Cartwheel catastrophe

Katelyn has been experimenting with cartwheels lately. She can do three or four of them in a row and is getting pretty good at them. So yesterday in aftercare at school, she decided to attempt a one handed cartwheel. This was not a good idea. Her aftercare teacher brought her to me and her wrist definitely did not look right. It had a very pronounced hump in it. She cried when she saw me, but that was about it for most of the evening. With the  help of some of my colleagues, we iced it down and put it in a sling and then off to Vanderbilt we went.

For those who have not had to go to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital before, they do an amazing job. It is so kid friendly and is a well-oiled machine. We got there about 5:30 and were told right away by the intake ladies that it was broken. We went immediately to triage and then on to X-ray. Katelyn was so calm and collected. I forget that it is a teaching hospital. We saw a ton of doctors. For every doctor we saw, there was a medical student observing him. The most difficult part of the night was getting Katelyn to allow them to put an IV in so they could sedate her and set the bones. They were both bent and one looked cracked half way through. I didn't even know that bone bent, but apparently they do. They sent in a Life counselor to talk to Katelyn about it all. She came in with a little doll that had in an IV  which I found very interesting. but she still fought the nurses and pretty much freaked out at the thought of a needle. They finally got it in and then put her to sleep to set the bones. We left while they did it, but there were seven people in there either with a role in the setting or watching. Katelyn got kind of giggly as she started nodding off and when she awoke, she swore she never went to sleep although she can't remember any of it. We made it home at about 11:30 p.m.

So for now, she has a plasterish splint on, which she'll keep for about a week until the swelling goes down. Then she'll get a cast next Tuesday. Katelyn woke up this morning and wanted to go to school to show her X-ray and IV doll to her friends. She has been in good spirits and a real trooper through it all.