Manic Monday - 4-Wheelers

Ok, so another low point...

Two days after we arrived in La Grande I decided to take my kids for a ride on Granpa's new 4-wheeler. You must understand that in my lifetime I have driven and riden on many a 4-wheeler, but never an automatic 8-cyl one. So, with all the kids in tow and Aqeel at the college siging up for school, we loaded onto the 4-wheeler and over to the empty field at the end of our block. The first couple trips around the field were fun and pretty uneventful so I decided to let Aysia drive. She got in the front and drove the rest of us around the field about 2x. Then it was Amaya's turn. We were facing a neighbor's horse pasture and Amaya pushed on the throttle and would not let go. I panicked as I saw the barbed wire fence and fence post right in front of us and froze. In my mind I was thinking "take her hand off the throttle" but I just froze. So, we easily porceeded through the fence. Next in our path were two horses. Again panicking I decided to try to turn. This resulted in me flipping the 4-wheeler 1 and 1/2 turns. The children were all ok except a few small bruises and scrapes. I however hit the manure and kept slidding for about 2-3feet. When I finaly came to a stop I tried to get up, but couldn't. For some reason my whole left side was numb and I couldn't breathe easily. Out of nowhere a man and his wife came running to our aide. They called the ambulance and I decided to explore my injuries. My upper right arm was extremely swollen and I was sure it was either broken or I had a dislocated shoulder. My right leg was painfully sore, but I couldn't sit up to look at it. Aysia ran back to Granpa's and fetched my brother Jaime who called Aqeel. The ambulance then arrived and strapped me to the transport bed and Aqeel and Jamie were able to give me a blessing before the ambulance pulled off. I was covered from head to toe in dirt and manure and earned the top award for dirtiest patient to ever enter the ER!!! The doctor cleared me for any neck, head,or back injuries and I went back for x-rays. The x-ray tech was so nice and gentle and found a broken humurous on my right side. For those of you who don't know bones, this is the bone between the shoulder and elbow. The ER doc put my arm in a splint and sent me off with some oxycodine and a referal to the orthopedic Dr for further assesment. The only wound to my leg was a punture wound from the barbed wire for which I was treated with a tetnus shot and bandage.

Four days later I met with Dr. Warren who placed me in a plastic hydrolic arm brace. This brace squeezes the arm to lengthen it and allow the bones to reset and heal naturally. It was pretty painful at first, but now (1 week later) I have no pain and mobility in my hand and forearm. According to the Dr. I will be in this dumb thing for "months" so we will see how this whole recovery thing goes. One benefit is that I no longer have to change diapers as I am unable to do so with only one fully functioning arm!!!!! Poor Aqeel has been so accomodating and has completely taken over as mother & father for our family. I am sooo lucky to have him around!!!