This last week we had an exciting event happen in our family. We were at our weekly outing with one of our favorite families, The Hanifords. It was a beautiful sunny February 16th and we had decided to meet at a new playground so the kids could get some exercise and fresh air. One of the most fun things about this park to everyone in our family but Lucy is that that park has in one of its corners a merry-go-round. Lucy happens to get motion sickness so merry-go-rounds don’t necessarily make her happier. We had played at the part for a couple of hours and I was just giving the kids the “5 more minutes” warning and started gathering our things to go.
Before the 5 minutes were up, Lucy had come up behind me and was crying in a way that I could tell she had gotten really hurt. I asked her what had happened and she said she had gotten her arm caught in the merry-go-round while she was pushing her friends. I started lifting the sleeve of her long-sleeved shirt to look at her arm to assess the damage. I saw a mark just above her wrist that looked exactly like she had gotten her arm caught and disturbed the first layer of skin. I then asked her more about exactly what she was feeling and what happened. She said when her arm got caught, she felt a pop and that is when it began hurting really badly. I began to pull the sleeve higher and saw immediately that something was definitely wrong because her arm was no longer straight from the elbow to the wrist, but curved slightly like a banana. At that point I said it was time to go, and loaded our stuff and the other kids into the van with my friend Angie’s help.
I dropped Matthew and the two little boys at the house, gave Lucy a dose of ibuprofen, and took off for the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta urgent care nearest us. I could tell by how Lucy was acting that she was in a lot of pain. She wasn’t talking and would only say every once in a while, “Mom, my arm REALLY hurts.” She was pale and I knew she must be in shock so I had Matthew recline her seat and cover her. I had taken Taivan to the same urgent care previously when he had broken his leg and felt this was the best place. I wasn’t mistaken. We did not have to wait at all, but just signed in and paid our co-pay and then they ushered us back to start helping Lucy. They gave her an ice pack and placed her arm on a straight padded board and soon she began to talk and talk and talk to me. At this point I knew she must be feeling quite a bit better. They took an x-ray, determined that both her radius and ulna were fractured just below her elbow, splinted her injured arm, and concluded that she needed to see an orthopedic doctor. He wanted to see her that night so we drove a little further into Atlanta to Scottish Rite Hospital. It took me a little bit to find where we were supposed to go, but eventually did. Thankfully, Lucy did not seem to be in a lot of pain at this point.
We waited for a few minutes in the ER waiting room which gave me a little anxiety since many of the other patients had the flu and I have not had the flu shot this year. After our wait, they took us to a room, cut off Lucy’s splint and started talking to me about what would happen next. They were talking doctor talk, which I understand, but Lucy does not. The things she did understand only sounded scary to her because she did not completely understand what they were about to do to her and her arm. At this point, it was past her bedtime and she was hungry and completely exhausted. She began to cry and was scared. I was doing my best to explain to her what was going on when one of her nurses came in and saw her crying. She asked Lucy if she wanted someone special to come explain everything to her in way that she could understand so she wouldn’t have to be afraid anymore. Of course Lucy said yes and while the nurse was gone getting help, Lucy asked me if I would say a prayer for her. I know there were many prayers said for Lucy that night and I could feel them strengthening me and Lucy as well.
I forgot to mention that the whole time we had been waiting for doctors and nurses and traveling, Lucy was chatting away. She never complained, only started trying to see things from a positive perspective. She said, “I am so glad it was my right arm, since I’m left-handed!” or “It could have been much worse, Mom! The doctors said it could have cut through my skin!” or “I am so glad it was my arm and not my leg because walking requires two legs, while I can do a lot of things with just one arm.” Or “I am glad this happened for one reason. Now I know what other people who have broken a bone feel like.” or “I am so glad my body knows how to heal when something gets injured!”
Before the night was through, Lucy was sedated so that the doctors could set her arm and cast it immediately after. She was very brave through the whole process including putting in the IV and also coming out of the anesthesia. We both got sack lunches from the hospital since we had not had dinner in all the chaos. We arrived home shortly before midnight.
Lucy had to keep her arm elevated for the first couple of days to help with swelling and also because it would throb when not elevated, but she didn’t really let it slow her down. She was holding up her cast with her good arm or placing it on the top of her head. She did sit sometimes and color or watch TV. But she is still my active Lucy. Thankfully she has a wonderful friend Grace that lives in our neighborhood that helped make the time go by more quickly. Also, the day after she broke her arm, I needed to take Matthew to his band across town, but didn’t want to have to drag Lucy along so I asked Grace’s mother, Tara Settle, to take Lucy for the afternoon. Tara also said she wanted to bring us dinner that night, which was much appreciated since I was pretty worn out from everything as well. Lucy had also received many gifts from the Settles and the Hanifords. Balloons, stuffed animals, coloring books, colored pencils, gel pens, Almond Joy candy bars are among the many gifts Lucy has received. Good friends are wonderful!
This picture is Friday night, the night after it happened. She has been so cheerful and positive through this whole experience so far. I am reminded of the power of a positive attitude and outlook. Lucy has taught me a lot and I am reminded or her true nature. She has been a bright light for me. She hasn’t complained at all. Instead of getting frustrated when she finds something that usually requires both hands, she tries to thing of another way to do it and if she can’t, she has asked for help.
There was an experience today where she was trying to untangle her balloons and the balloons ended up high above the stairs. I heard her becoming frustrated and when I called out to her, she ran away because she didn’t want me to see her crying. She had the step stool on the stairs trying to get the balloons, but they were too high for her to reach. I do think she is a little too much like her mother in this way and I am trying to help her understand that it is okay to ask for help. I tried to explain to her that is good to be able to do things independently sometimes. but we need other people to help us.
She is still my Lucinda, our bringer of light. She is still shining brightly through this.
