Day 1 - What a Week

Memory 1
On the first day of my epic blog I am pleased to say I have a very noteworthy memory. On Saturday afternoon our house was brimming with little girls. Three of my daughters had a friend over, which took our total count to 8 girls. They had been busily collecting sticks and firewood the entire day, as they planned a bonfire and sleepover night. They had reached the bed preparation stage, with bonfire poised to light as soon as dad got home from work.

Stephanie and her friend Imogen had decided to be adventurous and have a camp out in the cubby house, i was doubtful this plan would have lasted until morning. Anyway they had begun cleaning and moving furniture in the cubby house in order to bring in some air mattresses. Stephanie had climbed up onto an unstable 3 legged wrought iron table to hang a blanket over an open doorway. As she began to climb down the table slipped and Stephanie with it. She must have hit the floor pretty hard as she still has a deep purple bruise 5 days later, she also hit her head and her wrist. She thought her head was the worst until she moved her hand from its wedged position. Imogen assures me she let out a scream that made her ears ring ;) Sadly for Stephanie though this meant an end to bonfire night and trip with her friend to the Emergency ward at Bowral hospital. 2 hours later we back on our way home with Stephanie securely wrapped up and a back slab on, with instructions to return in the morning for an x-ray and most probably a new cast, as the nurse was fairly confident she had broken it.

The next morning we left to arrive for opening at x-ray imagining a quick x-ray, wack on a cast and we had picked out a nice little cafe for lunch. Stephanie was most interested in the cafe as she had been told to fast from the morning 'just in case'.

Help up initially by an emergency due to a car accident, we had our x-ray and then waited in casualty to see the Doctor. The arm was definitely broken, and unfortunately worse than a green stick fracture. This meant a longer wait until the Orthopedic surgeon reviewed the x-rays to see if surgery was required. At this point I don't know what was harder for Stephi, the pain in her arm or the pain in her belly from no food. Finally Stephanie was admitted, as the surgeon had decided it would need a closed reduction in surgery. Surgery was scheduled for later that afternoon, so we stayed in Children's ward watching DVDs and trying to keep Stephanie's mind off the afternoon, as fear had started to creep in. This was probably not helped by a phone call from her sister who in the best intentions offered Stephanie her $10 pocket money if she made it out of surgery. :{ I assured Stephi that I didn't know anyone who had died of a broken wrist!

the surgery went smoothly and the surgeon did a closed reduction on her distal radius. Two hours later she was allowed home to be monitored in her own bed. SO sporting a giant heavy white addition to her arm, and dosed up on pain stop to help her sleep Stephanie's horror weekend had finally ended. Even with the silver lining of no school for a while, did not ease much of the pain for the first few days, and with little sisters who are hard to keep 'gentle' near her the next few weeks prove to be challenging. Next Monday we will be off to see the Orthopedic surgeon again and new x-rays to check that the bones are still aligned and beginning to heal, we will also find out the 'sentence' she has for keeping the cast on.

Until then she is slowly beginning to be able to do more things with her left hand, though putting on shirts and bathing are the biggest challenges, as is the constant itch she seems to have developed. We are definitely praying for good news on Monday, and continued cool weather so arm stays comfortable.