So as we were getting things in order to leave for our California trip at 2:00 I went to get Justin and I a Pepsi from Minit Market. This was actually Christmas Eve for most people, we just celebrated early. As I am driving home I get a phone call from Justin saying, "Kiersten broke her wrist!" I actually did not believe him at first, but after a little convincing I did. We met on the side of the road and I took Kiersten on to the hospital. Justin went home until I could call around and see who could help with the boys so Justin could join us at the hospital.
There was no question if Kiersten broke her arm. It wasn't her wrist like originally thought, once we got her long sleeve shirt off it was obvious. I think because it hurt to not be holding her wrist Kiersten thought it was her wrist that was broke plus the pain was so bad it just hurt every where.
A sweet nurse, Crystal Lehmann, held Kiersten's arm as I comforted her. I called Wendy and had one of her girls go to the house to watch the boys so Justin could come to the hospital. Justin took over holding her arm once he got there.....about an hour later. Then Grammie Cluff knew we were at the hospital she offered to go watch the boys. Poor little Kiersten had to get an IV twice even though she laid completely still while they tried to put it in the first time. She was in so much pain, but did amazing. On the drive to the hospital she kept telling herself, "It's Okay, it's okay!"
I was so relieved once they had pain meds in her......she was much more comfortable once that morphine kicked in!
Dr. Bryce came looked at the X-rays .........Kiersten had broken both bones in her arm. But one bone was displaced severely. Dr. Bryce discussed with us how bad of a break it was. He said that he would try his best to get it back in place but he wasn't sure it would stay. He did tell us to be prepared for surgery if he was unable to set it. He would not let us stay in the room while he set it, like he let us when he did Logan's arm. He said, "This is a much worse break and that we wouldn't want to watch."
So we waited right outside the room for a good 25 minutes. I was getting very nervous and was totally prepared for them to come out and say they were taking her in to surgery.
Finally they opened the door and she had this purple cast on.
As Kiersten was waking up from the anesthesia, she would try to roll over to her side. Dr. Bryce says all side sleepers do this. As she continued to wake up, he told us that he had a real hard time setting Kiersten's arm and that it took three times to get it to stay, which he said isn't typical. He told us she would need to have X-rays every week to make sure the bone heals correctly.
Kiersten then tried to roll over to her right side, the one with the broken arm. I tried to stop her and she said so sweetly, "But I want to give Dr. Bryce a HUG!"
So he reached over and they hugged and she thanked him for fixing her arm. He said he has never had anyone immediately give him a hug and that she just made his Christmas. Even in pain, Kiersten is thoughtful and sweet. The whole time at the hospital she thanked the nurses for holding her arm, for the warm blanket, and for being so nice. She was such an example to me! And she was so brave!
Kiersten was so sad and thought she had ruined our trip. I told her nothing was ruined and that none of this was her fault. We would just be leaving a few hours later but that it was no big deal. We were just so happy she didn't need surgery!
Because we were leaving for California in a few hours and not returning for 6 days, Dr. Bryce needed to cast her arm. He said the bone was still very unstable and he wasn't 100% sure that it was going to stay in place with a cast on but that splinting it was not an option.
He warned us that he was worried about the swelling and that he was okay with us traveling but that we needed to be prepared to stop at a hospital if her fingers started to turn colors or if they swelled too much and were hurting her. We figured we had just gotten our vacation ER trip out of the way early and that this trip would now be a breeze.............no ER visit in California we were just sure of it!
We stayed the night in Phoenix and then woke up Christmas morning and traveled on to San Diego. We got there about 4:00 or so. The kids enjoyed collecting sea shells on the beach by our hotel bungalows. We then decided to go eat dinner and finally found a Denny's that was open, it was Christmas day after all and not a lot of selection for restaurants. While waiting for our food Kiersten's fingers were hurting her and they were turning a scary purple color. We knew we needed to get her to an ER. She became very scared and nervous of what to expect and the unknown plus it was hurting her.
It was almost as if she was having an anxiety attach or something. As we drove in the car I continued to tell her, "It would be Okay!"
She was very, very upset! She kept telling me, "No It Is NOT Going to be OKAY! Quit telling me that!!"
Finally I stopped her and said, listen to me. It is my job as the mother to comfort you and help you feel okay. It's my job to tell you it's going to be okay! It is my job as the mom to stay calm and to make the mood as calm as it can be! I told her.... you can cry and scream, but that's not my job. And it's not my job to overreact and be upset. I asked her if she wanted me to start crying and acting scared with her? She said, "No." I told her then quit telling me that "it's not going to be okay." The truth of the matter was that yes it was going to be okay. Was it not going to be scary, no I couldn't guarantee that, but that taking her to an ER was the best thing we could do for her and that they could make it okay. She was worried that the doctors would be mean. I comforted her and told her that the doctors worked for us and that if any doctor was mean I would ask for a new doctor. After this conversation, she was much, much calmer and at easy. I was a little sad I had to be so firm with her while she was in such drama but I didn't know what else to do to make her change her perspective. I kept telling her that it was okay for her to cry and to be scared but that as her mom it wasn't okay for me to act that way. And she could see that if I was acting that way it would make it worst for her.
We finally made it to Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego and they got us right back to a room. Uncle Brian was so nice and called ahead to the hospital to let them know what was going on. Brian and Tif were just great and took the three boys back to the resort. Hunter was a huge help Tif said as he helped find everyones p.j.s. Tif even commented on how good and easy the boys went to sleep..........bedtime is pretty easy at our house I will say.
Everyone was so sweet and nice to Kiersten. I think with it being Christmas and all everyone felt so sorry for her. And after hearing our story that we were here for a vacation and that she just broke her arm the day before. She even said, "I guess I didn't need to worry because everyone is really nice here!"
You can see if you enlarge his picture how much her fingers had swelled and that they are a different color then her other hand.
They took some X-rays just to make sure the bone was still in place. It looked good so they then planned to cut her cast off.
It was extremely hard both the day before at our hospital and here at the San Diego hospital to keep my composure. I was so sad to see my sweet girl in pain and scared.
As we waited for the doctor to return we watched the movie, "Elf." We were all impressed with the nice rooms and technology at this hospital. Kiersten though this TV on long swivel arm was cool.
After the doctor finally got the cast machine turned on, it took like 5 minutes for him to figure it out, which wasn't a comforting sign. It was a brand new machine and he had yet to use it. Before he began he showed Kiersten and us that it wouldn't cut through skin. He did it on his own hand and then on Kiersten's hand.
Kiersten was a little nervous but was handling things great once he showed her it couldn't cut her. The doctor was cutting Kiersten's cast, as he kept moving the blade back and forth in the crease of her elbow she just came unglued. She was kicking and crying hard. He stopped the machine and asked what the problem was. I thought to myself what are you retarded, she broke her arm yesterday and you are putting a ton of pressure just above that break.........what wouldn't hurt about that right? Sometimes doctors ask the dumbest questions, it's almost like they forget the person they are working on is ALIVE!!!
Kiersten told him it was really hurting and that it felt like he was cutting her. He told her that he was sorry but that there was no way he was cutting her. He had to cut the cast completely on both the inner side and the outer side so that if we needed to pry it apart we could. It was horrible just horrible. Kiersten was hurting quite a bit and I was tearing up! I wanted to scream at the doctor!!!
As he was finishing up and cut the small part of the cast between her thumb and her pointer finger guess what HE CUT HER SKIN!!!
Kiersten said, "Ouch!" And we all could see he did in fact cut her. He was so surprised and felt horrible. Then as he was making sure the cast was completely cut, he was pulling on the part up by her elbow. When he opened it up a little we could see a cut about 2 inches long. I brought it to his attention and showed him that indeed he had cut her right in the place she had said he did. I told him no wonder Kiersten was so upset. He was extremely apologetic and was truly sorry. He did seem very surprised that it would even cut her.
Kiersten was exhausted by the time we left the hospital. She had some major bad luck with this arm so far. We are just praying it heals up right!
Guess we shouldn't assume we wouldn't visit an ER on our vacation just because we had to visit it a few hours before we left.
So our Study on ER's Across the U.S. continues!!!
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