She's Free!

This morning, 11 weeks to the day after breaking her arm, Annika's arm was officially freed from being in a cast.

Needless to say, we have one VERY happy girl. She graduated to a brace that she'll wear for the next 4 weeks. On an up note, she can take it off to bathe, sleep, and to do her PT stretches. (I'm also pretty excited that it can be washed ... unlike the casts!)

She received the green light to ease back in to participating in the activities she'd been banned from since breaking her arm. She can participate in Irish dance again (so long as she isn't risking tripping and falling) starting next week, and she can return to taking part in PE class at school in 2 more weeks (again, so long as it is safe/comfortable for her arm).

The orthopedics team members at Children's Hospital were incredible and we are grateful for their level of care throughout this entire process. That said, I hope they aren't offended when I say, "I hope we never have a reason to see you again!" 😄

Way to heal, Annika!! Just no more monkey bars, please!

One very excited girl!

Skinny little arm!

So much better than a cast

Annika's Arm Saga Continues

On Tuesday, I picked up Annika from school and we headed to Children's Hospital with the hope she'd have her cast removed and she'd start the "brace" phase of her recovery process. Let's just say things don't always work out as we hope they will...

In the weeks leading up to the appointment, I cautioned Annika against being 100% sure the cast would be a thing of the past. I really expected it to be done, but you just never know. We gave her really silly reasons why it might not pan out ... UFO lands on the hospital, etc. Boy, am I glad we prepped her for the possibility of the cast being around longer than that appointment because that's exactly what happened. (Much to her chagrin.)

Excited girl

At previous appointments, she had x-rays taken through her cast, which is what I'd expected this time. Nope. We went straight into the cast room and had her cast taken off. Annika was a ball of nerves and excitement leading up to the removal process. She giggled as the saw cut her cast into two pieces, and then became VERY protective of her arm... she was acutely aware of how vulnerable it was and how stiff her elbow felt.

Buh-bye green cast

It tickles!!!

Free arm!

We popped across the hall to the x-ray room and had a couple of images taken of her arm, so a proper evaluation of her progress could take place. We waited awhile for the results to be evaluated ... longer than I had expected. In hindsight, it makes sense because the providers consulted with each other before filling us in on the results. While Annika's healing bones look great in terms of angles and such, the bone growth rate isn't such that the medical team felt comfortable freeing her arm from being in a cast... yet. Because Annika is in the twilight of her childhood growth timeline, her bones are slower to rebuild themselves. (If she was 5 or 6, she'd most likely be out of her cast by now.)

After a few tears, talking through the importance of the long-term goal of a fully-healed arm in the shortest amount of time (aka, not experiencing a setback by taking her arm out of the cast too early and re-injuring it and starting the WHOLE process over), and lots of hugs, and realizing that her new cast would allow her elbow to move freely, Annika was able to move forward and picked out the colors for her new cast: 1/2 green and 1/2 pink to represent a spring flower.

Not the outcome we'd hope for, but things could be a lot worse

To ease the sting of her still-casted arm, we opted for dinner from Dick's. Let's be honest.. a cheeseburger and some greasy fries can't fix her broken arm but they can put a smile on her face! (They also made our dinner planning after an unexpectedly long ... 2 hour ... appointment very easy!)

YUM

After realizing how vulnerable her arm felt in its new cast, Annika almost seemed relieved to have an transitional cast experience. Her elbow is very stiff and she's working on remembering to use it so it can start to loosen up a bit. It's all a process and she's many steps closer to the finish line.... just not quite as far as she'd hoped. We'll return to Children's on Eric's birthday for another check-up; if her bones still hurt when they are touched, she'll stay in the cast longer. If they don't hurt, she'll graduate to the brace. Stay tuned, dear readers!

Annika's new cast

On Monday, aka mid-Snowmagedden, Annika and I ventured out into the cold, snowy world for her scheduled appointment at Children's. Fortunately, Eric worked from home that day, so we took his car  to the appointment (all wheel drive for the win). Driving was a piece of cake (mmmm.... cake!) because we were able to stick to the plowed roads used by the buses on their emergency routes.

Annika could hardly wait to get the cast swapped out... the original one was a plaster cast under a fiberglass cast. So bulky! So heavy! (And, let's face it .... so smelly!)

Annika giggled through the removal process and was fascinated by the various layers of the cast. (I love how inquisitive our girls is!) The clinician gave Annika's arm a nice sponge bath using baby wipes to help remove some of the dead skin and ripeness, shall we say.

Annika picked a green cast for her second go-around, which she was thrilled to report gave her more finger freedom and was MUCH lighter. (This newfound freedom left her feeling more sore than she'd been in a few weeks... not a surprise, but still a good reminder that she's still healing and needs to be careful.)

We don't have to go back for four weeks. (WOO HOO!) That upcoming appointment *should* be when she can get out of a cast and into a brace. Fingers crossed!

Goodbye, old cast

Ready for the saw

It tickles!

New cast ready for signatures!

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.