Annika's Owie

Soooo, this happened....

On Friday, I was at work doing my work stuff (doo dee doo dee doo dee doo ... yes, those are my "I'm at work sounds") when I got a call from the kids' school. The school administrative assistant explained that Annika had an accident on the playground during lunch recess and they suspected she broke her arm... again. My response? "Oh shirt." (OK, not those EXACT words, but this is a family blog ... but you get the picture.)

In emergencies, transit commuters can request a cab to take them to their cars. I did that. The cab was supposed to be there in 4 minutes. It took over 20. That's 16+ minutes of me basically pacing the sidewalk outside of my office building like a crazy woman. In that 16+ minutes, Annika went into shock and the school opted to call 9-1-1 because they weren't exactly equipped for that and it was taking me way longer than expected to get to the school. (Stupid downtown traffic issues!)

The ambulance took Annika straight to Children's Hospital (we knew to by-pass the closer NW Hospital from the last time she broke her arm ... wrist to be exact, knowing they aren't equipped to sedate children in the ER) while Eric drove there from his office and I drove there after getting my car at the park and ride. (Kudos to my cab driver for making excellent time once he had me in his vehicle!) One of the teacher aids from the kids' school went in the ambulance with Annika, and we are beyond grateful for her doing that!! The funny part was the ER had no notifications of an inbound ambulance with anyone by her name. They did have a "Monica Wilson" coming with with a suspected broken left arm, however. Once they arrived, it was pretty clear someone in ambulance-land just goofed up her name along the way! (Whew - I was starting to get nervous that they were going to a different hospital!)

The ER staff was (once again) truly amazing! They were compassionate, kind, and efficient. (Unfortunately, Eric's cousin wasn't working this time.) Because she was in shock, it took quite a bit of time and effort to get an IV started on her, but once they did, the ER people offered to give Annika some pain meds before even bothering with x-rays, to which she responded "Drug me up!" (Better living through pharmaceutical science, people!!)

Pain meds are her friend!!

The x-rays showed exactly what we all suspected, she broke her left arm. Correction, she didn't just break it... she broke the holy heck out of it! Her radius was completely broken and displaced. Her ulna was also completely broken, but the bone wasn't as displaced as the other one was.

OUCH

The ER staff sedated her and did their best to realign the bones performing an external reduction. (AKA, two people pull on the arm in two different directions and rotate the bones attempting to get them in a better position.) The orthopedic specialist said she got the bones into a better position than she expected, but warned us that the radius could slip. If it does, Annika will need a rod put in (eeek!!!!). We'll go back to the hospital later this week for follow-up x-rays, which will determine the next steps in her care plan. (Fingers, toes, and eye are all crossed that the bones stay put and don't slip!)

Somewhat less ouch

No volleyball for her this season

As she came out of the anesthesia, Annika (once again) proved to be a funny "drunk". She saw double (and at times, triple) just like she did when she broke her wrist 3 years ago. One very touching part of her waking up experience was her gushing love of Conor and how much she wanted him to be with her. She even wanted to leave the hospital immediately so she could go home and be with him. (Note: He was a a family friend's house playing with friends and eating tacos!)

Eric left a little while after she woke up to retrieve Conor and take him home. Annika and I left the hospital about 7:30 PM. She was very drowsy (understandably) and napped most of the way home. We got a little food and some more pain meds into her, and then we hunkered down for the night. She awoke a few times during the night because of weird dreams (the ER staff warned us that could happen due to the anesthesia) but nothing overly disruptive.

By the next day, she was doing MUCH better and seemed to have very little pain. Talk about being a trooper! We are being VERY cautious around her to avoid any accidental collisions or silliness that could lead to the bones slipping. VERRRRY cautious!

The other casualty of the whole ordeal was Annika's school sweater. The ER staff wound up cutting it off of her so they could work on her arm. It's so mangled, that I just had to share a photo or two of it, too!

Victim #2

We kept Annika home from school yesterday to give her one more day of healing and reduce her chances of an accidental run-in that could undue the work of the ER staff. That didn't keep me from bringing home her school work that morning when I dropped off Conor at school and making her actually do her work. (I'm such a mean mom!) :D

She went back to school today and (knock on wood) things are going fine so far. (No word to indicate otherwise.) She even wore her new sling that I made for her (more fashionable and comfortable than the one from the hospital!) Fortunately, the kids got to wear their school spirit wear today, which made getting dressed quite a bit easier. (T-shirt sleeves fit over her cast more easily than the uniform shirts do.)

Back to school!

To everyone who has checked up on her, brought get-well gifts, dropped food at our door, and kept her in their thoughts, we thank you from the very bottom of our hearts. The kids' school community rallied like no other and we are touched by all they did to help her on Friday and after.