In October, Lumen stayed with my parents overnight while Tyler and I went out. That evening, I got a call from my mom and she explained that Lumen had fallen off the bed and had landed on her arm funny, but that she seemed okay despite being in a little pain. So Lumen went to sleep that night and we weren't too concerned. The next morning when we picked her up, she still seemed to be in a lot of pain, so we decided to call the doctor. Since the offices were closed for the weekend, we hesitantly took her to the ER, where we waited through exams. The doctor thought that maybe her elbow had been dislocated, so she tried to pop it back in place, then we waited for relief, but it had left her in even more pain. Poor girl! So finally, they decided to take her in for X-rays, where we learned that her elbow had actually been fractured. We were all shocked because of how Lumen had been so calm about a broken bone for the past 24 hours.
Waiting in the ER was the hardest part, knowing our two-year-old had a broken arm and there was no relief in the moment. So we did the best we could at keeping her entertained.
Finally, they wrapped her arm in a splint and gave her a sling, and we were discharged after five hours at the hospital.
We took her in to the orthopedic surgeon, who gave her a glow-in-the-dark cast and ordered her to wear it for a month. She adjusted so quickly, and even the next day was jumping on the couches again and climbing around. For Halloween, she wanted to be a lion, so I scoured Target on the 31st and happened to find ONE lion costume and it happened to be in her size. Luckily, it barely fit over her cast too. She happily trick-or-treated for the first time and got tons of candy.
She loved letting her friends sign her cast and showing it off, and Tyler drew pictures all over it.
When it was time for the cast to come off, she was really nervous about the sawing it off part, and even freaked out a little bit while taking X-rays because she associated it with her traumatic experience in the ER. She was so brave though! I can't believe what a tough little girl she is. The whole thing was a big learning experience for me as a mom, having to keep my cool in an emergency and not panicking when I see my kid in pain. It's still really hard not to hover and cringe and tell her to "be careful" like a broken record when she's playing!
