I spent the whole summer with the child - no camp, even - primarily sitting in the skating rink. It was all she wanted to do for the summer, so I didn't schedule anything else. Last summer I used to leave her at the rink and go get some exercise until the day she hit her head on the ice. (Whenever I try to overcome my hovering tendencies, bad things happen...) So I decided to stick around this summer and get my exercise by walking around the rink.
So she was ready, REALLY ready for her competition in early September. It was even possible that she would land all her jumps (something that hadn't happened in a competition yet this season). She was scheduled to skate on the second day of the competition (which coincidentally happened to be her second day of school) at 7:30 in the morning. Now it may not appear that I am not a morning person (especially to those of you who saw me at the rink every morning) but I am most definitely NOT. So it was particularly unpleasant that morning when the alarm went off at 4:30 am. We got up. We got her dressed. We put her hair into a bun and even put mascara on her eyelashes. We both managed to eat something and then we were on the road - heading for the 6:30 "practice ice".
I don't love to drive in the dark. I never expect that I will be driving in the dark in the morning. But I was. We got to the rink and our friends had signed us up for the practice ice (which had actually started a half an hour earlier than we expected) so we were very happy. When she got on the ice, it was crowded and it took awhile before she could find the spots to jump. But she was good, she was strong... When her coach arrived, I wandered off... to chat, to register, to order a video, to see where she was scheduled in the skating order. She would skate 4th in the first group (of the first event) right after her friend. That was a relief. They would cheer each other on!
After awhile the coach had her get off the ice so she didn't get too tired out. It was still before 7 am after all. But she was hot. And then she was cold. I think she was mostly just nervous but I knew she was ready.
When the time came for the competition to begin, I was trying to find blush for her cheeks. By the time I found some, she had already been called out for the 5 minute warm up. I left her with her coach and went to find a spot in the bleachers for her dad and me to sit...
The next thing I knew she was sitting on the ice, her shoulders going up and down like she was laughing. But then the sound reached me across the arena and I heard the cries. Running, I managed to dodge parents, skaters and skating bags (passing my husband on the way) and got to the ice just as her coach and someone else were carrying her off. She couldn't put any weight on it. This was not a good thing at all.
Somehow we got her out of there... we didn't leave until her friend had finished skating but I honestly didn't see any of it. She had to be carried to the car, with her skate still on (we took the other one off) to go where? I didn't know - the pediatrician? The emergency room?? Her dad followed us in the car as I drove back to the valley in the midst of morning rush hour traffic, trying in vain to get the pediatrician on the phone and listening to my baby girl cry harder than she ever had in her life.
Okay, even I can't take this play by play any more... let's just say, the ER doctor gave us hope and that helped us get through the weekend. We thought it was possibly a slight fracture, maybe just a sprain - either way it was going to heal quickly and we just had to wait and see which of her upcoming competitions she would still be able to participate in. It wasn't until the Tuesday after Labor Day, 4 days after the "fall", that we would be able to see an orthopedist and get all the bad news... fracture, growth plate, full leg cast. It was definitely "suckish", to quote my daughter.
Four to six weeks in a full leg cast. Obviously we didn't need to worry about which competitions she would get to. She wouldn't get to any. It was not a sprain. It was a break. And that was what we would now be on...
It's been interesting to live a life without so many extracurricular activities. There is no more skating, no more dancing, no more basketball... she can't even go to choir practice because she'd have to climb a flight of stairs! Piano is the only activity that has survived but just barely... if she weren't flexible enough to hold her leg out to the side while she plays, piano would have had to go on hiatus too. (If only we'd had a grand piano!) I was home in time to make dinner. Homework didn't have to be started in the car and finished long after bedtime. She was asleep at a reasonable time and even had time to watch mindless television. I played game after game of solitaire on my phone and Plants vs. Zombies on my iPad.
We are one week into this thing. And at this point I can tell you two things - that silver sharpie looks great on a purple cast and I am so tense giving her a bath, I'm afraid I need to go on anti-anxiety medication!
So it's a break. It's not the ideal way to start the school year, but I guess it's not the worst way either. It's pretty intense though - having to get to school early to find a parking place close enough so she doesn't have to maneuver her crutches through the parking lot, carrying her absurdly heavy backpack into her classroom before school begins, getting back there early enough to get a good parking spot for pick up, and getting her from her classroom so I can carry the absurdly heavy backpack back out to the car... saying hello and thanks to all the sweet classmates who have carried her stuff all day, who have given her little gifts and written get well cards, who have written on her cast with silver sharpie and run off to play at recess, grateful that they are not weighed down by a full leg cast.
So now I'm required to hover. So far I'm not exactly loving it.
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1 comment:
How is this going? Is she doing any better these days?
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