Evelyn Sanchez, Hawaii and broken bones..

Several years ago we went on a family vacation to Hawaii. Sailor had just turned 3. We rented an amazing house on the beach in Kawela Bay and were meeting Vanz's brother and kids and some friends there. Vanz was excited for visits to campus, seeing old friends and Shrimp Truck and lets be honest, the real reason he took us there... surfing.

Sailor in Hawaii 2006

The trip ended up being a little bit of a letdown. It rained 8 out of 10 of the days. The locals told us that was the most rain they'd had in years. By the time we were scheduled to fly home we could not have been more ready. We had a red-eye and were counting down the hours. We got to the airport and began the check in process. We were pretty sure that nothing could make the trip worse at this point.

We had lots of bags and surfboards and they were stacked in a pile after being lugged into the airport. Vanz set the carseat on top of the pile. Sailor was starting to get irritable, as all of us were and Vanz set her in the carseat on top of the luggage which was an anything but steady surface. The carseat fell off with Sailor inside. She landed with the carseat on top of her.

My first reaction was that she hit her head, but she instead had landed with all her weight on her wrist. We knew right away that something was really wrong. It was red, swollen and she was inconsolable. We made the decision to continue with the flight, give her some pain medication, Vanz gave her a blessing and we continued home. She slept most of the flight and about an hour before we landed woke up in terrible pain.

We landed, dropped of our things at home and headed to the doctor. She was sent for x-rays and we found out that she did indeed fracture her wrist. Poor little girl. Because she was so little they just braced her with a splint for a few weeks and then she had to brace it with a smaller brace for a few more weeks. She healed very well, in very little pain and we thought that would be the last time her wrist gave us a problem.

Sailor with her wrist brace#2

(I actually do not have one photograph of the original brace, splint or sling)

Until this week.

I got a call from the school nurse in the afternoon that Sailor had fallen off the monkey bars, hurt her wrist and was really upset. As soon as I heard "wrist" I became concerned. I had to go look back at her x-rays from the previous injury to even remember which wrist she initially hurt. The left. I woke Hobie up from a nap, got to school and saw Sailor quietly sobbing in the corner. I saw it was her left wrist and I just knew. Our wonderful school nurse Shelly wrapped her up and gave her a sling. She also told me that Miss Sailor had to be the most popular girl at school. She said she had never seen so many concerned friends and visitors in the health office. She had to lock the door to keep them out. She said some kids had even faked an injury to check on her.

We gathered her belongings and headed to the Urgent Care. We checked in and went to the waiting area. And waited. This is where Ms. Evelyn Sanchez comes to play. They kept coming out and calling her name. They paged her on the intercom. We saw people arrive after us and see the doctors before us. I kept telling myself that even though that 15 year old boy looked like nothing on earth was wrong with him, perhaps he had internal bleeding. That had to be more serious than a broken limb. I asked people who newly arrived to the waiting area if they were Evelyn Sanchez. No one. I figured the sooner she was seen, the sooner we could go in.

On the third round of Evelyn Sanchez-ing, I asked the nurse A) if she could please press play on the kids movie in the waiting area that had been stuck on the main menu for 30 minutes and B) if this Evelyn Sanchez was MIA, could we take her place. She was really nice and was surprised we hadn't yet been called. We gave her our name and she said that she didn't have our paperwork. I told her that I placed it in the file and they grabbed it. She looked on her computer..nothing. She asked if we checked in and paid. Of course we did. I said, "look here is my receipt" which I had hastily put in my bag once it was given to me. And as I looked for our name I realized that it said EVELYN SANCHEZ!

The nurse and all the doctors were so great. It was the stupid receptionist who I wanted to kill. The nurse went and took care of the check in for us and immediately got Sailor some much needed pain meds and brought my kids some juice. I was so grateful because poor Hobie only got some Trader Joes kitty crackers for lunch that I grabbed on my way out the door to get Sailor. We were sent for x-rays and guess what?

Broken. Same. Exact. Spot.

By the time we got her temporary cast set Sailor was feeling nothing but happiness. In typical Sailor fashion, she was the talk of the Urgent Care the whole time. One doctor asked if she had been at a party because she was dressed so nice. That is our Sailor. Always fancy, even for school. A nurse asked if I let her wear makeup. What kind of question is that? She is 7. She kept going on and on about her beautiful skin, long eyelashes and rosy cheeks. She just must have looked at me with no shower, zero makeup and barely brushed hair and wondered how I could look so opposite. Maybe they were just trying to make us all feel better. A total stranger even walked up to her and told her that she was the prettiest little girl he'd ever seen. I like to think these compliments are all a personal reflection of my good genes. At least that it what I kept telling myself as I realized how terrible I looked. I am sure it was all meant to cheer her up. But in reality, Sailor handled it wonderfully.

She is in the temporary cast past her elbow until we see a specialist on Tuesday and then a regular cast. The doctor said he was surprised they didn't cast her last break, but I am holding out a glimmer of hope that they won't have to this time either once the specialist looks at it. He basically told me to keep dreaming on that one. The good news is that it is her left hand and she is right handed, she got a gorgeous new hospital gown of her very own, and she is really excited to get a fancy cast that people can sign. She also told me that she is going to "hire" someone to carry her things for her. I'd like to hire that same person if they are available.

The not so good news is that she is one of the lead angels in Nutcracker this year and has 9 upcoming performances. Her current cast is past her elbow and does not allow her to bend her arm. Hopefully her permanent cast will be below the elbow. We will assess how and if that will work out once we see the Dr. on Tuesday.

So little Evelyn and I will be holding our breath until then.