we went over to Megan and Shanes house. They've been working hard in the yard and we went over to see how things were coming along. Megan was finishing up gardening and we arrived just in time let our girls try to put a couple seeds in the ground. I took my camera cause I thought it would be fun to take some shots so we could share them with Gma and Gpa and also cause my girls have NEVER planted a garden before. Here's sweet Mya moments before the accident......

So we were only there about 5-10 minutes and Kendall had to jet to go to spring league (bball) so he left and took the van and I had Dane in a sling on me...and it was a beautiful night so we were just going to walk back home. Here's Mya climbing the tree in the back yard. I snapped a picture and then warned her to be so careful cause she could fall and get hurt. She got out of the tree and went back to jump on the tramp with the other kids and I returned to the garden and talked with Meg/Shane there.

Suddenly I heard Mya's screams. We all ran towards her. She was holding her arm. From Ava's expression on the tramp, I assumed that maybe they crashed while jumping or something. As I rushed towards her I told her to settle down, it's OK, don't cry so loud. Then as I got close it was totally obvious that she broke her arm. It was completely caved in and and just sort of hung there. With Brookies accident I was overwhelmed with guilt for being "right there" and now I was overwhelmed with guilt for "not being right there". Apparently she wasn't on the trampoline at all. She was standing on the chair next to the trampoline and was on her tip toes trying to peek over the fence at her friends next door. So I start freaking out. I'm not really sure what else went on around me. Again, I'm wearing Dane in a sling in front of me so I cradle Mya as best as I can and she walks by her self holding her floppy arm to the garage. Honestly, as if I had told her earlier to not cry so loud. One look at her arm and I thought...."cry your little heart out Mya...that's got to hurt!". She was so tough from that point on. She was whimper-ing and a little teary but it was shocking how brave she was. Thank goodness I had Megan and Shane there to keep me calm cause I honestly wasn't even thinking about anything. Shane called Lori next door to come watch all the kids in the backyard, while he drove to the high school to tell Kendall (cause I had told him that the health care card was in the van). Megan drove Mya and I to the hospital. Again, Mya was being so brave and Dane, well, I'm sure he didn't really know what was going on. Kendall was there within minutes, before the Doctor even had a chance to come in. Shane assisted Kendall in a blessing. From that point on, I knew things were going to be okay but I was still pretty panic-y. Mya just kept asking "can we go home?" She clearly didn't' want to be there and got really tired. Since none of us actually saw her fall, we had to really ask her if she hit her head or anything. She sort of leaned over in the chair and almost seemed as though she'd fall asleep. The Doctor came in. Turns out our friend Dr. Dave Playfair was on call. He and his wife are friends of ours and they are in our ward....and even more.... Dr. Playfair and his wife Tess are Mya's primary teachers. I think she was relieved to see a familiar and very friendly face. We were immediately sent for x-rays. I stood outside and paced the halls and listened in through the door while Kendall went in with Mya. I could hear her whimpering in there and asking to go home still. It seemed like forever they were in there but maybe it was just 5 minutes. I paced the hall so much that there was a big dirt trail (cause we had just been in the garden). I felt a little bad to have made such a mess in the hall. Dr. Playfair came and we both waited a few minutes while he guessed what might be wrong. As soon as he saw the x-rays though, he came back in the hall and told me he'd have to just go check the angulation (angles) of her break. I suspected that maybe it was worse than a simple break but was still really hopeful. We got back to the emerg. room and waited. I tired to pre occupy Mya with conversation but she eventually drifted off again (which had me worried still that maybe she did hit her head or something). I couldn't believe she wasn't screaming in pain. Then I overheard Dr. Playfair on the phone talking about breaking her arm again. Kendall was good to keep me calm and tell me to relax. He returned to the room and told us that she had a rare break. It's called a Green stick break. Basically it's compared to breaking a stick of a willow tree or some other twig where when you bend it, it doesn't snap completely. One side breaks, but the other stays together a little bit more and you have to kind of bend it back and forth a few times in order to cause the twig to break. So, in Mya's case, her arm couldn't be left that way. At this point he left the room to consult another doctor over the phone. Dane kept kicking the camera in my pocket (from when I was snapping pics in Meg's backyard) and Mya was dozing off so I decided to take a few shots of her arm. Mya is no stranger to hospitals. She's just been a stranger for about 6 years. For just over 3 weeks, she was in the hospital as a preemie baby and she has had many IV's and pokes etc. Mya loves to look back at these pictures and see when she had an IV in her tiny head and see other pictures of her in the isolette etc. so I knew that maybe taking a few shots would serve for future interest at least. So here's her broken arm. So so thankful that it is her LEFT arm for so many reasons!!!! (not only for her benefit but I don't know what we'd do if she couldn't draw/color us pictures and notes DAILY!!! Seriously every day she colors something!!!!!!)

So, we were given the decision whether or not we wanted to drive into Lethbridge with her or have them break it and set and cast it here. My first feeling was Lethbridge of course... and then Mya whimpered again about wanting to go home. Now, looking back at it, there's no way we could have made that trip without completely traumatizing her....it have been too long (not to mention what we'd have done with Dane....cause we know he LOVES to ride in his car seat). During all of this Dane had drifted off (thankfully) for a little nap. Dr. Playfair said he hadn't had much experience with it but had done it before. He consulted with Dr. Clarke who agreed to come in and assist. It was heart breaking to see her like this. I hate the feeling of being so helpless as a parent.

So the plan was to sedate her with a drug (can't remember what it was called) that basically causes them to be totally out of it...not feel any pain or remember anything, yet appear as though she was awake. They cautioned us that it would look like she was awake but promised us that she really wouldn't be feeling anything. Here's a shot of her as we were waiting right after she had the IV put in. Again, I can't even stress how amazed I was at our little girls strength. I was rubbing her feet, Kendall was beside her rubbing her head and bracing her broken arm while the nurse was on the other side trying to insert the IV into a vein. This was HARD to watch cause Mya felt this and it sadly took quite a few attempts to get in. She was screaming in pain. I was trying to comfort her but bawling. Not good at all. But what amazed me was how still Mya kept her right arm for the nurse despite feeling her poking around inside! She kept that arm still and didn't even flinch while she screamed in pain. It allowed the nurse to do her best to get in in there without having to either have me help restrain her or make it any harder for her to do her job. Here's Mya as we waited for Dr. Clarke to arrive. Our little toughie!!!!

Dr. Clarke arrived and told us the risks. He warned us that it may take a few attempts to get it lined up again properly. Once they break it, they may have to play with it quite a bit. He told us that in situations like this, two Doctors needed to be there (so for this small town, this was total protocol). They got out all the equipment they'd need in case of emergency if she reacted to the drug and they had to resuscitate her. I felt surprisingly calm as I saw them prepare the room. I knew she was being looked after (both physically there in that room, and from up above as well). Dane and I stood near the back of the room. He was awake by now. I just couldn't leave the room though. I would have been crazier out in the hallway. They gave her the drug through her IV and pretty much instantly she started to drift off. It totally appeared like she was alert but you could tell she really wasn't! Dr. Playfair was the one who actually broke her arm again. I'm glad I was as far back as I was and didn't hear anything like Kendall did. He was right next to her the entire time. The bent her tiny little arm back and forth and were playing around repositioning it. They brought a portable x-ray machine into the room so Dane and I left while they took an image. They were happy with how it looked so they decided to cast and then re take an x-ray to see if it was still set properly. That was a blessing for us to know that they didnt have to go at it again! Here's the pictures of how it is now. They are confident that it's approximated well. Over and over we were told that children's bones are so pliable still and that it's a great time for her to break her arm (if it had to happen) cause "nothing heals like a 5 year old!" they'd say. This is a shot I took of Dane as we waited to get her x-rays back. He was a happy little boy, oblivious to the pain his sister was in. Tongue STILL hanging out!

Here's Dr. Playfair casting her as she was still not alert but slowing coming back. One of the first things Mya said when she came back to was "Let's go home" followed shortly with "Daddy, carry me?"

Here's the x-ray while her arm is now casted. In this shot you'll see that they are a little concerned about that one spot where it looks like the bone is still sticking out a tiny bit. However, this is also taken from a totally different angle, here she was resting her arm down and it was supinated slightly so it's a hard angle to really tell they said.

This view shows that it's pretty good and they think it will do a good job of healing itself but we do have a follow up x-ray in a week so hopefully it will show that indeed it is lined up properly so we don't have to do this all over again. These pics. go to a radiologist tomorrow as well so if there's any real concern, we'll know about it. We feel good about it all and were really pleased with the Dr.'s and happy with our decision not to go to Lethbridge. Here's our nurse, Deanna Sykes who is also in our ward. It was so nice to have had such warm familiar faces tonight.

We feel fortunate that it wasn't worse than it was. So thankful that we were surrounded by help when we needed it most. Very grateful for the priesthood and I'm so thankful for Kendall and all that his hands did for Mya tonight (while mine were busy with Dane!). As he stroked her head, and wiped away tears I was so thankful for all he does as a father!

We arrived home to Brooklyn already in bed, Ava and Megan there (house clean too by the way) and our neighbors, Renee, Ashley and Cole Quinton there. Apparently news travelled fast and Mya was welcomed home to notes from Meg and Shane and Kale and Livy and Brookie and Ava as well as notes and pictures and treats from the rest of the neighborhood friends (Hannah, Ben, Isaac, Neve). I can't wait to have Mya open them up when she wakes up.

We've got her in bed with us and now I'm just going to wake her up to give her more Advil for pain and swelling. Hopefully she'll feel good in the morning. So, looks like the next 6 weeks will be a bit of an adventure for our sweet little Mya!!!!!