Friday, July 24, 2009

We just can't stop having fun!

Well more excitement in the Titus household this week. Thursday morning at work I did not answer my cell phone when it rang because my head was literally in the sink as a gloved nurse helped me wash my face and hair. Don't ask why, I had obviously showered and dressed before going to work, but something really gross at work caused me to start all over. Now it turned out that this just happened to be one of those calls you really don't want to miss. By the time I get another shirt on and my hair wrapped in a towel Steve is on the office phone sounding very stressed. He began telling me that S had been hurt while she was riding horses at her aunt's house. So I immediately call the aunt and hear commotion in the background as the aunt tells me that S fell off her horse that morning and has obviously broken her arm and they are taking her to the ER! They put her on the phone and she burst into tears saying it really hurt. Needless to say my day at the office was over and I bolted for the door. They were going to a hospital a little over an hour away from where I was and of course my gas tank was on E.

When I get to the ER over an hour later she is pale and very still. She already has an IV in place and has had some morphine. I help them hold her for the X-rays, which was painful for her, and we soon learn that she has broken her little arm in 3 places. Two bones are broken completely in two and overlying themselves and the elbow is cracked. They will need to send her to the OR to reset the arm. This required intubation and complete sedation. While waiting for room in the OR they gave her 8mg of morphine through her IV and she never closed her eyes for more than a mere second or two!

She was in the OR and recovery for about an hour and came through the procedure fine but in a lot of pain. She cried more after they set it than I had seen all morning. The doc said it was very difficult to set and they really had to manipulate it to set it. He was glad they had chosen the OR route instead of trying to do it in the ER. (Me too!) But now because it is after 3 they are short staffed and send her to a regular room to finish up the recovery. Due to her pain level we stay about 3 more hours.

Finally about 12 hours after checking in we put her in the car and head home. Fortunately, she slept all the way only moaning with one bump! Through the night we got up every 3 1/2 to 4 hours to change the ice bag, potty and get more pain meds. Her arm has been cramping and spasming a lot. This morning she was nauseated and her belly hurt. Then we had to get out to get the boys from my cousins house and she was really beat by the time we got home. She slept a couple of hours and woke up feeling much better. But the tears came again tonight. She hurts more when she is tired. So I am trying to keep her quiet and rested. She has also been running a low grade fever and I am watching that closely.

We go back in one week for X-rays and a permanent cast. They put a splint cast on because they are anticipating swelling from the difficult time they had setting the bones. They said 5% of these types of breaks require pins, so please pray we will be in the 95% that do not!!

Since riding horses is her favorite thing in the world, everyone keeps asking if she thinks she will want to ride again. She smiles and says she thinks she will but might need a little time to get well first. We are planning on taking her to see the horse this weekend if she is up traveling that far in the car.

2 comments:

MamaBear said...

Wow, you have more drama in your family than all the folks in my little neighborhood combined! I hope S is feeling better after a few days of rest ...

As a future nurse, I would LOVE to hear more about the incident that caused you to have to rebathe after going to work ... or maybe I really DON'T want to know?? :-)

Anonymous said...

Oh Angie -- I just hated reading this post, I hope Sarah is well on her way to feeling better. You know you can call me anytime. Tell Sarah hello and give her a hug. Love, Rebecca