Mercy and helmets - good stuff (mostly mercy!)

Every Monday evening this time of year, and weather permitting, K's 4H horse club rides at the riding arena. Yesterday we got there pretty late, since I didn't get home from bringing J to Wpg for a dental appointment until after 6. Right away when we got to the arena, K hurried up and got Spanky ready to ride as quickly as she could. I joined a parent meeting that was in progress, feeling kind of bad that I couldn't keep my full attention on K entering the arena.

During the parent meeting, I looked over now and then to try to see how things were going for her. I could see her riding, and everything looked fine. Suddenly I saw another horse and rider going at a fast clip toward the waiting kids on their horses, and it ran right into K's pony, T-bone style, knocking him to the ground with K on him. I ran over to see K laying on her side, helmet still in place. She was awake and crying. Someone called for an ambulance. She was able to move everything and talk to me, but had a headache. By the time the ambulance got there she was sitting up and things were looking pretty good. They checked her over and I made the decision to bring her to the hospital myself since she didn't seem badly hurt. We borrowed a van, since I had borrowed a truck and trailer to get there, and got on our way to the hospital.

I was second guessing my decision to not use an ambulance when K started asking me the same questions over and over and began complaining of neck pain and increasing head pain. I felt so bad about deciding to bring her myself, and prayed hard on way to the hospital. I called A and he left a jobsite and started for the hospital.

Once we got to the hospital, they checked her over and did a neck x-ray. The doctor didn't think a CT scan was necessary. He couldn't see anything on the x-ray and spent a lot of time talking to us about why they didn't do a CT scan, since I was wondering - I was pretty concerned about her having asked me the same questions over and over, and her intense headache.

Soon we were free to go, and brought her home. Once home, she seemed more and more her old self, joking with J and C. By then it was after 11, and she went to bed. Her neck felt better, and her headache was almost gone - she didn't even want any Tylenol. I roused her a bit twice before I went to bed, and she responded well, and has again this morning.

Can you say RELIEF??????? I am filled with thankfulness to the Lord for watching over her and protecting her. And I'm glad she was wearing a helmet.

That's Spanky, the pony K got about 2 months ago, on the top of my blog - I've been meaning to introduce him here, but haven't gotten around to it yet. I'll have to do a separate post about him yet. And by the way - Spanky's fine. :o)

Not again!

On Sunday, K was outside running towards the soccer ball and tripped on the screw-in thingie for tying the dog to. She landed on her hand, but had a lot of pain in her forearm. Poor kid! I hate it when my kids are hurting! This is the same arm she broke her elbow on when she fell while ice skating just over 3 years ago. I took her in to the hospital right away, and the doctor said that yes, it was broken but it was a straight break. She got a half-cast, held in place with a tensor bandage. He wanted her to come back the next day to see the orthopedic surgeon in case it needed to be pinned. So, off we went, back to the hospital on Monday morning to see the orthopedic surgeon. He said it was not straight, but out about 17 degrees, and that she needed to go to the operating room to get it put back into place (it's called a closed reduction, meaning there is no incision). K didn't like to hear that news! I tried to assure her that she would be given medicine to put her into a deep sleep, and she wouldn't feel a thing, but it was hard for her to believe. We were put on the bottom of the OR list for the day, and since she had eaten breakfast (they told me to go ahead and let her have breakfast, since we didn't know when her appointment would be) she needed to wait until at least 4 p.m. anyway. It was a loooong day of sitting around in waiting rooms, trying to keep her comfortable and occupied enough to not think about food or going into the OR too much! At 5 p.m. it was her turn, and off she went. She was out by 5:45. When she woke up she said, "Is it over?". She said it felt like she went to sleep, turned her head, and woke up a second later, but she couldn't figure out why she was in a different place. The surgeon said it was not easy to get the bone back into place - it took a lot of force. She has a cast for 6-8 weeks, and is to see him again for a follow-up x-ray a few days from now. They had 5 unexpected OR cases that day, and we were the last to leave the outpatient surgery department. The nurse there was working her regular 12 hour shift - she was supposed to be done at 6:45 or 7:00. We didn't leave until 8:45, so I wonder what time she got to leave - what a long workday for her!

K is collecting autographs on her cast.