Yesterday was a gorgeous day. The sun was shining and the temp was great. It felt truly like the first day of spring. I walked to get Madison from school while Eric got some of the backyard stuff out. He hung the swings on the swing set and Kennedy was swinging away when I left. When I got home with Madison she hopped right on the swing too. The kids were enjoying the day. All of a sudden I heard Kennedy hit the ground hard right under the swing Madison was on. She hopped off her swing and started digging in the gravel right behind Madison's swing and it hit her....hard. She started crying and it takes a lot to get this girl to actually cry. Not only did she cry clearly in a lot of pain but she would not stop crying. I knew she was really hurt. Eric called her doctor's office and they said the clavicle is very easily broken and we could take her to the ER if we were worried about it. We gave it a little bit more time and when I realized it wasn't getting better I took her in. Eric and Madison wanted to go with me but he was giving her a bath and I didn't want to wait any longer so I took her in myself.
I wasn't quite prepared for the line of questioning. Apparently, when you take an injured child into the ER you are presumed guilty of harming them until proven innocent. I get why they do it but I don't know if I think they have to make the assumption before there is a reason for it. The triage nurse directed her questions to my 3 year old asking her what happened. She told her very clearly what happened. Then the nurse asked her if it was an accident, she told her it was. The nurse asked her if her sister felt bad about what she did. Thankfully Kennedy answered clearly that her sister felt bad and gave her a special gift (which she had). The nurse seemed satisfied that I hadn't beaten my child and then started directing questions to me. I felt a little sick to my stomach after that but didn't have much time to dwell on it since I was there to help Kennedy with her arm.
After that we got back into our room right away. I was so glad that there were only a few people in the waiting room. I thought we would get in and out quickly. No such luck. We were there for more than 3 hours and when we left the waiting room was PACKED. There is no way those people weren't there the entire night.
We escorted back to a room with several beds separated by curtains. Being there so long I got the full story on everyone else in the large room. To one side of us we had a lady who was detoxing from heroine and pain pills. On the other side of us was a women seeking drugs. I was just thankful there wasn't anyone puking up their lungs. Hours later when we finally got seen we got a really nice doctor (she may have been a Nurse Practitioner). She examined her and was torn on whether or not she thought there was a break. She thought there was pretty good movement, enough that she didn't think it was a major break. She said I could choose to get x-rays or wait a few days and see if she improves. I chose to not get the x-rays. I was hoping I wouldn't have to expose her to the radiation and really glad the doc gave me the option. The doc left and said she would send the nurse in with some Motrin for her. We waited another long while for that and Kennedy spit a mouthful of it out all over herself and told the nurse "I don't like it". I love that girl! The nurse and I talked to Kennedy explaining that it would help her arm and she agreed to try again. The nurse came back in with more. Kennedy took the tiniest little drink and said "I'm done". She eventually took it all. We got our discharge papers and headed to the (gasp) McDonald's drive thru for a Happy Meal. I can't even explain how proud I am of this girl for doing such a great job for such a long time. We had to get a bit creative in that little area. I now have a large, purple elephant with wings sleeping in my purse. It was the first time she laughed all night. She tried and spit out 3 different pieces of gum because she thought she might like the next piece even though she didn't like the first one or second one. We colored (although she was using her left hand) some pictures and watched the people in the hall (we opened our curtain to see out).
Aside from the fact that she was injured and feeling under suspicion at the ER I enjoyed much of my time with Kennedy yesterday. I actually got to hold her in the rocking chair with her sitting still (she never wants to do that) after she got hurt, she even fell asleep for a few minutes in my arm (hasn't happened in years and probably never will again), I got to spend a lot of one on one time with her talking, I got to feel needed by her (she's always so independent), I got to witness, in a different setting, what an incredibly amazing girl she is growing up to be. I can't wait for my quarter to be done in two weeks and spend more time with my girls. I miss and love them so much. Madison was so worried about her last night and kept asking Eric, "Is she EVER gonna get to see the doctor?" when I would call and give a report and let him know we were still waiting. She woke up this morning and drew her the cutest picture that said, "I Love Kennedy". I am so proud of her too and hope she doesn't feel bad about what happened. It was an accident and Kennedy was the one who walked behind her swing.
I have the most amazing kids, I am such a lucky lady!
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