That photo above? That's a photo of my 3 year old daughter's x-ray. It was taken today at the office of a pediatric orthopedic surgeon.
My poor baby girl broke her leg Monday. I don't know exactly how, which leaves me feeling an overwhelming amount of guilt.
She was playing in her room when she started to scream. I ran in and she was on the floor, holding her leg.
Knowing my girl, I'm pretty sure she was jumping off her bed onto the floor and landed wrong.
Her fracture, as you can see in the photo, is a spiral fracture. That means it spirals around the bone because her leg twisted forcefully enough to cause a break.
The top arrow is where the break starts...the little crack there.
From that spot it spirals around to the back of the bone, then comes back around the front, where the second arrow is.
The break then comes down the front of the bone, ending at the third arrow.
It's basically fractured from mid-shin to just above the ankle.
And so, my poor girl has to wear a full leg cast.
She chose purple.
She'll have to wear this cast for three weeks, then it comes off and we get more X-rays. If they look good, we can go home happy.
If not, or if she's still in pain, she goes back into a cast--but it will probably be a half-leg cast, which means she'll be able to bend her knee and walk on it.
That's the most difficult thing so far. Not being able to walk and not being able to straighten her leg or foot.
The break HAS to heal in the position they put her leg in...knee bent, foot flexed. Can you imagine being kept in that one position for THREE WEEKS??
During the day, she's a trooper. I keep her busy with video games (don't judge me! :P), TV, computer games, arts and crafts and toys.
But bedtime is rough.
She can't get comfortable, she tries to get her fingers under her cast, she pulls and tugs at it and she cries and cries.
She begs me to take it off and she doesn't understand why I can't. We were both in tears tonight.
It breaks my heart that I can't fix this. I would give anything to take this from her.
So, now you see that I've had a week from hell. First the news about Neil hitting the media, and now my sweetheart breaking her leg.
So, I hope you can forgive me if I'm a bit scarce. I promise to post more as she adjusts to life in the cast.
Have any of you dealt with small kids and broken bones? I'd love to hear how you managed...advice is most welcome!
I hope your daughter gets better soon. It's very hard to see someone you love in pain.
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