Explaining Calebs Fall

Wednesday, June 23rd, Isaac got his wish from Make A Wish. We planned it with our wish coordinator for the past three months, we helped pick out the design, we made suggestions on things we felt would be easier for the boys now and added a few things that the older kiddos would like and things the twins would "grown into".

One of the items we picked out to assist the twins is a ramp up to the canopied platform. Instead of them trying to climb the ladder each time to get up to the slide platform a ramp would just be easier. Once the men brought the swing set and put it up, the ramp was actually quite steep, so much so, that the kids can slide down the ramp. Its proving to be an unexpected fun part of the swing set.

Thursday evening, June 24th, right after dinner exactly 28 hours of having this play set, the cousins from across the street came over to take the swing set for a test drive and play. I was on the deck watching everyone play and have fun. I was finishing up my dinner while they played. I saw Caleb walking up the ramp, he was about 3/4th the way up and his 2 year old cousin Tyler wanted to slide down. He started yelling at Caleb, move.. don't come up.. Caleb continued up not understanding what Tyler wanted from him and when Caleb reached the top of the ramp (about 5 feet high) his cousin Tyler gave him a shove and pushed him off..

Now Mr. Tyler merely wanted to slide down the ramp, which he did immediately after pushing Caleb down with a joyous giggle and smile. He's two, I totally expect this from a two year old, unfortunately Caleb did not have the balance he needed to recover on a steep ramp and fell off. Camille was the only one that saw him completely fall and he did land straight on his leg and it bent.

I looked up from my plate and notice Caleb was not there and the girls went running and I knew right then it was going to be bad. Tristin picked him and and ran him over to me. I proceeded to sit him down on some patio furniture and try to calm him down. After about 5 to 7 minutes his screams were way worse than a normal hurt cry and I noticed that he was favoring his right leg. At one point he grabbed it and signed hurt, I knew right then that I needed to call 911.

When the ambulance arrived they said right away that his leg was rotated and they were not comfortable moving him in any way. They called the paramedics and they talked them through loading him onto the bed basically by wrapping him and lifting him up on the cushion from the patio furniture. Tom rode in the ambulance, I drove behind. Once to the hospital they unloaded him on the cushion to the bed at the hospital. There they performed a CAT scan to make sure there were no other injuries and then x-rays of his whole body. As soon as they confirmed the femur was broken they called the helicopter to take us to Pittsburgh Childrens.

I immediately ran home to throw a few things into a bag and raced back to the hospital. (We live about 5 minutes away) As soon as I got there the helicopter nurses were there and about to load Caleb onto their cart. They too took him on the cushion and put on his space suit. I was asked to ride the helicopter with him as they really wanted a parent to assist them with communication since he only signs. Under any other circumstances this would have been REALLY COOL, but this time it was nerve racking. I did enjoy the conversation for the 30 minutes it took to fly to Pittsburgh. It truly is amazing what they do in such a small space on those helicopters, you can barely even move around.

Once to Childrens he was unloaded onto their bed on our patio furniture cushion, they got to work and got him even more medicated and apologized right away that the orthopedic surgeon was extremely swamped at the moment and we would be waiting to see her. We arrive in Pittsburgh at 11 pm and Calebs surgery didn't happen until 4 am, at which time Caleb was put to sleep and removed from the cushion. Not a terrible wait, unless your a 4 year old boy with a broken femur. Once they set his leg and casted it we were taken to a room to get some sleep. Tom and I were able to lay down at 6:30 am and sleep until about 8 am, with two interruptions. What an exhausting night!!!

By noon, we were told that if Caleb would eat and drink and keep it down we were free to take him home.. WHAT??!!! WoW.

So by 1:30pm we were loading into the vehicle in a loaner adaptive car seat called a SPICA cast seat and on our way home. Memories of bringing home premature infants who were in the NICU for 6 and 13 weeks, not knowing if I were capable to tending to their needs, the fear of the unknown all came back to me. How am I going to move this little guy around?? Is he going to be able to continue with his summer preschool sessions? How about his other therapies?? How will I go anywhere with him and Isaac?? Is it fair to not allow the older children to goto the pool just because Caleb and I cannot now?? Is it fair to ruin everyone's summer activities because Caleb cannot stay outside if its too hot due to the fact that about 50% of his tiny little body is wrapped in a cast that will melt him in hot weather?? How will I find the strength to get through this?? I'm putting it in God's Hands, I'm leaning on his love for us to get us through this. Everyone always tells me that I am such a strong person, I am just like you all. I am scared of this, I am nervous to hurt my little guy, I am sad that I had so much planned for our summer, I am happy that this situation could have been alot worse. He could have fallen and broken his neck or even worse died. I count my blessings, I thank the Lord, and I thank all of you who will continue to pray for us over the next 8 to 10 weeks.

If you have not watched the montage from yesterdays post take a minute to watch it, you'll get a visual of this story.