Our Broken Allynn

The day started out well. We all got up on time and were ready for school early. We were able to read all of Enos and say our family prayer. I had almost all of the laundry washed and folded. Kelsey and Renni had been fed and were in their quiet time spots - Renni asleep in her bed, Kelsey watching a cartoon with The Dad. I had one assignment for school done and was half way through the research part of the second assignment when I got a call from the school.

The voice on the other end of the phone told me his name and I knew it was the school nurse. He told me Allynn had an incident at school and that I needed to come get her. I must admit - the first thing that came to my mind was that she got in a fight and was in big trouble. I think because the nurse used the word incident. Anyway - I got to school and her teacher met me at the door with a very panicked look on her face. I finally made it to the nurses office where another teacher was there along with the nurse and the principal huddled around Allynn who was hunched over on herself holding her arm. This was about 2:30 pm.

As I was driving her home, we assessed the pain and decided we needed to go straight to Urgent Care. I stopped by home first to give her some Advil since I didn't know how long it would take for her to be seen by a doctor. My thought process for going to Urgent Care was they would cost less and be quicker than going to the ER. They were just that. We walked in and waited about 15 minutes before we saw the doctor. He sent us right over to get X-rays, but he could tell by looking at it that the arm was broken and that we would probably need an Orthopedic Surgeon to reduce it (set the bone). After getting the X-ray, even I could see the break. Sure enough, we were sent back to Urgent Care where that doctor was able to get a hold of the on call Orthopedic Surgeon. Then we were sent to check out and moved along to the ER where it felt like we started over.

Once we were past the reception desk in the ER, the nurse who came to get us was ready and so was the doctor so they moved pretty quickly. The Orthopedic Surgeon chatted with us for a few minutes while Allynn was hooked up to an IV so they could give her a sedative that put her out while they worked on her arm. I was very interested to watch the process, but I was asked to leave and I have decided I am OK with that.

We finally made it home 6 1/2 hours later at 9:00 pm, and she is much happier than when it all started. She was very brave! She will have a long cast which goes up her arm past her elbow for three weeks, and then she will need a short cast for three more weeks.

I have learned that broken bones need to go to the ER to be taken care of even though the Urgent Care people were very nice and helpful.