Spring Break - A Whole New Meaning!

This is going to be a long post, and it will be be a bit graphic. Such is the nature of what happened to our little Miri on March 20. She started off her Spring Break in a very tough way.

She was playing Frisbee with her sister, and she happened to lose her balance and fall just the right (wrong!) way off the retaining wall in the back yard.

She broke her arm - very badly. Mommy was on her way home from work, and Daddy called 911 to get help from the paramedics. It was gruesome and unbearably painful.

After some very tearful statements in the yard before the paramedics arrived (more on this later), she was amazingly brave and strong in the ER. The pain medication helped immensely, of course.

As a family, last weekend we saw the newly released Cinderella movie (and despite mommy's princess avoidance thing, I actually recommend this live action version). There's a very strong message throughout the movie of "Have courage and be kind." I reminded Miri of this when she was dealing with this awful situation, and she would put on a little smile and nod her head and press on. She was amazing to handle this as she did. The staff was very impressed. She also maintained her manners (somehow), remembering her pleases and thankyous. I can't say that I would have done the same thing!

I think her Gramma Patty was giving her strength too - she was a very strong person and put up with a lot in hospitals and recovery. Miri surely got some of that toughness from her.

The x-ray of the arm. Even a non-medically trained eye can tell this is not right!

She had emergency surgery that night to insert 3 pins to hold her arm back together.

Can you imagine??

She and Mommy spent the night in the hospital. Daddy and Aleaha came to visit that night and stayed as late as possible. (Note the little brown stuffed animals on the bed - that was a beaver the hospital staff gave her, and when she emerged from surgery he was wearing a scrubs cap and had his right arm bandaged, just like hers. She was awed by that!)

She was asking in the ER what her hospital room would look like. She was afraid it would be too big. (Ha - it was not!) The ER nurse explained it would not be too big, and she would have a nice view. So we took a picture for the scrapbook.

The next day, as she began her recovery at home, the flowers and balloons and gifts started rolling in. We are so grateful to family and friends who have helped her get well again!

Her sister is a very important helper in all ways - fetching, entertaining, and generally watching out for her.

Thank heavens for the strong pain medication.

What a difference that makes!

And BearCat has been an important part of the recovery process too. He sleeps at her feet each night.

Doing a fancy stick-on nail project.

It turned out to be completely a flop and very impractical, but it was 10 minutes of fun.

They also worked together to stamp out some thank-you cards. Aleaha wrote on the inside and Miri stamped the outside.

Since the chores never end around here, she proved very good at helping to match socks...

...until the meds made her sleepy again.

She insisted on helping with the Lemon Snow Bars (baking is always a great way to take your mind off things - we've been making something every day).

So she had a little fun with that project.

She is doing lots of things with her left hand.

For the record, Mommy did not "make" her vacuum -- she insisted! She was frustrated at not being able to help, so we set her up for success with a lightweight vacuum cleaner.

It's been quite an ordeal for her. And as her family to support her, it's also been a little hard - although she is the one to get all the points for being tough. 

As she laid on the ground right after the fall, screaming, moaning, and crying huge tears of pain, she started to get a little scared. 

"I don't want to die, Mommy!" 

OMG, my baby! What an awful thing for a 5 year old to think about! I tried to keep myself calm and relay that to her too. "No, sweetie, you don't need to worry about that. It's going to be OK." And of course as her mother I was praying the whole time and worrying about infections and things I don't even know might go wrong that would take her away from us.

Having heard everyone say "she broke her arm," her mind went a little far on this idea: 

"I don't want my arm to break off, Mommy!"

"Heavens, no, honey, we aren't going to let that happen! The paramedics will help you and move you very slowly and carefully!"

She did still maintain her sense of person. Her specialness. Her way of communicating. In the ambulance on the way to the ER, she said,

"Mommy, do you know that this is my ART ARM? It's also the one I write with. And eat with. Mommy!!!! What will I do??"

"Yes, honey, I understand. But you won't need to worry, because I'm sure everyone will help you and you will figure things out, and it won't be forever."

In the ER, she took note of a remark one of the staff made about what she was enduring: 

"That boy said I had the most courage ever and I was the bravest kid he knew!"

Before surgery, realizing that she was going to be in the hospital overnight, she said,

"Mommy, I don't think we should leave Daddy and Aleaha home alone tonight."

A couple of days later, reflecting on everything:

"Mommy, I’m sorry if I freaked you out by saying I didn’t want to die. I was just really scared."

In the middle of the night, as we struggled to get her next med dose in her while the previous dose wore off: 

"Mommy, can I just say this one time? It hurts like hell!"

In a rough moment in recovery at home,

"I don't ever want any of my family to have to get a broken arm. It's really bad!"

As the days went on and she began to make things and was even writing with her left hand, getting a bit angry at times if we tried to help her: 

“But I can DO it!”

While putting on a fresh tank top, something easily slipped over her huge cast, and liking one constructed like a camisole with adjustable shoulder straps:

“Mommy! Mommy! I like that one the best! The one with the little boob holders!” 

Ah yes. She's still in there, despite dealing with this. She's still our Miri!