60 Katie Go Boom

I put the waterslide up for one last hurrah before it got packed away on Thursday. BAD IDEA! Not 15 minutes later I heard the most horrible screech. I looked up to see Katie hurrying to me with her arm DANGLING!! and I screamed even louder! It was one of those screams you hear in the movies, blood curdling and absolutely distraught! I did not know what to do first. I dialed 911. Our crappy phones have been giving us fits, and they did not make this experience any better. I had Connor on one hip screaming because he knew something was wrong. And of course Katie was crying, though she really was very strong and brave ... I would have been inconsolable, but she was pretty calm considering. Well, the 911 operator said she could not hear for static, then my phone started to beep which it does before it loses signal, so I had to run inside to the wall phone. I had to leave Katie sitting on the deck stairs. Once I got the information (totally garbled I am sure because I was scared out of my mind) to the operator I was able to put the phone down and go get Katie. Orwin came over to sit with Connor (who was still freaking out) while I got Katie in the ambulance ... which did come very fast! The EMTs were fabulous. They were very nice and gentle with Katie. I tried to tell Katie how brave she was being, but she got very agitated about the word "brave". I could not leave Connor, so I had to follow the ambulance. All this time I was thinking that she had dislocated her elbow. After we got to LeBonheur and they had her x-rayed we saw how bad it was. The bone was snapped in two! It was totally separated, directly above her right elbow. She had to have surgery to get it set and in a cast, she also has two pins to hold it in place. She picked out a blue cast, her new favorite color! Katie really was such a brave girl through this.

So, now that I read through this I see that I have not said what happened. One of the other little girls slipped and either pushed or pulled Katie somehow. Katie went right over the wall on the slide. From the look of her break she must have tried to catch herself. She fell from about 5 to 6 feet up. I am just so thankful that it was not worse! The day of her party Katie tumbled over the same side, but she did not get hurt. One of the other girls tumbled over the wall on the other slide without getting hurt. I know this girl did not mean for Katie to get hurt, but Katie is still mad at her. She probably will be until she starts to feel better. I hope she does get past it, but Katie has been known to have a stubborn streak and a long long memory.

DO NOT BUY THIS SLIDE!!! It was from Sam's Club and will be going back as soon as we can get it boxed back up.

Connor was awesome through this whole experience. He is such a good baby! I don't know how I would have survived this if he was as high strung as Katie was at that age. Chip was there for some of it, but he was not there for the first 5 hours because he worked until we found out she was going to have surgery, and he left twice to go pick up food and supplies. I should have done the pick up run though. Chip somehow did not get her box of test strips in the bag ... and Katie asked for her square Hannah Montana lipgloss. He brough back a square container that had lipgloss and she freaked out. The second time he came back with a Hannah Montana microphone shaped lipgloss ... and she freaked out. I tried to explain to her that he is a boy, and boys don't wear make-up so he did not know ... but she was not convinced!

And I did not have a camera. In two runs he did not bring it back. I did not ask for it, but you would think he would know by now that I NEED MY CAMERA.

When we woke up Saturday morning Katie refused to take her pain medicine. She said it made her feel weird. They sent us home with a prescription for Loritab. All day Saturday it was like Katie was in detox. She had mood swings, totally irrational behavior. She had crying jags that she could not explain. When I asked if her arm hurt she said yes, but not as bad as her head!!! She won't even take Tylenol because she is afraid it will make her feel the same way. She totally won't believe us when we tell her it won't.

She is one strong little girl!! She is smiling and playing with her friend Mia right now. She still won't get off the couch, but she is being entertained. We have also been trying to draw and color with our left hand. Anything to keep her occupied. She has had a fairly steady stream of friends through the house. A bunch of them have made little cards for her. I just hope they don't become bored with her as the weeks go by. The doctor said that it should only take 3-4 weeks before her pins can come out, and hopefully they will not have to re-wrap her after that. Six year olds heal fast.