The One Where Toes Weren't Stepped On, Yet Delicate Bones Did Break...and a Handout

Sooo.....

Mini-Me had a freeze-tag-canoe-surfing mishap this last week.  The game started innocent enough, but ended gruesomely.

Well, for her feet that is.

She was "It" and trying to tag the others.  She happened to be standing in our friends' canoe that was safely on the grass  in their yard.  (Mind you, its us parents' faults since the kids were threatened almost for life & limb to go outside & play while we visited.)  While she was standing inside the canoe, bent on snagging the next kid to get close enough, one of her friends snuck-up from behind and lurched the canoe forward in an otherwise deft & smart offensive move.  

However, as a result, her knees buckled, she flew back, and her toes bent all the way up against the top of her foot.  There's no way she WASN'T going to have something broken from that, just being honest!  She hit her head, bruised her self in all sorts of places, yet her biggest concern was the fact she could not feel her left foot.

(The boy felt so bad as soon as she started crying.  And she WAS howling something fierce, considering she's never broken a bone before.  However let the record show that if it had been me in his shoes, I'd have totally done the same thing.  Promise!  Now, though, that I can see more clearly the risks, I probably wouldn't choose that option anymore.  And I bet he feels the same way.)

10 minutes or less went by, and suddenly the numbness was only in one toe, and the last 3 on her left foot were in excruciating, hysterical, hyperventilating kinda pain.

She received a priesthood blessing as soon as the consecrated oil could be located.

Then she begged us to take her to the E.R.  Being 7-almost-8 on Sunday night, that's exactly what we did.  No screwing around with clinics & PA's this time.

Once we arrived & Mini-Me weighed in, triage sent a map with us and her in a wheelchair to a different E.R. area called the "Yellow Zone" (with all the signs in bright yellow with sweet white daisies on 'em, it was too cute!) where a room as already waiting for her.

BEST.EMERGENCY.ROOM.EXPERIENCE.EVER.  (Besides, perhaps the ones I'm pretty sure Tauna was a part of way back when we lived in the 'Berg, even though we didn't know Tauna -nor how cool she is- at the time.  Way before the MMH remodel went down.)


Their timing was impeccable.  Their bed-side-manner top notch.  The sugar-coating was ziltch.  It was perfect!

It literally went down like clockwork, like this:  Dr came in and intro'd himself, got the incident details, examined her super swollen foot & subsequent bruising, ordered her a couple Vicodin, cracked a few jokes, partially numbed the outside of her foot & removed some foreign material (gravel and such) from her foot, told her what a champ she was being & that tears were okay, had her take the Vicodin, a set of x-rays were taken to confirm there was in fact a break, she was wheeled back from radiology & the pain meds had kicked in.  (Suddenly everything was shiny & rainbows & unicorns!)  More jokes were cracked (a video may or may not have been shot of her in her wheelchair - if you're on my FB, then you've probably seen it), x-rays were reviewed.  Mini-Me repeatedly wheeled back & forth in front of the sliding glass doors to the room and made faces and waved at all the nurses & docs at the nurses station (no more tears at that point), Dr came in to attempt a "reduction" (aka re-set the toe), oodles more tears flowed since her foot was only partially numb and apparently the drugs weren't QUITE enough in this case.  Mini-Me was again applauded for her bravery, then wheeled out for more x-rays.  X-rays showed the reduction was unsuccessful, and an orthopedic surgeon was called to weigh in on the matter - a personal visit to his office on Tuesday (blast that stinking holiday in there).  Mini-Me was then fitted with THE most unattractive universal/unisex Velcro shoe + some crutches, given some more pain meds & anti-B's for the road.  We were home & in bed BEFORE midnight.

I'm telling you, people, this was an E.R. visit for the record books!

From there we spent the holiday filling prescriptions, and then laying low.  Tuesday afternoon we met with the surgeon who said our options were to either let the bone heal as-is for the next 4-6 weeks and hope it didn't bother her.  Option B was to have him surgically set the bone & pin it in place so it would heal as close to normal as possible for about 4-6 weeks.  Option C was to go with Option A, and then Option B if the way the toe healed bothered her - which would be 4-6 weeks plus another 4-6 weeks in healing time.  He told us it was up to us how we proceeded.

Mini-Me was frightened at the idea of surgery of ANY type going down -- hang it all, homegirl flat didn't want another injection, let alone a surgery!

However, after we discussed all the pro's & con's & risks in each situation as a family, surgery makes the most sense for her foot's structural make-up & busy life.  So that'll go down next week.  Keep her in your thoughts, as she needs as many of those + as much fairy dust as she can to get through she thinks -- well and any prayers would be bliss too.  :)

So there you have it.  Besides a delish dinner Sunday night with our friends, and some grubbing Costa Vida with my mom & brother after the appoint with the surgeon, one little broken toe has consumed our lives, entirely.  (Truth: The smallest, otherwise most unassuming things pack the biggest punch in life!)

Oh, and about that handout?  Yep, I get to teach the Beehives & the Mia Maids this week, and I'm totally stoked about it!

The lesson is about how worthy thoughts lead to/help maintain a virtuous life (YW Manual 1 Lesson #34).  A really great pearl-before-swine discussion should take place, and I love watching these girls have their spiritual eyes opened, so I can't wait!

“...Our thoughts are the switchboard, the control panel governing our actions.”  

- Elder Boyd K. Packer

Plus it doesn't hurt that this hand-out rocks socks.  Will be sharing some lovely Sprite with them, however they'll have an uninvited guest in each cup.  BOOM!  (All thanks to Target for having the most perfect fake flies in fake ice cubes in their dollar section, hee hee.)

The handout has a retro flavor to it in colors, which I adore, and the message couldn't be better.  I'm all about letting the scriptures speak for themselves.  :)

If you're feeling inspired for your class or family, feel free to use the handout below.  And stop by Target's Dollar Spot pronto, cause I'm pretty sure those trick flies won't last long, especially when you get 2 of those handy critters for a buck!

Worthy Thoughts Handout 3x5 4perPG