Another Break

*Sigh*

2 broken bones before the age of 3.

That's right. You read that right. Brenna has another broken bone. Last time was her arm two Christmas's ago. This time, her leg. Right leg.

Let me go back a bit to explain. Last weekend (10 days ago!), you might remember me posting here about our trip to Urgent Care. So, yes. It all starts there. The girls were playing on the trampoline, fell on each other or around each other or whatever. Brenna screamed and couldn't walk or put any kind of pressure on her leg. I KNEW it was broken. I just knew it. So, we rush her to Urgent Care. Brenna was adamant and very consistent that her leg was hurting just above her right knee. So they did the X-ray from her knee to her hip. We were told it was not broken. That it was swollen and was probably just a really badly bruised bone (a contusion, to be more technical). They sent us home with a "prescription" for tylenol/ibuprofen.

She didn't walk at all for 2 days. Then she started walking, but was hobbling around. And very frequently her leg would just buckle underneath her and she would fall, leading to many scratches, cuts, bruises, etc. So after 7 days of this, I decide she needs to be seen again. This isn't right. Its not getting better. I call our PCP - their office closed at noon on Friday. So, I called her pediatrician. They refuse to make an appointment for her without me talking to a nurse first to 'squeeze her in'. So I left a message for the nurse at 1pm. At 4:15pm, she calls me back and says they don't see "those kind of patients" after 3pm. "Those kind of patients" meaning injuries. Well, you know...if you had called me back at 1 or 1:30...but not after 4! Ugh... So when all else fails, we head back up to Urgent Care.

We had noticed that her ankle was bruised now as well. We weren't sure if this was from the initial injury a week ago or if this was from one of the many falls she's had since because of her leg buckling. So this time, they X-rayed her knee to her hip again to double check. And they then X-rayed her knee to her foot as well to check the lower half of her leg and ankle. Again, the doctor tells us...her leg is not broken anywhere. Diagnosis? A bad ankle sprain. Give it another 7-10 days. Sent home with a "prescription" for her to wear sturdy tennis shoes. This was Friday evening, a little after 5p.

Monday morning, Spring Break is over, the kids go back to school. Brenna's still limping, but is running around the best she can, is still falling occasionally, but we thought we had her checked out as thorough as we could. I pick the kids up from school on Monday, get home and there is a message on my answering machine from the radiologist's office at Urgent Care following up and with a request for me to call them back. They called at 12pm. On Monday. I returned their call, promptly by 12:30 and she starts telling me about how normally the radiologists look at X-rays the same day or the very next day if its late, but since this was on a Friday, the radiologist didn't see Brenna's X-ray until Monday...yada yada yada.. My first thought of them just calling to 'follow up' was quickly changing, thinking, 'why is she telling me all of this?'....'oh, she's fixing to give me some bad news.'

And yes, her next words were that the radiologist confirmed that Brenna's leg was indeed broken. All the preface was part of the CYA. She tells me that her tibia bone has a "hairline buckle fracture just below the knee". And that we needed to be referred to an orthopedic specialist. And so she refers us to the same one that fixed her broken arm a year and a half ago.

Now, here's where I start getting royally ticked off. First off, my baby girl has been walking...er, hobbling around on a broken leg for 10 freaking days! Has had a total of 6 X-rays on 2 different occasions with 2 different doctors saying her leg is not broken. I knew it was. I KNEW it was. But how do you argue with someone who takes an Xray and says everything is fine? But I set all this aside for the moment while I try to contact the orthopedic dr's office to get her in. They first tell me, "oh, we can get her in on Friday" FRIDAY?! What the heck? She has a broken leg!! And has been walking around on it for 10 days already! I am not waiting one more day. Um, no. So after my reaction, the receptionist says she will have the nurse call me. I feel like the same thing is happening as before. No one being willing to see us!

Brad's mom comes over in the midst of all this hearing the news from Brad, after I am texting him like crazy since he's in court. She's livid as well. She calls the dr's office, to be told that they were all in clinicals and would call me back ASAP. So, I wait. And wait. I let Brenna nap. I cry. For my poor sweet baby. Who hasn't cried at all. Who is trying to get along. Who has been hobbling and falling and stumbling.

Anyway, I wait some more. I had decided that if they did not call me back by the time Brenna woke up from her nap, I was just going to drive her up there no matter what. Then Brad called the office too. Said some of the same things, but a little more forceful maybe? I dunno. Anyway, about 30 minutes later (nearly 3pm) they call me back and ask me to have her there within the next 30 minutes. Done. So I go wake her up, and because I know what's coming... I give her a shower and put her in a playdress only.

We head up, wait in the waiting room for a while. Talked to the dr. He did another X-ray, this time from the thigh to the foot, more centralizing in on the break area this time.

After looking at this X-ray, he comes back in and tells us that she does have a "hairline buckle fracture". (notice the little dent in the top of her bone in the above picture?) That it will heal on its own (as in, no surgery or pins are needed). That she luckily hasn't done any more damage to it by walking on it the last week and a half. That if she was an adult, he'd put her in a boot and crutches and tell her not to walk on it. But being that she is 2, that won't work, so she needed a cast. For 6 weeks. But then he changes it and says, well, since it's already been over a week, she can get it off after 5. The cast will go from her toes past her knee to her thigh to keep it all immobile while it heals. He was really great with her. He checked her all over thoroughly and tried to play devil's advocate a little bit with regard to the previous dr's, saying that the break was a little hard to see. It didn't show up at all on the first X-ray since they did from the knee up. And that on the second set, since they centered it on the lower leg/ankle area, the break did show up but was at the very top of the X-ray and could go unnoticed. Yea... whatever.

Here she is in the casting room waiting for the doctor, in great spirits the entire time!

So, she went potty before getting her cast on. She picked out pink, of course. And she was an absolute CHAMP! Inspiring, actually. She just sat there for the initial wrapping. Then they had her lay down to do the casting and she just laid there. They took a long time to do it, making sure her foot was in the right position and all for whatever bit of walking she will be able to do. She had to lay there perfectly still for so long it seemed. She didn't cry. She just laid there. In fact, most of the time she was smiling and talking. She is my amazing little girl. Who takes all things in stride. What a remarkable little person.

Now, she didn't walk out of there. They gave her a special little Velcro shoe-like thing to wear on the bottom so she can walk, specifically outside, to keep it from getting dirty. But its a learning process - learning the new way to walk.

But she was in great spirits the rest of the evening. Brooke was there and was actually more scared during the casting that Brenna was, but helped her walk some when we got home.

And she wrote Brenna this sweet note, in the shape of an upside down cast, nonetheless. It says "I love you. I hope your leg gits bettr. Love Brooke and Mommy and Daddy" And then a picture of our family with Brenna with a cast on her leg.

Of course, we had to paint her toes a pretty bright pink to match her cast!

Pottying was difficult and she got real grumpy close to bedtime. So much so, we ended up letting her stay in bed with us all night, which meant I didn't get a lot of sleep. And she was restless. But ok. She insisted on going to school today. And did great at school. By the end of the school day she was walking ok on her own, holding on to things and with little help. She pottied well at school (the hard part is having to sit on her cast on the toilet seat. And this is by far our biggest challenge so far with the cast).

During playground time, her teacher bagged the bottom of her leg to keep it clean (I went and got a bigger 'shoe' for it cuz the other just wasn't cutting it, so we'll try that tomorrow). And she got tired pretty easily and only complained a bit about her back hurting (I can imagine it does..her legs are now uneven, plus the cast is heavy!). So I got her stroller out and she loved getting pampered by all her friends at school.

We got home from school today and with the help of a little M&M reward, she pottied ok again. (I think its just getting used to it) And she napped well.

Now I'll be out looking for some play dresses and some sort of baggy pants to wear when she is outside. But otherwise, I cannot express enough how awesome she is handling this all. She is such a great sport. If this was any other kid, I know there would be mass complaints. But Brenna is totally fine and all smiles. We have 5 weeks to deal with it. And we'll get through it. But lucky enough for her she will get it off just before Easter and just before her birthday. My super sweet, easy going Brenna. I am so sorry she had to walk on this for so long going undiagnosed (all of Spring Break! The trip to Blue Bell, the trip to the zoo...all of that time, on a broken leg. :( Awful, just awful.) I feel so horrible for her and the pain she must've been in. But she is so strong, even at such a young age. I only admire her for being so great. :)