It's hard to believe that the summer holidays are nearly over. 6 weeks has gone REALLY quickly in my opinion. Maybe not so much for Alison, who broke her elbow just as the second week of the summer holidays were starting!
The first week was good overall, Lauren had a couple of sleepovers, the kids went to camp a couple of days, then on Sunday, Alison was over at the neighbour's house doing gymnastics (as per usual) and we just heard our neighbour say "oh my goodness, I think she has broken her arm!!" She was crying really hard and her left arm was VERY swollen so we hopped in the car and rushed to the A&E at St. George's. We arrived around 8:30 and didn't get home until nearly midnight. They took an x-ray and said it was fractured and gave her a temporary cast and sent us home with an appointment at the fracture clinic on Wednesday (3 days later!!!) Drew was so sweet and immediately made her a picture that said "Get Well Soon" and Lauren was a very nice and supportive sister. She had a very uncomfortable night's sleep and was afraid to move her arm because she could feel the bones of her elbow moving around.
Monday morning I had to take Drew to the allergy clinic for his annual food allergy check-up and while we were there, I received a phone call from St Georges and they said I needed to bring Alison to the fracture clinic that afternoon because they had seen something on the X-ray that didn't look right. So, I was back at St George's a couple of hours later. And they told us something I didn't expect to hear: she needed surgery to repair the break in her arm. We were booked in for the next day. Thankfully, it's a slow time at Brad's work so he was able to take the day off and work from home. Alison was so brave through the whole thing, and she was really still in a lot of pain.
Tuesday morning, we had to be at the hospital at 7:30 AM so we dropped Drew off at the neighbour's and left Lauren sleeping! We were assigned to bed #7 which we saw as a good sign because that is Alison's lucky number!!! They were a lot of kids with different things happening. We saw the anesthesiologist, who was great with Alison telling her what to expect with the anesthesia and everything and then we saw the surgeon who explained what he was going to do and what to expect. His plan was to put the wires in without making an incisions! They perform the surgeries in age order with the youngest first, and there was a girl with a similar injury a bit younger than Alison who went first. They came and took her back to the theatre around 11:30. While we waited, she watched Matilda and played a couple games of Guess Who. When we got into the room for the anesthesia, she really didn't want to have the mask over the face, but the doctor was great and was talking to her about school and then she was out! The procedure took about 2 hours, and the doctor said he just had to make one small 2cm incision and 3 wires. He said it went as planned.
When we saw her in recovery, she was in a LOT of pain and not happy at all!! They finally gave her some pretty strong medicine and then she calmed down a bit and went back to her bed. She ate a lot (I think at least 6 pieces of toast, some jelly, some apples and grapes). She watched another movie and was very scared to get up and move around. Her heart rate was a bit elevated, so they weren't really able to discharge her and she needed to show that she could walk around. She was very apprehensive to move her arm: she thought she was still going to be able to feel the bones moving around in her arm. But once she actually got up and out of bed, she realised that she couldn't feel that anymore. That's not to say she wasn't in any pain, but just different pain. We were discharged around 7:30 and we came home to Bob and Rebecca and the first thing Alison wanted to do was play hand and foot with them! That was a good sign!
The first couple of days were tough because she was in a lot of pain, but we did go and get her hair washed at the salon, but the best part of that was that one of the hairdressers did her hair in amazing dutch plaits! That made her smile really big!! We also went to gymnastics because she wanted to see all of her buddies.
We made the decision to go private after she got her proper cast on, just because the physio options will be better and the process should be quicker. So, we went to see the doctor on Friday after she had surgery. He was very nice and said he actually knew the doctor who performed the surgery and after seeing the x-rays, he said the surgery was perfectly executed. He recommended we go back to see the doctor who did the procedure because they like to "see their handiwork," but then we could continue with him after that. He also said that we shouldn't travel to the US because travel insurance wouldn't cover if anything happened as it was a pre-existing condition.
A week after the surgery, Alison went back to have an xray to make sure the wires were in place and everything was going well. She selected a blue cast rather than the really bright yellow as she previously thought she wanted. The doctor said everything was looking good and seemed to be healing well. That evening, we went to gymnastics so they could wish her a happy birthday and she got lots of signatures from everyone (Even the artistic girls she noted!)
For her birthday, we went back to the salon for another hair wash and some Dutch plaits, bought her some shirts so she didn't have to wear my shirts, had some lunch at Pizza Express, and then the two of us met Brad in the city for Matilda! Overall, I think she had a nice birthday. I hope so! it's the first birthday she has even spent not in the US.
So, due to unforseen circumstances, we are having a staycation in London for the summer holidays!!! Brad is taking the days off still, and we have planned some fun things to do in and around England. We are definitely sad to miss seeing the family, but we are looking forward to seeing them at Christmas instead.
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