Broken

We have had the worst week to date I will not soon forget March 11.  Two weeks ago after I had got back to work from lunch my mom called me at work and told me that she had just got back to my house with the twins from visiting my grandma and there was a fire truck and police at my house.  Someone had called the fire department and told them that my house was on fire.  My mom and the fire department checked out our house and there was no fire.  A fire in my house is my absolute worst fear, so thank goodness there was no fire.  She called me a short time later to say that our land lord had called her and asked if the house was on fire because a neighbor had called her and told her it was on fire.  Right then I knew that our neighbor had something to do with this all because this is not our first time with police at our house because of him.  He has been one of those mean, nosey neighbors.  I didn't know why he was telling people our house was on fire but I would soon find out.  I got home from work and as soon as I walked in the door our landlord was calling.  I picked up the phone and right away she said ugh - that neighbor of yours.  She wanted to know if Greg had been burning anything in our yard earlier, I peeked out back and saw that he had our fire pit out with some burnt wood in it, so I told her it looked like he had.  She said that was why the neighbor called the fire department and also told me of horrible instances where this neighbor had harassed other tenants.  When Greg got home I told him all about the fire department being her and the landlord calling.  He explained that he did have a little fire going but that he was outside with it the entire time and he made sure it was out before he went to work and the neighbor was even outside and saw him.  We came to find out that he told the fire department our house was on fire to get them to our house in hopes that they would see Greg burning something and write us a ticket!  Needless to say this was all just very annoying and it is tiring and stressful to have such a awful neighbor.

When we finally got all the neighbor issues over we sat down and ate dinner.  After dinner I wanted to watch one of my girlie shows and Greg didn't so he went into our bedroom and watched tv.  I was about 20 minutes into my show when I heard a crash and Jaelee started crying.  Greg and I both got to her at about the same time.  She was laying on the floor next to a toy trike with a mouth full of milk and crying.  I told Greg to sit her up before she choked on her milk and then I picked her up.  The twins fall over things and even fall on their own a million times a day so we didn't think much of this particular fall.  I just held her for about 10 minutes while she continued to cry.  Greg said she was just milking it and she needed to stop crying.  We put her in her room in hopes she would calm down.  After 5 minutes I went in there to check on her and she was still crying.  I noticed that she wasn't moving her leg and she was holding it saying ow owie.  I screamed to Greg that something was wrong and he came in and moved her leg around. He looked up at me and said we need to go to the hospital.  I scooped her up in my arms, Greg picked up Jayse and we got in the jeep and headed to the ER.

On the way there Greg told me that when he moved Jaelee's leg he cold feel grinding and he thought her femur was broken.  I started to shake.  I was so scared for my little girl and I just could not put together how she would of broken her femur falling over a toy.  When we got to the ER they took us back to a room right away and examined Jaelee's leg and asked us how this happened.  We told the Dr. we weren't really sure because we didn't see her.  They took her back for xrays and gave her some pain medicine.  The Dr. came back a while later and told us that she had a spiral break in her femur.  I started crying harder.  My poor little girl with a broken leg and she isn't even 2.  Then the Dr. told us that something like this just doesn't happen from falling over a toy and that it is common in child abuse.  She said that Jaelee was going to have to be transported to another hospital and admitted.  She told us it was her duty to call child protective services and that someone would be coming to talk to us.  I couldn't even think or grasp what she was saying.  I think I lost it at that point.  I told Greg to hold Jaelee and I called my mom sobbing.

After several hours another Dr. came in and put a splint on her leg to be transported.  He was a very nice guy and told us that he had a Dr. friend that had a little boy that got injured and child protective services had been contacted in that case too.  He told us that it was standard.  He mentioned something about the police and a home visit once Jaelee was back at home and  I started to cry harder.

We had been at the ER for about 5 hours when the ambulance finally arrived to transport Jaelee to the other hospital.  She had to be transported so she could be admitted into the hospital because she had to be put under anesthesia in the morning for them to put her cast on.  Jaelee and I rode in the ambulance and Greg went home to get me some pajamas and met us at the hospital.  Jaelee and I got the hospital and went to her room, Greg followed shortly after and I went into the bathroom to change.  When I came out there were 3 uniformed officers and a social worker there waiting for me.  They asked me to follow them into another room to ask me some questions.  I had been dreading this so I asked the nurse for some tissue.  I asked if I could sit down and they started asking me every detail about us and the accident.  At times I was crying so hard I couldn't even talk.  I am very grateful to these people and what they do because it would be a hard job and one that I would not want do.  There are many kids out there that need their protection but when faced with it, I just felt over whelmed.  I was hurting, sad for Jaelee and shocked.  I still could not believe she broke her femur and I thought we would go to the ER and she would get a cast and we would be back home in bed within a few hours.  I never dreamed we would be transported, talking to police, and be in the pre-surgery area in the morning.  After they spoke with me they talked with Greg briefly.  He went home to get some sleep and I stayed the night with Jaelee.

It was a long 4 hours - everytime she would fall asleep she would have a spasm and wake up.  They eventually gave her some valium which is supposed to help with that and it did for a few hours but there was a nurse coming in every  45 minutes to check her vitals - so neither of us got much sleep.  At 6:30 they came to transport her to the operating area - we have been there a few times with Jayse.  I had hoped we would never be back there.  I met the Dr. that would be putting her cast, on and he was really nice.  He explained that children her age do not take well to setting their leg and putting a cast on - hense the need to put her under anesthesia.  He told me that she would have a cast from her waist to her ankles and she would wear it for 6 weeks.  Also he said that the good thing was that she was so young and she would heal perfectly, in 6 months you wouldn't be able to tell she ever broke her leg and he said that since she was so young she would never remember this - unfortunately I will.  He also reassured me that the CPS was standard for her kind of break.  After they took her away I went to the waiting room and shortly after Greg met me there with Jayse.  We waited for her to be finished and then went back to the recovery area to see her.  She was really sleepy and after an hour they transported her to her room.  Even though they told me what her cast would look like it is still hard when you see it.  Your precious little girl in a half body cast is just sad.  I have to say I love the St. Lukes downtown, the staff is always so friendly and helpful.  Greg had to work so he took Jayse home a short while later.  Jaelee and I stayed at the hospital and got a few hours of sleep.  Then I talked to another social worker who again reassured me that calling CPS was standard procedure.  While Jaelee slept I snuck down to the cafeteria for some lunch.

I pulled Jaelee around the hospital in a wagon for hours - like I did with Jayse when he was in the hospital.  I think they just love being out of that stuffy hospital room.  Greg came to visit us after work and shortly after the doctor came by to check on her and checked us out.  We got to go home around 6 in the evening.  Jaelee was still pretty tired and had a lot of medicine in her systems so we went to bed pretty early and slept through the whole night.  The next day she did not want to take her pain medicine.  It smelt pretty bad so I could understand.  We tried mixing it with juice but that just made her vomit - twice.  We had to give her 2 sponge baths.  Greg finally got her to take some by giving her a popsicle. 

Things have been pretty rough at times, a few days after we came home CPS came by to do their home visit.  I was at work but Greg was home.  They just wanted to see Jaelee and her room.  Before they left they told Greg it was obvious we love our kids and would recommend the case be closed.  I was so re-leaved to have it over with.  Our nosey awful neighbor came by and apologized. Jaelee gets really frustrated at times - she wants to stand up and play with her brothers, she pulls at her cast and says off.  We have tried to keep her busy with books, movies, magnets, crafts, chalk, and lots of wagon rides.  Because all she can do is lay on her back or be propped up her hair in the back gets all ratted up into a big fuzzy mess - it is not fun to brush out.  We have 25 days and counting until her cast comes off.