The Dr's Appointment

WELL, we had quite the day yesterday.  We went to the 8:30 a.m. dr's appt.  Can I just say that I already have a 14-year-old daughter.  She does NOT do well being woken up.  She was a grump-o from the start, but was in a better humor by the time we got to the dr's and she got excited about her red cast.  We had agreed on red, finally.  She had been asking for black or white by this point and I had brought up various reasons why those were not good options.

Anyway, we get to the office and back to the treatment room.  The doctor comes in and says, "The official radiology report from the hospital lists the findings as no fracture."  We were surprised, but not entirely, as this had been my prayer...if you'll reference my previous posts.  He said that he wanted to re-x-ray it to make sure that nothing was showing up now.  For those of you that aren't anatomy people, fractures can show up more clearly 5-7 days later when the calcium has depleted between the 2 pieces of bone that are separated.  This causes a bigger black gap to show up on the x-rays.

Anyway, we re-x-rayed, which went much better than the ER x-rays.  He came back and said, "I don't see anything at all."

I then began questioning her elbow.  You see, when the injury FIRST occured, it was her elbow that she was complaining of.  By the time we went to my dad's office and then the hospital, she was holding her wrist and complaining of that area.  The ER dr was not interested in listening to me about this, though, and it was ignored until the second splint where they incorporated her elbow to support it.  I asked why they would need to support the elbow if the problem was in the wrist and if it was possible that the elbow was dislocated.  They kind of blew me off.  That had been my dad's very first thought, but he didn't think that he could do the awful manuever on his special girl to put it back in place.

Anyway, the dr's eyes lit up hearing that that was her first complaint and he said that that was probably exactly what was going on.  He had Mark hold Cassie tightly on his lap (which made her start to panic).  He then did a twist, pull, pop manuever...actually, he had to do it twice.  It was AWFUL to watch and to hear the accompanying screams, but it was brief.  With both manuevers, it was probably 10-15 seconds total before it was all said and done.  She calmed down fairly quickly and seemed relieved when it was finished.

He wrapped her arm in an ACE bandage explaining that it was really more cosmetic to make her feel better about the arm.  He said that it could be left off whenever she was comfortable with it and if she was having trouble with the arm by Monday, to come back in, but he thought that it should all be over and done with.

We went up to the church to work on VBS stuff then and I saw her using it throughout the day without thinking about it.  I inwardly gasped when I saw her trip, fall, and catch herself with the arm.  I kept my face completely neutral and she got up, said oops, and kept going.  *WHEW*

Later, at Dad's office, I convinced her to let me "re-wrap" it...my 10th attempt to get her to take it off to see that it was A-OK.  I took it off, she whimpered as I got to the last wrap around, and she looked up with me in surprise and said, "HEY!  It doesn't hurt at all!"  I told her that I knew that it wouldn't and maybe we should give the wrap to Grandpa to help another kid with a hurt arm.  She immediately took it to him and told him that she was giving it to him.

It has been sore off and on since then, but she uses it fully when she isn't thinking and babies it when she is, which is fine with me.  After all, it has been casted since Monday, so it probably is a tad bit weak.  She will do something that she hasn't been able to do this week by herself and then come find me to marvel at how she can now do it.

When we found out that we weren't getting a cast, I was worried that she would be upset, so I REALLY played up the fact that she doesn't have to give up swimming for the rest of the summer.  That took any disappointment and threw it straight out the window.  She was thrilled to think of that point!

So, we have no cast.  We have no lingering injury.  God is good...all the time.  He never fails us and never ceases to amaze us in His providence.  We could have managed with a broken arm...no doubt about it.  BUT, He was gracious to my baby girl and kept her from having to go through that.  He always protects us and we know that He will continue to do so in the days, weeks, and months ahead when our family is separated. 

She's a pretty special little thing (even if she is a Sass!) and I am thankful beyond words that she is not in pain and can go about normal 4-year-old life!  THANK YOU, DEAR LORD, for taking care of my baby, who I know is really yours and, as hard as it is for me to imagine, you love her infinitely more than I do.