Fall Down, Go Boom

On Sunday we completed our second trip to the emergency department as parents (see Hell Week for the first). I only remember going to the ED once as a kid, so Ava already has me beat! Here's how it went down...

While I was on-call at the hospital, Doni took Ava to school with her to get some things ready for the next week. Ava busied herself with the myriad of toys in her mom's new kindergarten classroom while Doni did some work. Eventually Ava started playing with the drinking fountain. The drinking fountain had been installed at kindergartener height, but Ava's toddler height just wasn't cutting it. Already a problem-solver, she put to use a nearby step stool that was 6-8 inches tall. No sooner had she stood up than she fell down. As would be expected, she cried, but no more than she normally does after falling down when sleepy. Doni picked her up and called it a day. When she got home she laid Ava down for her nap without a fuss.

After a couple hours (the normal length of her naps) Ava started crying hysterically. This was the first time she had put any weight on her legs since falling. Doni rushed in to find her unwilling to bear weight on her left leg. Doni got a hold of me at the hospital and we decided it was best to take her to the emergency department to make sure there wasn't anything wrong. We figured it wasn't likely to be anything worse than a bruise since it was such a short fall, but the fact that she wouldn't bear weight on it was concerning.

Doni took her to the hospital and I left to meet her there (unfortunately I wasn't at the hospital Doni and Ava would be going to). When I got there my ladies were already in a room. The ED staff had not yet seen Ava, so I did a quick little exam. She seemed to be most bothered when moving her hip. A physician's assistant then examined her with findings similar to mine. It turns out we were both wrong. Her hip was fine, but she had a fracture in the tibia (shin bone) of her left leg. They put Ava's leg in a splint and told us to follow up with our family doctor or an orthopedist to get her leg casted.


I took the following day off school to take Ava to see our family doctor. It turns out our family doctor was on vacation, so we went to see one of his partners instead. He called and asked an orthopedic doctor to review the x-ray to determine whether a cast would be needed or if she could remain in a splint since it was a small fracture. The orthopedist called back and said that he would like to follow Ava since it was an uncommon fracture.

Doni took the next day off work and took her to the appointment. It turns out she does need a cast, but she will only need it for three weeks. We were even able to upgrade to a water-proof cast for an extra $15 out of pocket. I didn't even know those existed! We decided to pass on the optional spinners and hydraulics (kidding).


Ava is doing well with her new cast. She is still reluctant to put any weight on it, but has returned to the crawling that she was so speedy at previously. We've even had our first bath with it on. It just drips dry! How cool is that?

We appreciate your prayers for a quick recovery.