Usually when the phone rings and it says "Unknown" I never pick it up assuming it is a telemarketer. Unfortunately, I learned the hard way that this is not a foolproof plan. I heard my phone chime to realize my "Telemarketer" had left a voicemail message. I thankfully decided to listen to it and not delete it right away. What I heard, was the school nurse. "Mrs. Crabtree, this is Rachel (no cause for alarm, she calls me all the time for really minor stuff). Emma was at recess and fell and we have a broken arm." NOT the phone call I was expecting or wanting. I loaded the kids in the car right as Mike was pulling up from getting his daily fix of caffeine and we went to get her.
I walked into the school to find Emma, as pale as a ghost with her arm in a splint and withering in pain. Her teacher had been standing right there and saw the whole thing happen. Emma wasn't breaking any rules and wasn't that high when she fell; the school playground has 2 feet of rubber mulch and it let her arm continue to bend more than it should have. She knew instantly by how her arm buckled that it was broken and seeing that Emma was in shock and about to pass out, she carried her inside up to the nurse.
We arrived at the hospital after what seemed like a very long drive (it isn't) and got her checked into the ER.
They weren't busy and got us back right away where they began to take all the vitals. Ian seeing the blood pressure cuff instantly said, "Emma, don't be scared. It doesn't hurt. I get it done everytime at Doctor Max and it just feels like a hug on your arm." He then began to rub her back and talk to her telling her she was brave and that the X-rays don't hurt either-it's just like getting a picture. I was so touched at the compassion he had, yet sad that a 5 year old is an expert in this area.
Shortly after getting the X-Rays, a nurse came in and told us Emma couldn't eat or drink. I figured it was because they were going to have to set her arm so I took the opportunity to step out and take Ian to get some lunch. I began talking to one of the employees who was there and told her what was going on. She asked me what school she goes to and I said, "Timber Creek" to which she responded, "So do my kids! What grade?" I said, "Second." With a little more excitement in her voice she said, "My son is second grade! Who is her teacher?" "Mrs. Maher." It turns out her son is in Emma's class and she is the room mom. I have been responding to her emails all year, but have never met her. She was so sweet and so concerned especially since she has been in the classroom and knows who Emma is very well.
I returned to her room in the ER to find Emma with an IV in her arm. Immediately I knew something was up. It isn't a standard procedure to get an IV with a broken bone. Mike told me that both bones in the wrist were broken and were 1/2 inch displaced so they needed to do surgery and place pins. Emma was terrified! She was beginning to be a little more alert now that she had some pain medicine in her and the reality of what was going on was starting to sink in. She started to cry; first of of fear and then out of realizing that the swim team I signed her up for wasn't going to happen. She was also supposed to get baptized over Memorial Day weekend and again, she was upset knowing that probably wasn't going to take place. But the thing that upset her the most and absolutely brought tears to my eyes was when she said, "Mom, how am I supposed to hold Caleb?" She loves that little baby so much and the thought of missing out on him was devestating to her above all else.
A friend of ours who is an Orthopaedic Surgeon took a look at the X-Rays and decided that she needed a hand and wrist specialist. He sent one over who works with him at his practice. I was so grateful to have an expert in this area and not just anyone who happened to be on call that day.
To make a long story short (too late) she was put under and taken to surgery. There is always an element of fear for me wondering if all will go well and hoping and praying that they will wake up. I only had to wait for 20 minutes before it was over and I got the news. The Doctor decided after he set it that he didn't think she needed pins after all so thankfully she didn't have to feel a thing while the bones were put back into place.
We arrived home and again my heart was touched to see Ian (who is a lefty) trying to teach Emma how to eat with her left hand. I later found her practicing writing her letters with her left hand. She actually did quite well.
Emma got a green cast put on a few days ago. It took about 30 seconds of us walking in the door for her to have her first signature on it. Now, it is almost more black than green. Emma has really been a trooper about the whole thing. I have to help her wash her hair and get dressed, but she can pretty much do everything else.
Now that we have had yet another round of drama, and were back on the radar for a few days, I am hoping to take a nice, long, break:)
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Bragging and Blabbing
Let me start by saying that I promise that I will get the Halloween pumpkin background off this site before summer hits. I know you are wondering if I am also one of those people who leave their Christmas lights up until July (I'm not, simply because I don't put them up in the first place:)) The problem is, Mike set up this blog so I have to change all those kinds of things when I am logged in under him and I can't remember his login info and he never seems to be around to ask when I am thinking about it.
Ian came home from Superhero School today (a co-op style preschool that four friends and I do) and he had a big picture that he had drawn. They had him lay down on the paper and traced around him and then he filled it in by drawing body parts and organs. He colored red for blood, drew a heart, some eyes, ears, teeth, and a stomach. They funniest part of all was he added a port! He drew it in exactly the right spot which is about the only thing that was anatomically correct on the whole thing. I thought it was so cute.
He also informed me last night that when he grows up he wants to be a "prarie dog taker carer. I can give them food and stuff and lots of lots of grass on top of their food because they love grass." It was so random but so hilarious!
Ian continues to do well. He had chemo last Monday and things went really well. I wish I could have said the same for me! I had all the kids loaded up in the car so I could drop the girls off at school and then head up to Ian's appointment. All of a sudden, I hear a siren. According to the cop, I ran a stop sign which I totally DIDN'T ( ok, it may have been a California stop but I didn't tear through sign without hitting the brakes). The most humiliating part of it was it was right on the main road to the school so everyone was driving by seeing me in my glory. I had a friend who was sweet enough to stop and take my girls to the school. I asked the officer how much longer it was going to take because I had an appointment at the hospital for my son and he replied, "Lets not make it so that you both have to go to the hospital." I was sooo bugged. I hardly put our lives in danger.
Anyway, we received the final date of his treatment which will be June 26, 2011!!! It is going to be the biggest celebration anyone has ever seen!
Caleb will be one next Monday!!! He can stand for a long period of time and is up to about 2 steps before he falls. I am so surprised it has taken him so long to walk considering he crawled at 5 months (including going up the stairs). He finally started sleeping through the night about a month and a half ago with a random night here and there where he wakes up. Caleb is a human trash disposal and I am constantly running around trying to pick up any little thing that the kids have left on the ground because it goes straight to the mouth. I don't know how many times I've had to stick my finger in and pull out something in there that didn't belong, but it has been alot. He gets really excited and is easily egged on if he thinks the kids are laughing at him. He starts fake laughing and doing everything he can to keep them entertained.
He is a huge babbler right now. Nothing he says makes sense except for "Hi dad". His babbling will go on for 2-3 minutes at a time. It's so funny because if he gets mad, he has the same babbling but it takes on a different tone so you can tell he is telling on whoever is making him mad. He knows what he is saying even if we don't.
The girls had a Solo Festival for the piano over the weekend. They have been working really hard on a solo piece of music for the past 4 months. They memorize it and perfect it as much as they can in order to play it before a judge. I have 5 piano students of my own that were also involved. They all did FABULOUS! They were able to keep the nerves in check and play wonderfully for the judge. All received high marks and were in the highest category they could be in. Their teacher must be awesome:)
To all of my faithful blog followers and you know who you are, I promise I will do better about having more frequent posts! Thanks for reading!
Ian came home from Superhero School today (a co-op style preschool that four friends and I do) and he had a big picture that he had drawn. They had him lay down on the paper and traced around him and then he filled it in by drawing body parts and organs. He colored red for blood, drew a heart, some eyes, ears, teeth, and a stomach. They funniest part of all was he added a port! He drew it in exactly the right spot which is about the only thing that was anatomically correct on the whole thing. I thought it was so cute.
He also informed me last night that when he grows up he wants to be a "prarie dog taker carer. I can give them food and stuff and lots of lots of grass on top of their food because they love grass." It was so random but so hilarious!
Ian continues to do well. He had chemo last Monday and things went really well. I wish I could have said the same for me! I had all the kids loaded up in the car so I could drop the girls off at school and then head up to Ian's appointment. All of a sudden, I hear a siren. According to the cop, I ran a stop sign which I totally DIDN'T ( ok, it may have been a California stop but I didn't tear through sign without hitting the brakes). The most humiliating part of it was it was right on the main road to the school so everyone was driving by seeing me in my glory. I had a friend who was sweet enough to stop and take my girls to the school. I asked the officer how much longer it was going to take because I had an appointment at the hospital for my son and he replied, "Lets not make it so that you both have to go to the hospital." I was sooo bugged. I hardly put our lives in danger.
Anyway, we received the final date of his treatment which will be June 26, 2011!!! It is going to be the biggest celebration anyone has ever seen!
Caleb will be one next Monday!!! He can stand for a long period of time and is up to about 2 steps before he falls. I am so surprised it has taken him so long to walk considering he crawled at 5 months (including going up the stairs). He finally started sleeping through the night about a month and a half ago with a random night here and there where he wakes up. Caleb is a human trash disposal and I am constantly running around trying to pick up any little thing that the kids have left on the ground because it goes straight to the mouth. I don't know how many times I've had to stick my finger in and pull out something in there that didn't belong, but it has been alot. He gets really excited and is easily egged on if he thinks the kids are laughing at him. He starts fake laughing and doing everything he can to keep them entertained.
He is a huge babbler right now. Nothing he says makes sense except for "Hi dad". His babbling will go on for 2-3 minutes at a time. It's so funny because if he gets mad, he has the same babbling but it takes on a different tone so you can tell he is telling on whoever is making him mad. He knows what he is saying even if we don't.
The girls had a Solo Festival for the piano over the weekend. They have been working really hard on a solo piece of music for the past 4 months. They memorize it and perfect it as much as they can in order to play it before a judge. I have 5 piano students of my own that were also involved. They all did FABULOUS! They were able to keep the nerves in check and play wonderfully for the judge. All received high marks and were in the highest category they could be in. Their teacher must be awesome:)
To all of my faithful blog followers and you know who you are, I promise I will do better about having more frequent posts! Thanks for reading!
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Christmas Appointment
Ian's last appointment was on Tuesday right before Christmas. He was going to have both the vincristine (chemo) put into his port as well as an LP (where they put chemo into your spine). We arrived bright and early for our 6:45 am appointment with Ian fasting. We were in the bigger clinic that day but he wasn't in the mood to play in the playroom; I guess he must have been a little more nervous than usual, so we hung out in our clinic room. Ian did a few Christmas crafts while watching the movie of choice for the past year- Star Wars. Ian is given a Twilight which doesn't put him under, but it keeps him from remembering the LP. For whatever reason, he couldn't relax and was agitated that day so they were unable to do the LP. He was worried about having to get a poke again so they kept his port accessed so that he would be ready to go the next day.
We had to return on Wednesday the 23rd so that they could give him some drugs to knock him out. I always get nervous about them putting him under; it wasn't general anethesia but it was with propophyl. Why does that drug sound familiar you may ask? It got a lot of publicity these past few months being Michael Jackson's former drug of choice. Not exactly the connection that you want to come to mind, but being the worrier I am, I just can't help myself:) Once again, he had to fast and we were the last appointment of the day at 3:30. I had to get pretty creative to keep him from realizing how hungry he was.
They actually had us be at the hospital at 12:30 in case there was a cancellation or an earlier opening but unfortunately that wasn't the case. We had fun playing by doing more crafts, puzzles, and board games. While we were waiting, Ian was given a stocking full of toys, crayons, coloring books, etc. He was so excited about it and it served as a great time killer. So many people are so wonderful and thoughtful bringing things for the children at the hospital especially around Christmas. Thank you to all of you; you know who you are!
After playing for three hours, we went into the room where the anesthesiologist would be and he chased and popped bubbles for a good 15 minutes. Since he already had a needle in his port from the day before, they gave him the medicine and he was out in about 3 seconds. I was escorted to another room where I had to wait for Ian to wake up. It only took about 15-20 minutes before they came and got me. Ian said, "I was really tired so I took a nap. Is my back test all done?" Mission accomplished!
He was offered a sprite as well as his choice of Teddy Grahams, fruit roll ups, and goldfish. He chose all three- can't say I blame him. I would have too and I wasn't fasting:)
I didn't know how he would be feeling on Christmas day because he is usually wiped out for a few days following his treatments. Aside from being a little paler than usual with dark circles under his eyes, he did really well. I don't know if he was going off Christmas adrenaline or not but he definitely enjoyed Christmas day (more on that to come in a following post).
We had to return on Wednesday the 23rd so that they could give him some drugs to knock him out. I always get nervous about them putting him under; it wasn't general anethesia but it was with propophyl. Why does that drug sound familiar you may ask? It got a lot of publicity these past few months being Michael Jackson's former drug of choice. Not exactly the connection that you want to come to mind, but being the worrier I am, I just can't help myself:) Once again, he had to fast and we were the last appointment of the day at 3:30. I had to get pretty creative to keep him from realizing how hungry he was.
They actually had us be at the hospital at 12:30 in case there was a cancellation or an earlier opening but unfortunately that wasn't the case. We had fun playing by doing more crafts, puzzles, and board games. While we were waiting, Ian was given a stocking full of toys, crayons, coloring books, etc. He was so excited about it and it served as a great time killer. So many people are so wonderful and thoughtful bringing things for the children at the hospital especially around Christmas. Thank you to all of you; you know who you are!
After playing for three hours, we went into the room where the anesthesiologist would be and he chased and popped bubbles for a good 15 minutes. Since he already had a needle in his port from the day before, they gave him the medicine and he was out in about 3 seconds. I was escorted to another room where I had to wait for Ian to wake up. It only took about 15-20 minutes before they came and got me. Ian said, "I was really tired so I took a nap. Is my back test all done?" Mission accomplished!
He was offered a sprite as well as his choice of Teddy Grahams, fruit roll ups, and goldfish. He chose all three- can't say I blame him. I would have too and I wasn't fasting:)
I didn't know how he would be feeling on Christmas day because he is usually wiped out for a few days following his treatments. Aside from being a little paler than usual with dark circles under his eyes, he did really well. I don't know if he was going off Christmas adrenaline or not but he definitely enjoyed Christmas day (more on that to come in a following post).
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