The Mercer Munchkins: A Tibia Fracture

It was a tibia fracture - not a big one, but a hairline fracture that goes across the middle of her bone and was SUPER painful. I have never seen Suzie in so much pain. Her femur fracture was very bad but by the next day her pain was well controlled. This one took several days. It was ok unless we had to move her- we ended up using a serving tray to keep her leg steady while we carried her.

I tried to unwrap and fix her splint Friday and Saturday but she was a complete wreck and shaking from pain & fear so I gave up. She was supposed to have an orthopedics appt Friday but it was too painful to move her and I couldn’t drive her to the clinic by myself so I canceled it.

She stayed in our makeshift splint until Sunday when I finally thought she was comfortable enough to rewrap it. She cried and wanted us to stop, but we got her out of the splint and cut her pants off (she had worn them since Wednesday) and got her rewrapped more securely.

By Monday she was doing much better and was able to go to daycare (because they are amazing). She has her little wheelchair there and apparently was zipping around all day. She missed her friends! She had to show them all her “owie.”

Today I took her to ortho and they tried to put her in a long leg cast, but I fought that and got her in a new splint- secure and properly aligned. A cast would put her femur at risk of another fracture. She was very scared and cried the whole time but as soon as the splint was done, she calmed down and was obviously more comfortable. She now fits better in her wheelchair and insisted on wheeling herself out of the clinic. Its impossible not to smile as you see her coming down the hall with her light up wheels!
We are so happy to have smiles again!!

This girl has given us a roller coaster of emotions this year, and after a tough couple days, having her smile and show her sassy side lifted my heart so much. The lows make the good moments even better!