Day 97

Day 97 in Los Angeles is the day we found out that Magnolia really did break her leg on Day 95.

A spiral tibial fracture.

[Playing with a suction hose. She especially liked using it on the skin on my hands.]

I got a call from Magnolia's school late Friday morning. She'd fallen off one of the tricycles, her leg got caught in the pedal (Magnolia later told me it was the wheel), she was crying and couldn't stand on it, so her teachers carried her to the office. I talked to M on the phone, and she sounded chipper. I asked her if it really hurt or if she wanted to go back to class. She said she wanted to come home. I had her give the phone back to Francis (the receptionist), and I told her I was having a weird parent moment trying to decide if I should come and get her or let her stay. (I didn't want her to figure out the "if I do this, then my mom will come and get me" trick.) Francis told me she tried a little trick of her own: She dropped a ball and asked Magnolia if she could pick it up and bring it to her. Magnolia said she couldn't. 1. That trick is ingenious. 2. I told her I'd be right there.

When I got to the school, Magnolia was in the office next to Francis. Usually when Magnolia sees me, she gets excited and smiles. When our eyes met, her chin started quivering. I did a walk/run over to her, asked if she was okay, and she buried her head in my shoulder and cried a little. [I cried a little too.] She was trying to be so brave. I told her I was sorry it took so long to get there. When I pulled back a little bit, I saw that she was holding a bag of ice on the lower part of her left leg. That sweet little tiny leg. She said she couldn't walk, so I picked her up and we went to get Cora, who was eating lunch.

[Playing with the dress-up stickers one of the doctors brought in for her.]

She seemed happy, but would complain a bit when her leg bounced too much as I was walking. Her leg wasn't swollen besides a knot on her shin, and only had two little circular bruises about two inches a part. Over the next two days, she scooted around the house, happy as could be. She climbed behind the couch, she did everything just like normal, but when we would ask her if she wanted to walk, she wouldn't, and she would still wince and cry if she moved her leg a certain way. After her "walk test" this morning, I took her into the ER (I called a few nearby Urgent Cares first, but they didn't do x-rays) at UCLA's hospital.

We were there for a really long time. The only time she was ever afraid was when she was getting x-rays. She saw the machine come over her, and she grabbed onto me. I reminded her it was the camera we talked about, and that it would never touch her. The part about it not touching her made her relax her grip a bit. When the doctor came back to our room after the x-rays, she told Magnolia that she had some really sad news, and that her leg was broken. I think everyone was surprised that it was a spiral fracture because I had a perfectly happy little girl. When I saw the x-ray, I couldn't believe how clearly broken it was. No mistake. No kinda sorta. It appears to have cleared the growth plates. I'm glad for that.

(Eating a graham cracker snack because we'd been there through lunch and dinner.)

We should be getting a call from someone in an orthopedic doctor's office within the next 24 hours to schedule an appointment and determine a treatment plan. We left the hospital in a temporary splint that starts at her toes and extends to her upper thigh. The back half is plaster, and just that is so heavy for her. They didn't have crutches her size in the ER, but the nurse said that the splint is probably too heavy for her to try and balance out with crutches. So for right now, I'm M's legs. Third floor apartment, no elevator, carrying a cute little love up and down. I have the easy job. I hope her long term splint/cast will be lighter, and that we'll figure out some device to help her get around on her own. And that's for her sake, not mine. ;)    

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