With only one more week until Christmas, spending the weekend in the ER wasn’t exactly tops on my “To Do” list.

I’ve been struggling with a cold/cough for a week now, so when I arrived at the ER with my dear daughter they made me put on this beautiful face mask. Doesn’t it accentuate my eyes… yes, I put it on upside down… I am that good.

Emma fell in gym class at school on Friday afternoon. True to form, she’s is a tough cookie, when she figured out that if she went to the ER {in my city, ER wait times on average, 6-8hrs}, she’d miss out on her youth group annual Christmas party… said she was OK. It was just a little bit of pain… {Emma, is that your nose growing?!}

By Saturday morning the pain was unbearable. Still not wanting to wait so long in our own city hospital, we drove to another town about 25 minutes away. She was seen almost immediately, from triage to X-Ray to temporary cast was under 2 hours total.

She has a tiny fracture in her wrist but because it is in her growth plate, they needed to fix it right away. If left alone, severe malformation may happen, from premature stunting to arthritis. The first hospital made an appointment for surgery at another hospital close by for the very next day.

Sunday morning I dropped hubby and the two youngest off at church and off we went. My oldest accompanied us, to give his little sister moral support and to be my live action GPS as I didn’t want to get lost.

Emma was nervous. She’s never been put under before. I was nervous. I wasn’t sure what to expect.

The doctors at Brantford General Hospital were so very kind and helpful, especially the Doc in charge of the ER, he spoke to Emma with such compassion and in easy to understand lingo. A very caring man! He put us at ease right away. It also helped to find out that Dr Dill is a well known surgeon with a great reputation.

After much discussion over her X-Rays, they felt it would be better put her under and manually reset the bones in the ER instead of cutting into her in the OR. Dr Dill had all his equipment sent up, they called for the anesthesiologist and got started, right there in front of me. Even under general anesthesia you could tell it was painful, her body recoiled as Dr Dill pulled her wrist into place. Then came the temporary plaster cast, next thing you know, she was waking up.

It took awhile for her eyeballs to stop shaking from side to side and from seeing double. Under that oxygen mask, she was also very grateful that she couldn’t smell the fecal dis-impaction going on behind the curtain beside her! I had to flee into the hallway to get away from the smell… I was gagging uncontrollably.

We’re lounging on the couch together today, catching up on our favourite TV shows. She was all set to go to school this morning, she’s aiming at perfect attendance… but pushed it a bit too much last night. She didn’t want to miss out on her Christmas play practice or youth group. I’m afraid she takes after me in that manner… never wants to miss out on anything until you’re forced to. 🙂

She goes back to BGH in January for a third X-Ray and a cast change. This time she wants bright blue!!

So… how’d you spend your weekend?