Katie recovered well from her Thrush. The Fluconozole cleared it right up. She was feeling good, eating well and getting lots of sleep in the days leading up to her last dose. So, we planned a sledding trip for the upcoming weekend. It was a disaster.
The trip started early Saturday morning. I wanted to get everyone on the hill early while the snow was still icy and fast. Temperatures have been climbing into the 40's during the day lately, and after a few hours of sunlight, the snow turns into slush. But first thing in the morning, it is compact and icy enough to walk on. I chauffeured the family to a hill just a few miles from the house where Amy would start at the top of the hill with the kids and I would wait for them at the bottom. The problem turned out to be that the snow was exactly as fast as I had hoped it would be.
Katie eagerly volunteered to go first. She hopped into her sled and headed for the bottom. Before long she was a little rocket flying down the hill and we could already see the potential for an accident as her sled began veering off the planned course and towards trees and bushes 50 feet off to the side. She was too far up the hill for me to get to in time and she was already too far down the hill for her mother to get to her in time. As I ran up the hill, I hollered to her to turn or roll out of the sled. She sat frozen, not knowing how to prevent the imminent crash and not daring to roll out of the fast moving sled.
As I watched, her sled plowed over the first few small bushes protruding from the snow and started to turn back in the right direction. For just a second, I hoped that she would actually make it through without crashing. Then her sled hit one bush too many end for end, ejecting Katie and sending her through the air for another three or four feet before she touched the ground again. When she hit the ground, she hit standing up and drove one foot into the compact, frozen snow. The rest of her body still had enough momentum to keep tumbling even as that foot tried to stay lodged in the snow. It eventually came loose and she tumbled a couple more times and slid to a stop on her face, already crying out in pain.
I thought she had broken her leg for sure, especially considering how easily she had broken her foot last summer. I quickly established that the only thing that hurt was her leg, and then I carefully took her boot off. Amy had arrived by now and we looked over Katie's leg carefully expecting to see very visible signs of a break. There were none, but Katie was certainly in pain. We took her back to the house to keep an eye on her and wait for the swelling. We didn't wait long. Within fifteen minutes we were on the way to the hospital, Katie sitting in her car seat with her leg carefully propped up on a box and using my coat for padding. To our great surprise, the x-ray showed no broken bones and Katie was sent home with an air cast to provide some support and a little protection.
This all happened five days ago, and Katie still can not bear weight on that foot. She has been at school every day this week, but when it comes time to move from one room to the next, her teacher carries her. When she just has to move around inside the classroom, she crawls. We still have the walker that she was given back when her neuropathy was so bad that she couldn't walk at all, but she refuses to use it. She says that hopping behind the walker hurts and she would rather crawl.
Her spirits are good and she is adapting well to her new limitations, but I sure do wish she didn't have to adapt. Whenever she tells the story, she is quick to point out that the whole trip was her "Daddy's idea" so her sprained ankle is "Daddy's fault". I have to agree. Next winter, we will choose a smaller hill.
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