As Thick as Your Arm

Maranda is my outdoors girl. She loves to play games and sports, climb trees, run and generally be outdoors. Last month, for spring break, we planned on going camping at South Carlsbad state beach. It's in California so we pack up the tent trailer, drive 7 hours, etc. Well, Friday afternoon I was putting all the last minute things together in preparation for the Saturday drive. My girls were climbing in the tree and Chandler had my car somewhere (?), when I heard a crack and a scream. I ran outside to see Maranda in the gravel under the tree and really hurt. She could barely move and I could tell that her wrist was broken because the bones were not where they should be.

I considered calling 911 but I didn't want to be an over reactive parent or incur the cost of an ambulance so I decided to take her to the urgent care across the street. Maranda said her back was hurting but she could still hobble to the car. Where was the car? Oh ya, never mind Chandler and Hanna both showed up at that moment. I quickly helped Maranda into the car, told Chandler and Hanna to take care of everything, deprived Hanna of her opportunity of seeing a real broken wrist (sorry Hanna), and drove to the urgent care.

The doctor there said they were not equipped to deal with that severe of an injury and Maranda would need a safe transport to the hospital, ie: an ambulance. So I called Chandler so he could come get the van since I would be riding in the ambulance, and I called Dan so he could meet us at the hospital. The doctor there had a tip for Maranda. She said don't stop climbing trees, it's great exercise. But make sure the branch you stand on is at least as thick as your arm. Good advice.

The ambulance was detained for a while so Dan beat us to the hospital. I was sad that Maranda was in too much pain to enjoy the ride in an actual ambulance. When we finally got there, they took tons of x-rays, and did some blood work. They said her back was hurt but that it would heal over time. Then she needed a CT scan and finally a splint on her wrist. The break was bad and needed to be set so they sedated her briefly because it is too painful to experience while awake. They put on a splint which is like an open cast that allows for swelling. Then they told us to keep it dry and in the sling for the next week while taking it easy so that the bones didn't get out of place again. Ha ha, they don't know Maranda. But they did say we could still go to California if we were careful. If the splint got wet, it would fall apart and we would have to go to a doctor there, get more x-rays and a new splint. That didn't sound like fun so we were very careful. Too careful for Maranda.

This is how Maranda is "careful" Sheesh! Sea World wouldn't let her ride any rides because she couldn't bend her elbow, who knew?