Tying Down a Toddler

Okay, so maybe we won't actually do that but we sure feel like it! (Or maybe just wrapping her in many layers of bubble wrap.) It started on Thursday night and will go on for at least 3 more weeks. Here's the story from the beginning:

Thursday night as we were sitting down for supper, Anna fell sideways out of her chair and landed pretty hard on her left side. Eric and I took turns holding her for about 2 hours, then I laid down with her in her bed hoping she'd fall asleep. She kept pointing to the lower, left side of her neck saying that it hurt. One of my first thoughts was that she had either a broken shoulder or collar bone. Eric was thinking it might just be bruised or sprained because she could still move her hand pretty good. So, we turned to the medical books we have and the internet for answers. By the end, we were both pretty convinced that it was a broken collar bone. Since it was late and we couldn't call our doctor, we decided to wait until morning and not do anything until we could reach him. He suggested a hospital for us to bring her to for x-rays. We were still pretty nervous because sometimes the medical care here is not quite up to date, but we decided to go and at least see what they had to say. The doctor we met was excellent. Eric told him what happened and what we suspected. The doctor felt her collar bone for a second and agreed with us. After having an x-ray, we went back to meet with the doctor again. The nurse tried to make one of us stay out, but the doctor made sure we could both be there. Once in the room again, he told us that Anna would need to have an eight brace (can't remember the exact name, and it's probably different than ones in America, but works the same). Anna was brought over to a stool where two nurses were going to put the brace on her. Even though the doctor was very gentle and kind, the nurses were typical Ukrainian nurses (if you have ever watched a movie portraying Russian nurses, than you might have an idea). Anna started crying (screaming was more like it, I'm sure everyone in the hallway was scared to death to see that doctor after hearing her) and trying to move away, which made them jerk her around and raise their voices telling her things like "stay still". Again, they tried to make us leave but the doctor let us stay. I sat as close as I could to Anna, talking to her trying to calm her down. Eventually she settled down and talked with me. The nurses seemed better by the time we left and even told me "Good job Mama". When I talked to Lina about it afterwards, she told me that they don't really care, they just want to get the job done. She said when her son Max had to have stitches on a big cut on his head, they wouldn't even let her in! Eric and I were amazed at how bad the "bedside manners" were.

Now we get to the "tying down" or "bubble wrapped" toddler. The "brace" they put on Anna has made her feel much better, so much so that she wants to run all through the house! She is supposed to wear a sling (scarf) and not move that arm much, but every time I turn around she's has her arm halfway out picking up things. She has even fallen once since yesterday! I didn't want to put her on the couch while I was in the kitchen, so she decided to lean against it then ended up sliding to the floor. If we make it through the next few weeks without her making it worse or breaking it again it will truly be a miracle! We go see the doctor (and hopefully kinder nurses) again on Thursday to have them cut off the first "brace" and wrap on another one, just a little tighter than the first one. We praise the Lord that He led us to a good doctor and that Anna's injury is not a severe one (or one that we would have to worry about whether or not they were doing things correctly).