Broken Femur

Our poor Hallie! If you haven't heard, she has a broken femur bone.

As for the details, we were shopping with Lis and Bobby at IKEA, I had stuff hooked to the handlebar of the stroller (please don't ever do this! I hope I have learned this lesson for others!) And while taking the kids out of the stroller (and forgetting that things were attached to the handlebar) the stroller tipped backwards. I was holding Hallie, but somehow her foot or leg got tangled up in the stroller, we are still not really sure what happened because it happened so quickly and she was not noticeably tangled up anywhere.

Lis and Bobby took Micah and I followed the GPS to the closest hospital, which landed me at probably one of the trashiest hospitals in the DC area- Prince George's Medical Center. (I hope there's not one trashier then this!) I'll try not to rant too much here, but I just have to assume there were other people in the waiting room who were sicker then Hallie. We waited for around 3 hours before she was actually seen by a doctor. This was all despite the fact that she was obviously in pain, crying saying 'ouch' from the moment we walked in the door. We even had several comments from others about the fact she was obviously hurting. So there's the extent of my rant, I could go on but I won't.

They determined that she had a spiral fracture of her right femur. Thankfully the bone is not displaced. They put a splint on her leg, and we were transferred to Children's Hospital in DC to see a pediatric orthopedic specialist. I am SO grateful we were transferred to this hospital, they were so great. From the instant the transport team arrived at the ER to get her they went above and beyond. They started an IV and gave Hallie her first pain medication since the whole ordeal began. They were concerned with not only how she was doing, but with how I was doing. Like I said above and beyond, I was the least of my worries. They came armed with a great stuffed animal for Hallie, which came from a great organization, the Allie's Friends Foundation. Seemingly not much, but she held on to that bear for 3 days straight.

They determined since it was not displaced that they would see how she did with a splint, so at this point no cast. We go in to the Doctor Tuesday to check her progress. They will determine at that point what needs to be done. We are praying that the splint will do it's job and allow her bone to heal fully and that she will not need a cast... this would mean a spica cast, which stretches the full length of the leg and includes both hips, not fun for anyone at any age, but especially not for an active toddler! She obviously is not able to walk on it, but has been an absolute trooper.

This happened Tue early afternoon, we were home by midnight Tue night and she has spent the a lot of time chilling on the couch and in bed with me. Not that you want this to happen really at any point, but to add to the ordeal Tyson was out of town for the week for work. Lis and Bobby also went way above and beyond (THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!) They haven't started "life" here yet :), just moved to the area, starting school and work in August, so they came and stayed with us and were are TREMENDOUS help with Micah and also with Hallie. I seriously don't think I could ever thank them enough.

Tyson returned home Friday evening and we are all so happy daddy is home. Hallie has been doing great, still in a good amount of pain. She has been relatively content to hang out on the couch, floor, or bed. We've ventured outside for a few walks and today actually just a few minutes ago, is the first time she has attempted to get up and walk... which is still a HUGE no-no! I take that as a good sign, her leg must be feeling a little better, but we may need to get a bit more creative with how to contain and entertain her!

We would all greatly appreciate your prayers for a quick recovery, my heart sinks to my stomach when I think about the things she won't be able to do during her recovery. I know we will find other great things to do, and I will put my Rec Therapy degree to good use, but simple things like running, going to the park, going swimming (she has been a total fish lately!), you know all the good stuff a toddler loves to do are not looking so hot for the rest of the summer.

I will attempt to get back to some regular posting, but will for sure post an update Tuesday after her appointment.