OH SNAP...LITERALLY...LIKE SNAPPED IN HALF

Last Tuesday, about 5 miutes before I needed to go to mutual I got a call from my friend, who is the mom of Natalie's friend. "Julie, Natalie got hurt on the tramp. Its her elbow. It looks dislocated."

"Okay," I said. "I'll come get her."

When I walked in the house Natalie was laying on the couch holding her arm. I could tell something was wrong. It looked weird. But, since she fell on the actual bouncy part of the trampoline I too thought it was dislocated.

My friend's hubby carried Natalie out to the car for me and he and my friend followed me home so that he and TJ could give Natalie a blessing before I took her to the doctor.

After the blessing and a call to the gal I work with in Young Women telling her I wouldn't be able to make it we headed to the after hours clinic at the pediatrician. We arrived and they got us back to see the doctor right away. After asking Natalie what had happened he examined her elbow and said, "It's definitely broken. You need to go to the hospital for x-rays. I'm contacting the Orthopedic Surgeon. She'll probably need surgery." Seeing how I was fully expecting to be told her elbow had been dislocated I was SHOCKED!

So off to the hospital for x-rays, admittance and emergency surgery. Oh! How my heart hurt as the radiologists shifted and moved her arm around to get the right angle for the x-rays, and how my heart hurt as they wheeled my baby away for surgery to put her back together again!

The doctors told me that the surgery would be 1 1/2-2 hours long. At about 1 1/4 hours my heart started to pound and I started to feel absolutely sick as we waited for the doctor to come and tell us she would be okay. All I could think about was my tiny girl, so little on a big operating table, with a tube down her throat to help her breathe during surgery. It scared me. (I think I watch too many medical shows) Good thing TJ was there to keep me calm. He didn't even have to say anything. Just his presence was enough for me not to FREAK out!!! Right around 1 1/2 hours Dr. Larsen came out and told us she was in recovery, that the surgery was a little more complicated then he had anticipated but that everything went well and she would be fine. He then showed us an x-ray film of Natalie's little elbow pinned back together with 3 pins.

About 30 minutes later the nurse came and got us and we accompanied my sleepy, drugged out girl up to her room for the night. She looked so little and cute in the big hospital bed with cozy blankets tucked around her. Again, my heart hurt!

After she was settled I decided TJ would stay the night with her. I went home, exhausted.

The next morning I got up and headed over the the hospital with Brady and Reece. Luckily she was able to be released about an hour and a half later!

So there ya have it. Natalie fell back on a trampoline and hit her elbow on the bouncy part of the tramp. She snapped the skinniest part of her elbow in half. She must have hit it just right!

Its so weird though because looking back at last Tuesday night is a total blur. Everything happened so fast. By the time we got x-rays at the hospital to the time she was wheeled up to her room was only 5 hours. It was crazy!

She's doing so good though. We had family arrive a few hours after we got home from the hospital so she's been going going going since the accident happened. She's mini-golfed left handed, she's figured out how to get dressed on her own, she can eat with her left hand and she's down to 1 or 2 advil a day to manage the pain! She really is a trooper!

This is Natalie and her kindred spirit friend! Thanks to her and her family for the cookie bouquet, the visits, the phone calls and the gift certificate! You guys are AWESOME!!!

This is what her poor arm looks like above her cast. From the time we got her home she said that underneath her arm was really sore. TJ thought that the cast was rubbing it raw but yesterday this is what we saw. And this doesn't even come close to giving this bruising justice! Today its worse. Her entire armpit is BLACK and BLUE!!! Thankfully the swelling has gone down though!

And now a shout out to all of you for the cards, gifts, phone calls and prayers!!!!

Thanks to Auntie Lori for coming over so late to stay with the kids so TJ could come to the hospital.

And through the whole ordeal I kept thinking back to the blessing she received from my husband and our friend. I'm so grateful to them for being worthy to hold the Priesthood and give a hurt little girl a blessing. That blessing gave me so much comfort and I KNOW that it helped Natalie be brave and calm. Beyond that though I know she'll heal well, with no permanent damage to her arm and elbow, even though she may have a few months of limited mobility in her arm!

By the way, she'll be in the cast for 4 weeks total. Luckily she'll get it off just in time for swimming lessons!