M gave us some excitement over the weekend when she broke her leg Friday night. She was jumping on the trampoline with friends, and as she was landing got double-bounced. Her tibia got a buckle fracture right under the knee, which is why she has to have such a big cast. So, her bone didn't actually break, but it was compressed and couldn't handle the pressure, so it buckled in that spot and bulges out a little on the x-ray. You can't tell a thing just from looking at it, but when it happened she started screaming and holding her leg and wouldn't let anyone touch it. We ended up at the 24/7 Wee Care clinic at 10 pm on Friday night after she hadn't calmed down for an hour or so. They told us what happened and put her in a soft cast splint for a couple of days to let the swelling go down.
The first night was very hard. She didn't sleep more than an hour at a time for about half the night, until we loosened the wrap and she slept the rest of the night. Yesterday, we went to her regular pediatrician's office to see what they thought and have it cast if necessary. They had to take x-rays again because I didn't have the presence of mind to get the others. When the PA came in, he said we had two options, and I was hoping in my mind that one would be to just keep a splint on it, but that wasn't what he said. We could either get it cast in their office or take her to an orthopedic surgeon. Since the fracture wasn't interfering with joints or growth plates, we opted to have them do it. When they asked her what her favorite color was, M said, "Pink," very quietly. Luckily, the hot pink stuff was in stock.
She is not allowed to walk on it, at least for the next week, which means a lot more work getting her around. She has been in pretty high spirits, though, and the cast is much more comfortable for her. She will have another x-ray on Monday to see how everything is going. Maybe by then she will be able to either get a shorter cast or walk on it? If not, recovery time is only 3-4 weeks, so I am hoping it will go by fast and we can find lots of fun things to do regardless.
