I, Cascarone

I am typing one-handed these days.

On Saturday night, the Lone Star Baby and I took a walk just before the summer-late sunset and then settled, as we often do, into a plastic lawn chair on our porch to watch night fall. After a bit, we found ourselves in mid-air. The chair just broke and we tumbled off the porch into the grass in the scariest way, me screaming no, no, no! as I tried to catch and cushion the baby, me screaming more when I saw her head touch the grass. She cried quite normally and I scooped her up and rushed for the front door screaming some more.

Lone Star Pa took the baby in and inspected her in the light. Her eyes seemed fine and she seemed fine except for a tiny bruise on her cheek. She said my cheek hurt and calmed right down. My arm was hanging funny and just barely missing painful enough to scream some more, though. I called my mom in Dallas and debated the merits of the children's hospital ER or the grown-up one. After hearing that the baby seemed fine, she told me to get to the grown-up ER. So we went.

I wanted to keep the fam with me until I got to see the triage nurse so she could give the baby a once over, too, but the baby was trying to dismantle the germy waiting area and was scaling all climbable surfaces before long, so I told Lone Star Pa to take the girls home and go to the children's ER if she started acting injured.

I spent most of the night in the ER waiting for various things and holding my arm. They said I had a fracture in my elbow and the orthotech wrapped me up in a huge splint and gave me a sling. He said they don't cast in the ER due to swelling and that I would need to follow up with an orthopedic surgeon on Monday. Lone Star Pa and the girls came to get me in the wee hours.

On Easter, there were Easter baskets and an Easter egg hunt and cascarone smashing for the girls, and they had fun, but we stayed home instead of going to Meeting and hunting eggs at my Grandad's house because I did not feel so great.

I called a friend from work whose husband is an orthopedic surgeon and she got me in for the next day. On Monday, Lone Star Pa took me to the appointment and the doctor had some great news. It is a tiny break in the best part of the elbow to break and I just need a sling and to be careful with it and I should be driving by next week! Whew! I even went to work (for 11 hours) today.

I am glad my elbow is not badly hurt and mostly am just deeply, deeply grateful that the Lone Star Baby seems just fine (if mildly freaked by my diminished capacity). A wonderful Easter in my heart!