Lisa's Lines
There’s never a good time to break an arm, but one week before your family’s summer vacation to a lake cabin is not ideal--especially when you’re 7 years old.
My elder daughter, Anna, broke her arm at a friend’s birthday party one week before we left for vacation. She had been jumping on a trampoline with friends. The trampoline had a safety net, but my little peanut became a projectile and somehow managed to bust through the safety net and land on her right arm. The impact broke her humerus. But, of course we didn’t know that right away.
The birthday girl’s dad drove Anna home (across the street). My husband and I, my dad, and the birthday girl’s dad all assessed her injury. No blood. No bruising. No swelling. I gave her an ice pack and got her settled on the couch. She stopped crying and recuperated quickly. She was all smiles when her friend brought a special treat bag over for her (since Anna missed out on cake).
She babied her arm the rest of the night and still wouldn’t move it the next day. Finally, that night, I warned that if she couldn’t even pick up her toothbrush with her right hand and brush her teeth she would be taking a trip to the emergency room. I’m not sure if she was being stoic or defiant, but she brushed her teeth with tears running down her cheeks.
Anna saw the doctor in the morning. She was not happy--with me, with her bone, with the world. She feared getting a cast. She feared not being able to swim on vacation. She feared not being able to enjoy vacation. So, I kept telling her it was probably just a sprain. I thought it was, and so did her doctor after the initial exam.
Anna cried but stood perfectly still while the doctor probed and moved her arm and shoulder. I teared up a few times just watching. She was in pain--so much pain--but she wasn’t going to show it. She wasn’t going to “allow” her bone be broken.
The doctor was “pretty sure” it was a sprain based on the exam, but decided to get an x-ray just to make sure.
Twenty minutes later, the doctor was apologizing to Anna. Her arm was indeed broken, and in all the doctor’s years of practice he’s never had anyone so stoic during an exam with similar injuries. He’s had grown men screaming, but he couldn’t get an “ouch” out of my little lady. He felt horrible having put her through such a strenuous exam, but Anna was past that.
She cried and looked like she was going to attempt to run--flee her fate of a cast. I hugged her and tried everything to calm her, but nothing helped.
A few hours later, we were at the pediatric bone specialist / surgeon. There was a concern about the angle of the bone. It was a long, long, long drive to that doctor appointment. There were lots of tears and a bout of car sickness and lots of unanswerable questions regarding bone surgeries, casts, and “when can I swim again?” Then, my own doubts... Should we go on vacation?
Thankfully the bone doctor gave us good news! We were told that because of the location of the break, Anna’s muscles should pull the bone right back into alignment. And, the best news of all: No cast! Anna got a sling and will have to wear it for a month or more, but the doctor gave her a “pass” to take it off and very carefully get into pools and hot tubs while on vacation! Anna grinned wide at the news. I cried (happy tears).
Before leaving for vacation, I picked up an extra arm sling for Anna and threw in a dozen dish towels as back-up slings. We used every single one. The injury didn’t stop Anna. She swam (in circles, which was slightly hilarious), fished, built sandcastles, helped in the kitchen, roasted marshmallows, raced turtles, played games, made crafts, and enjoyed the week--all with one arm and never complained.
We nicknamed her The One-Armed Wonder.
Vacation was fabulous. We enjoyed lots of boating and eating out during the day and fishing and playing cards at night. Ellen won the turtle race and became BFFs with a tree frog (she’s still bitter about me not allowing her to bring the frog home). We read lots of books and talked and laughed.
Ironically, a few traditions were broken, but not because of Anna’s arm. A couple of “our” regular restaurants were either out of business or changed their hours, which tripped us up a bit, but didn’t dampen our fun. And, due to the beautiful weather, we HAD to go to the Chocolate Ox candy store on a sunny day, which really wasn’t all that bad. It all chalks up to memories. Good, sweet memories!
