June's Leg

So June got a second cast on her right leg (tibia) 2 ½ weeks ago. I was at the doctor’s office in Riverside and Dane called me from home saying that June probably broke her leg again. I was like, “What?! That’s not funny! What’s going on?!” And he told me that June, Jet and their cousin Teagan were all running around on the wood floor and June’s right shoe came off (so she just had a slippery sock on) and she fell and twisted her leg and wouldn’t stop crying. Dane’s parents happened to be there so I drove home like a mad woman (I’m sure you can just imagine how it must be to drive home from 30 minutes away, knowing your child is at home crying with a broken leg). I was going insane. I got home and swooped her in my arms. Penny (Dane's Mom) drove me and June to the ER in Moreno Valley (because that’s where our insurance is covered) and got xrays and a cast put on. But get this: it took 8 hours in the ER. EIGHT!!! I seriously was going crazy!! And also, they wouldn’t let Penny in until an hour before we left because there wasn’t enough room for her. I begged the front desk to let her in because we were starving and she was out there! She was waiting in her car that whole time. When she was able to come in, she brought In n Out for us and didn’t complain at all about needing to wait (although it was so crazy). What a saint. I didn’t have my cell phone that whole time (it was dead) so I felt helpless. I only could use the front desk phone to occasionally call and let everyone know how we were doing. I almost thought that June’s leg wasn’t broken because she was acting so calm and happy, and the doctors and nurses thought that too! June was such a good girl, I seriously fell more in love with her through that whole situation. She kept stroking my face telling me to be happy, and she would sing to me (and for everyone else) and make conversations with the people around us. She went through my diaper bag probably 20 times, putting on gobs of chapstick and sunblock on both of us. I think we ate two entire packs of gum. I had no way to entertain her except using my imagination.

We got the xrays after being there for 4 hours (ya no problem, just sit in that plastic chair right there with a 2 year old with a broken leg for the next 4 hours... because it doesn’t look broken!) and when they came to tell me it was broken they were totally surprised. I started crying. I really hoped that it was just a bad fall and she was gonng be okay. Well the truth is she is going to be okay. We got a cast put on and got out of there and met up with 2 orthopedists a week later to discuss the situation. I told them how June had a broken leg just a month prior and that I was worried that she had a bone disorder or something. They said that the xrays showed that her leg was perfectly healthy and that the bone looked really strong. Any calcium, vitamin d etc deficiencies would have shown up in the xrays. I explained that she had her last cast on (same leg, same bone, same break) for almost 12 weeks. They told me that THAT was the problem! Leaving a cast on a 2 year old for that leg is ridiculous! The muscle surrounding the bone was so weak, therefore the bone was weak as well. She only needed to have the cast on for 4-6 weeks max! That dumb doctor! If he was in the room I might have strangled him. They told me that most likely they would have it on for just 4. Also, when they put the cast on in the ER this time, they made it so that her leg was straight and her foot was flat so that she could walk on it. They said that walking on it was actually really good for this break since it was a spiral and it would push things back together. Her old cast had her leg bent and her foot pointed so she couldn’t use it at all. And when we got the cast off, she had to go to physical therapy for a month because #1) She couldn’t even flex her foot and #2) She coulnd’t do anything with it, not even crawl. There was seriously NO muscle left in that poor little leg. If you looked at her legs side by side you could totally see the difference. The physical therapist told me right away that she shouldn’t have had her cast on that long but who am I to tell the doctor what to do? I was just trying to follow his directions. Plus I figured that leaving the cast on that long meant that her bone was going to be SUPER strong. It was actually the opposite. And the 2nd orthopedist confirmed this. He explained that it was actually a lot weaker. They also explained that this is a common break for this age (which is why it is actually named the “toddler fracture”) so I shouldn't worry that it happened so easily the first time. The second time it broke was simply because the bone and the muscle surrounding it were too weak that it couldn’t handle a second fall. Wow, such a crazy experience for us. We really learned a lot and were forced to be insanely patient. I don’t understand why the Lord does what He does, but I do know this: difficult things make us stronger, as long as you pray A LOT on along the way.