The Crowning Glory

What could complete a lovely vacation except a trip to the emergency room?

On Friday evening, about 5:30 pm, we heard a loud THUMP! come from the back bedroom. Then a wail that could raise the dead.

When I got to the bedroom, Vivian came out and simply said, "Emma needs you." Clearly.

I stepped inside and saw Emma Grace on the ground holding her left arm and screaming.

When I got her calmed down, she said she fell off the bunkbed and rolled over her arm. It looked swollen, so we got some ice and moved her to the extra twin bed int he same room. At first, she said she needed to go to the doctor, but that tune quickly changed when I suggested that it may be necessary. At that point we moved to, "I want my daaaaaddy. I don't like it here. I want to go home. NOW!"

I adopted a wait-and-see attitude, but I was leaning toward taking her to the ER just to rule out a fracture. We went ahead and ate dinner, and I packed our clothes (we were leaving Estes Park in the morning). We left for the ER around 7 pm or so.

The ER was great. Waiting isn't great, but the people did a wonderful job of communicating to us and making Emma Grace feel at ease. We did x-rays and found that she had a "green stick" break to the radius. That just means that it broke but not all the way through. They put a neat splint on it, gave us a prescription for Tylenol 3 and sent us home.

After the ER, we went to McDonald's for ice cream before heading back to the cabin.

Once we got home (to Katy 3 days later) we checked in with our doctor who sent us to an orthopedist for a cast. Boy, have things changed since I broke MY arm! The cast is completely submersible. In fact we were encouraged to get it wet. Her cast is bright pink fiber-glass -- no boring, heavy, white plaster. The liner is made of GORE-TEX, so it sheds water. After a bath or an afternoon of swimming she just tilts her arm down and the water drips off her fingertips. Of course it isn't completely dry for another 30 min. or so. It won't smell, either, since the lining doesn't absorb sweat and grow the bacteria that stink. This is really cool. Thank you 3M !

No gymnastics or swim lessons until the cast comes off. The only thing I don't know about is horseback riding and other OT activities. I forgot to ask specifically about that, and she's scheduled to do horse camp in a couple of weeks. I know that Fritzi can accommodate her with other activities, but Emm will want to ride. She's never fallen, but there's always a first time!