Six

It took six days of owning a trampoline to regret owning a trampoline.   Dan and Alice set it up last Friday night and the kids were thrilled.  They have bounced on it every day.   Just yesterday afternoon I put the "thank you" note in the mail to our friend who gave us the trampoline last week.   And a mere 90 minutes after putting that note in the mailbox, Alice screamed and Henry came running for me.

I was inside putting away towels and sunblock from our beach outing.  As soon as I ran outside and saw her laying on the trampoline, I knew it was bad.   Her right ankle was already starting to swell when I carried her inside.  A call to the doctor and before I knew it, I was leaving Henry at home waiting for a friend to come pick him up (thank you! - just had to be the one night that Dan was at a meeting in Seattle) and rushing to the ER with my little girl.

I didn't take a photo of the swollen ankle.  Suffice it to say, every nurse, every PA, every intake coordinator in the emergency room made an audible gasp when they saw it.  X-rays confirmed that she fractured her ankle.

She's now in a boot cast and can put no weight on it for six days (six days - how ironic is that?) when we see Alice's pediatrician for an evaluation.  She'll most likely be in the boot cast, with crutches, for four to six (six!) weeks.

She was so brave.  After the initial scream at home, she didn't cry once, she answered the doctor's questions, and tried her very best to stay upbeat through the whole ordeal.   She was even excited to see the awesome "gription" (that's Henry's word for grip-traction) on her boot cast.  Her only real concern is that she doesn't want to be in a cast for the first day of school - but I don't think there's a way around that.

She slept pretty good last night.  On the other hand, I was awake thinking of all this will mean to our lives over the coming weeks.   I, too, am sad she has to start off the school year like this.  I'm sure it will be difficult for her to watch her new friends running around at recess, no PE, she won't be able to ride the bus which she loves, no biking/hiking/boating for the rest of the season, and we'll most likely have to cancel our camping trip next weekend.  This is what happens when I'm awake at 3am!  But as soon as she wakes up this morning, I'm going to focus on getting through this with a positive attitude and making sure she knows that we'll just figure it out together.

She can't put any weight on it for six days.  And just when I thought she was getting too heavy for me to lift and carry anymore - turns out I'm capable of all sorts of things!  Last night, I managed carrying her across the hospital parking lot, in the house, up the stairs, and more.  My new workout routine.

I'm sure it will all be much easier when she can use crutches and put some weight on her foot next week.

Lots of calls to make today: I have to make an appointment with her pediatrician for next week so we can re-evaluate where she's at; have to call the pharmacy and see about renting crutches; and I want to call the principal of her school to discuss the implications of her being on crutches and making it around school next week.   We'll get through this together.