Deja vu? You are wondering "What happened?" and I'm wondering "How did that happen?"You may recall that on Thursday, August 23rd Amanda fell off a skateboard and dislocated her elbow. You can read about it now if you did not already know, but we went to the ER, had it set and then went home. After it was set, there was not much pain. Three weeks later, we saw a specialist who took the splint off, said another six weeks of no limited activity (no monkey bars, skateboards, biking, etc) and we were good to go.
So on Monday, with a week to go on the forbidden activities, I asked Amanda if she would like to go for a bike ride. After all, I reasoned, we've never had a big bike crash.
By this time, anybody reading this post knows what happened. We had been riding a little over 5 miles and were on our way home when Amanda decided to race. I saw the sharp turn coming up in the sidewalk and was about to caution "slow down"...but it was too late. She wiped out and skidded along the sidewalk. I knew she was gonna be scratched up, but my first thought was "at least her elbow will be OK."
As soon as the bike stopped, Amanda jumped up and yelled something that hit me right in the gut, hard..."Daddy, my elbow." I ran over to her and told her it would be OK. I then asked her to move the elbow and she said she couldn't. She cried and held it like she did before. And the flood began..."how are we going to get home?" "why did I suggest bike riding?" "how are we going to pay for another visit to the ER?" (and then again) "why did I suggest bike riding?". Guilt, panic and fear. So I (very UNcalmly) called Brooke and said, "Get in the car and come pick us up by the new library. Amanda crashed on her bike and popped her elbow out of joint again."
When Brooke arrived, I was so worked up I could not get the bikes broken down enough to fit into the car. Amanda was crying, Brooke was upset and I was just freaking out. I don't usually freak out, but I was not handing it all very well.
We came home, dropped off the bikes, let Amanda change clothes (all dirty from wreck) and headed to the ER. We noticed that the elbow did not seem quite as bad as last time, but she was crying and in lots of pain. The wait at the ER was longer this time, and that was VERY hard. They took an x-ray (again, we noticed the pain in moving the arm for this did not seem as bad as last time) and then waited some more. I bet I paced 5 miles waiting for them to come give her something for the pain.
The ER doctor came to see us (same one from last time) and told us the good news that her elbow was sprained and not broken or dislocated. They put her in another splint and sling and sent us home with a prescription for Hydrocodone and orders to make another appointment with the specialist.
Guess what...after getting put into a splint, sprains are MUCH more painful than dislocations. After Amanda's dislocated elbow was set, she needed some Ibuprofen that night and once or twice the next day, but she was good to go. Not so this time. We were up all hours of the night Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday night. Amanda did not go to school Tuesday or Wednesday.
Last night, Thursday, Amanda was able to sleep through the night on the couch in my office. She is sleeping there now as I write this, and we are hoping to have another full night of sleep again tonight. Each day gets better. Thankfully.
Why, oh why, did I suggest bike riding?
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