. . . it pours.
Yesterday morning Mary Faith broke her left clavicle pretty badly. She was horsing around and rolled herself up in a sheet on Hannah's bed then promptly rolled herself right OFF the bed, landing on her shoulder. The break is in the shape of an upside-down "V" with some pretty sharp jagged edges pointing up. It almost defies comprehension that in 20+ years of parenting our 8 children, we've never had a serious broken bone (only one hairline fracture) and now our mildest and tenderest child is the one with the nasty break. I'd have laid serious money on her being the LEAST likely child to ever break anything!! She's usually the one found playing sweetly or having a tea party while her siblings are scaling trees, trying tricks on the slackline, or racing their bikes around the neighborhood!
Despite assurances that clavicle fractures are usually painless as long as the arm is immobilized, Mary Faith is in a LOT of pain. She's wearing a sling and we are alternating Advil and Tylenol every 3 hours, but even so she's spending most of her time hunched pitifully on the couch and/or crying. She was almost completely unable to sleep last night because of the pain.
The ER doctor referred her to our local orthopedic surgeon who wanted to see her right away tomorrow morning . . . when Noah was scheduled for a supra-pubic change in Greenville. The urology scheduler was able to move Noah's procedure to next week . . . when he and David were scheduled for opthamology visits in Greenville. The opthamology scheduler (bless her) was able to move those visits off one week and still keep David and Noah's appointments back to back.
Before we were able to move Noah's surgical procedure, the hospital called for the pre-surgical interview. I explained the situation to the nurse and told her that we would probably be rescheduling. Turns out her background is ortho-trauma and she STRONGLY suggested that we try to get Mary Faith in with a pediatric orthopedist instead of our local group. Lots of phone calls later, we were able to secure an appointment in Greenville for tomorrow morning with a pediatric orthopedic surgeon.
Almost as soon as I got that finally all set up, I found out that Noah's labs from today showed that he needs a transfusion.
I'm waiting for a call from Dr. B. The Bi-Lo Children's Cancer Center (where he gets his transfusions) is right across the street from the orthopedic surgeon. If we can get him set up for a transfusion for first thing in the AM, I can get him started with his type and cross-match, leave him there with Hannah and his nurse, and take Mary Faith across the street for her appointment then come back and be with him for at least most of his transfusion.
If they CAN'T get Noah in tomorrow AM for blood, we'll need to hold off scheduling a transfusion until we see the ortho tomorrow. Her break is pretty ugly and may need surgery.
The frosting on the cake (or to keep with my rain metaphor, the thunder in the storm) is that Noah's central line site is continuing to look worse. Dr. B added a second antibiotic on Friday but the red area is continuing to grow. I can't even start thinking about the possibility of his needing to go to Columbia and/or have the line pulled. We can't put off his supra-pubic change any further than next week - he's already overdue for one and these lines tend to start having problems when they aren't changed promptly. We're running the risk of holes/mechanical issues with the line and the running the risk of an infection.
So yeah, when it rains, it pours. On the other hand, when it rains the earth is nourished and flowers bloom. The next few days and weeks may end up being considerably more challenging than I'd like, but growth doesn't tend to happen in times of ease. I trust that the Lord will somehow be magnified through all of this and that every moment will work out according to His will. It's hard to understand how God can work a painful broken bone for good in a tiny little five year old girl, but I know He will. Adding a miserable little girl to an extra tired and hurting Noah is giving all of us extra opportunities to serve and show compassion. Noah and Mary Faith are feeling a deep measure of empathy toward each other and are praying for each other. Mary Faith is calling on her big brother's example of courage and handled her scary E.R. visit beautifully in spite of her pain and fear.
Please pray for:
~pain relief for Mary Faith!!!! She needs a good night's sleep and a break from the pain.
~wisdom for the ortho tomorrow. From what we've been told, her break falls right in between the "absolutely no need for surgery" and the "absolutely must have surgery" types of breaks. We're pretty concerned about one of the larger sharp shards causing further injury but are also concerned at the thought of surgery.
~for Noah's surpra-pubic to behave until it's replaced next week. It's stretching out where it attaches to his drain bag and we've had some huge leaky messes as a result. We're going to tape the living daylights out of it and hope for the best. I'm not too worried about infection because of all of the antibiotics he's on, but of course that is always a risk.
~for EXTREME efficiency in getting everything lined up and scheduled. I'd FAR rather get Noah transfused tomorrow when I'll already be right there in Greenville as opposed to going back another day, but I trust that the Lord will orchestrate what's best.
~for clear wisdom regarding Noah's central line. We need to figure out a way to get it to heal. Long term heavy-duty antibiotics got it looking better but it flared up again when we stopped. Now the antibiotics aren't seeming to do much good (we don't know if they are keeping it from getting much WORSE, but they aren't helping it get BETTER). We don't want the line replaced, we don't want to keep stressing his liver and kidneys with powerful drugs, and we don't want it infected . . . we just need the Lord to move and heal this issue outright or give the doctors a clear plan.
~for "enough Mommy to go around" right now!!!!
Blessings,
Kate
