Broken...

A few weeks ago, late on a Friday afternoon, I got the call most parents dread. The call that starts with, "she's ok, but..." The call where in the background I can hear her screaming...while trying to focus on the words through the phone... "she was in an accident." An accident...


Luckily the call came just after I'd gotten a critical signature at work. A signature I thought I was going to have to wait until 6 p.m. to get. A signature that I could not have left without. But I got it. And then I got the call.

(Lily got lots of sweet "fan mail" and get well cards...including this dee-lish edible arrangement from Loly!)

We all joke and tease that Lily's middle name should be "drama" because yes, oh yes, she's the one and only...original...DRAMA. QUEEN. (she is, afterall, my daughter...) But when I heard her pained and scared little voice through the phone, my mama instinct kicked in and I just knew. These were no crocodile tears. Whatever had happened, my baby had a broken arm.

(6 year olds + sharpies + a rough surface = hieroglyphics! Lily swore she could read all the signatures...)

It took some time to get a straight story. And that involved a conference call with the school's principal...the director of Extended Day for the entire county...and the E.D. supervisor at Lily's school. But we eventually did get the story. She tripped... In the apparently slightly-less-than-perfectly-controlled transition between "school" and "after school," she tripped over a buddy's leg while trying to race to get in line. And when she tripped she fell on her arm in oh such a way that she broke it. Both bones. Radius and ulna. Which not only fractured, but buckled.

After a miraculously quick visit to our local pediatric emergency room (LOVE FAIRFAX PED ER!!), Lily left with xrays on a CD...arm splinted and in a sling...and a new appreciation for just how easy it is to get hurt. Poor kiddo.

Last moments in the cast...with very soggy skin underneath it, she was on her way to get it removed!

That first weekend was rough. Really rough. Painful and embarrassing. But we got through it and once the real cast when on, Lily's spirits went up.



It's hard to believe that that was so long ago she's now in a brace. With only one and a half weeks left of that! The cast came off a few days early thanks to "an incident" (that involved...um...water...don't ask). Thank goodness. It smelled. Pee-you GROSS!



Lily is well on the road to recovery, I'm happy to say. And we've all upped our calcium intake hoping to prevent a repeat experience any time soon!