The Best Laid Plans...

On Monday I took John and Aaron to Shriners in Philly. We met with three doctors and when I got home I sighed with relief. 

Aaron's next surgery will happen when his fixator starts to break down the skin. A month. Two. Until then we get a break.

No hospitals.

No distractions.

I can get some desperately needed work done.

Well the best laid plans of mice and men....

Yesterday Little Girl did a face plant into the floor and cut open her chin.

She cried hard.

Mary doesn't cry hard unless she is seriously hurt.

She refused food. For a child on Keto that's dangerous. She started tanking. Seizures piling on top of each other.

We began wondering, wondering if her jaw was fractured.

So off to the ER we went.

Okay. Valet parking at the ER has always been one of the nicest features of our hospital. I can pull up with a child who is in distress and they will go park my car for me.

UVA no longer has valet parking. COVID. Really? A medically falling apart child and I have to go park in the parking garage and walk back over. Carrying bags and holding on to a seizing child. 

Breathe. Bite tongue. One step at  time. Thankfully an orderly came with a wheelchair. Thankfully.

X-Rays. X-Rays again. Stitches. Rescue meds. Finally eating although with great care.

They sent us home with a pat on the back and thumbs up for clean X-Rays. No fracture.

This morning she had status. We chalked it up to the trauma of the last 24 hours. After she recovered, she ate but carefully. Guarding her jaw. 

We started breathing. Feeling a bit like we were over the worst.

Then the phone rang.

A resident error. The X-Rays showed fractures on both sides.

And so back we came. 

CT Scan and then waited.

All day.

UVA is a teaching hospital so one by one each resident from every department that is even remotely connected has to come in. Examine. Ask questions. Evaluate. Then leave.

Mary has been a rock star.

She did not complain, fight or even barely whimper last night when they put in the stitches. She didn't even throttle the doctor when the Novocain wore off and she was able to feel the needle stitching her skin together. She just grimaced and whimpered to let them know she could FEEL the stitches going through. 

She has not complained that her jaw hurts. 

She has not fussed about being stuck on a stretcher all day.

She has cooperated with all the X-Rays and CT scans.

She has been sweet to everyone coming in and prodding, poking and bothering her. All three thousand residents who have poured through the door.

And finally they are letting us go. No surgery for now. Praise the Lord.

Watch and see. Soft diet. Give it a week and see how she is doing.

Praise the Lord.

A long long day in the ER...

A tired little girl. Sore. Fragile. But homeward bound!