Mikaela is currently spending the night in hospital, Chris on a foldout bed beside her. She had surgery at 11:30pm.
A few weeks ago Mikaela was reminiscing about her last hospital trip, when she burnt her arm. "They brought me dinner," she said, "and I shared it with Liam, didn't I?"
But last time she didn't get to stay over night, so, she told me, next time she would like to. In fact, could I organise it for her for that week please? She'd like to stay for a few days. No, a week. "But you or Daddy would still be able to come and read to me before bedtime, wouldn't you?"
Well, somehow I don't think this is what she had in mind when she decided to stand on her bike yesterday, to reach up to the wind-chimes above our deck. And when the bike moved and she came tumbling down, to land, smack!, on her right elbow, the joy of getting to spend a night in hospital (nil by mouth too!), was definitely not uppermost in her mind.
Kaely and I spent most of yesterday afternoon at accident & emergency, waiting in a boring corridor (no books, no TVs and definitely no dinner) for X-rays and doctor consultations.
We finally got into a bed in the pediatric ward of A&E around 6:30, after a consult with the orthopedic surgeon had confirmed that she would be having surgery, and she'd had a half cast put on her arm and a proper sling fitted (they'd put a sling on her in the initial consult in Emergency, but with all the people checking her and the X-rays it wasn't in very hood shape by the end). Just getting the sling on right made a huge difference to how she felt. On the other hand listening to the orthopedic surgeon say they'd almost certainly put two pins in her arm, which she interpreted as needles (I found out later), had not made her happy at all!
About an hour after we got the bed in A&E they got her a bed up in the pediatric ward of the main hospital, so just before the end of A Bug's Life, she got to go for a ride on her bed. Chris had just arrived with Liam & Eliane to do the swap over (we judged that Mikaela would be fine with Chris overnight - that's who she usually wants in the night anyway - whereas Elli wouldn't), so Liam got to ride along with Mikaela, which they both loved.
When she first had the accident at home Mikaela cried and cried. I could tell by the sounds she made as she landed that this was no minor incident, but at the same time I wasn't sure whether it was fright or pain that drove the scream. And, she can be quite the little drama queen, so once I had her up on the couch it wasn't completely clear how serious it was, but I did suspect her arm might be broken pretty much straight away. I just didn't expect that to mean surgery!
I think she was a little freaked by how much it hurt whenever she moved initially, panicked that she couldn't even make herself stand up. But once we were at the hospital and she'd had the initial sling put on (before all the taking it on and off had ruined the effect) she started to feel okay, and in fact was hard to keep from climbing the walls while we waited in the corridor between consults and X-rays. So much so that I began to think it was probably nothing after all, until she had the X-ray.
For those who like such details, the break was horizontally (transverse) across the medial epicondyle of the humerous (that is, just above the elbow), about half way across the bone, with some separation and a bit of a tilt, which is why they wanted to operate. It didn't affect the vascular or nervous supply, but was very close to the ulna nerve, for which reason the head honcho was in on the surgery as well as the registrar.
Chris kept me updated via text last night, do I knew when she finally went into surgery at nearly half past eleven, and when the doctors came out and said it had all gone well. The last thing I heard was at 12:40am:
"We're back in the ward. Her arm's a little sore and she's feeling a little nauseous, but she's doing well overall."
It's now nearly 6:30, and I've been up with Eliane for an hour and a half (I'm writing this on my phone). She's finally just about settled, but there's no point in me going back to bed now, it's a school day for Liam.
I doubt the hospital routine will allow for much of a sleep in for Chris either. I wonder how soon I can expect an update?
