Ouch! That Hurt!

I got a call Sunday afternoon from C. She was pretty close to tears as she asked if I could come get her because she crashed her bike; would I take her to the hospital? I got in the car, thought better, and asked hubby to drive the truck so we could pick up the bike, too. We found her sitting in the grass looking pained. The bike lay on its side in a church's driveway where she had turned to take a shortcut to her aunt's house. One of her flip-flops lay beside the bike. She rues the day when she ever rode her bike with those unsupportive contraptions masquerading as 'shoes.' She blames the outcome on them as well as on the bike's tire going along the driveway's edge instead of going over it.

Well, we took her to the emergency room. We checked in at the window. They called us to a second window. Sent us around to the actual registration window. This part of the process took about two hours. Finally they took her to get x-rays and then to a 'room' where she would be seen by the doctor on call. I think he was a resident but I'm not sure. He didn't have the name of the on-call doctor. He was very kind, but obviously harried.

He told C that she had a broken toe. The middle joint of the toe next to the big toe of her right foot. Oh. He said they would tape that toe to the next toe for support, give a surgical shoe, and if she needed crutches she could have those, too. Nobody casts toes. Did you know that?

The sign-out nurse came in. She never smiled. She put on one of those stretchy knit things that wound up looking like a sock even though it had been open on both ends. Then she put on the shoe. She never smiled at C, nor empathized with the wincing grimace on her face because the nurse's method wasn't gentle and it hurt. She told her she could walk and since the instructions had been signed and given to me, she was free to go. No crutches. Don't need them. She said.

Well. C went out of there in the wheel chair she'd been in since she arrived. Grumbling. Murmuring. She said, "I can NOT stand on my foot, let alone walk on it!"

So much for emergency rooms... We left there after three-and-a-half hours!!!!!!!

On Tuesday, we had an appointment at the orthopedic office. They were very nice. The woman who took us back was exceptionally empathetic and talked to both of us like we were people with feelings. The doctor came in with the x-rays, put one of them on the light box, and said to C that the bad news was that she didn't have one broken toe -- she had four broken toes. He pointed out where they were broken and, sure enough, I could see it in three of the toes easily and had to study that fourth toe in order to see what was easy for him to see.

Goes to show there's a big difference between emergency room x-ray readers and the orthopedic surgeons who work with broken bones all the time.

He put lamb's wool between each of the toes, wrapped some tape around them and told her to stay off the foot as much as possible, use ice on for 20 minutes during the first day or so, feel free to use the crutches, and keep the foot propped up when sitting. Dr. C. was a gem. Kind, empathetic, smiled a lot, shook hands, and talked to C because she was the patient and needed to feel good about something. They'll take another x-ray in three weeks so we'll see how it's healing.

I have to say this about C. She has been a gem. She feels really stupid for having an accident that caused her toes to break. She said when she got up her toes were bent at a right angle to her foot and three of them were numb. All four of the toes and a good portion of the foot was bruised. You just knew by looking that it hurt. But you know what? She gets around the house like a trooper. Up and down the stairs to use the bathroom, go to bed. She doesn't complain about it. She asks for help when she finds something tough or impossible to do. She's said to me, 'Mom, you're awesome! Thanks for being thoughtful with me.' So I told her she was thoughtful so often that what goes around, comes around.

She would like to carry her dishes to the kitchen, but it just doesn't work with crutches. She asked if we could change her sheets and she did what she could to help. She supervised while I put the laundry away and swept her floor. It makes me care for her more because I need to serve her more than normal. She's not quite so independent as she's been all summer, so it's made her more humble. She needs me more. I'm happy to help. I'm aware that she wants to do as much as possible herself and tell her to let me know when I do too much or she needs me to do more.

I figure we've both been blessed in ways neither of us would have imagined a mere six days ago.

Doesn't it remind us once again that life is fragile and in an instant can be changed... sometimes for a while... sometimes forever. We ought to be very reverent about this life that our Heavenly Father entrusted to us... and love the people we care about... who knows when one instant can change everything...