Time is flying by and the girls are getting older.
For our first rite of passage - Willa graduated from preschool! She has had a terrific three years of it (and changed schools four times)! She made some great friends, and really enjoyed herself. Here she is with some of her classmates who are going to Kindergarten (Katie, Elizabeth and Ella) and her teachers Miss Beth, Miss Destiny, and Miss Lauren.
Now our big five-year-old is going to kindergarten!
As for the second rite of passage (for both parents and kids), Jia broke her arm! She did it by falling off the monkey bars at school.
That was just the beginning of the drama. I was attending Willa's graduation celebration, so I didn't hear the many phone calls to my cell. Joe received a voice mail from school indicating that she had fractured her arm. Joe couldn't reach me, so he left work to get her. On the way, he called our clinic, and the nurse told him to bring Jia in to see a doctor. I met Joe at the clinic. Her arm was wrapped in a blanket. We unwrapped it and were horrified at how deformed it was. She had broken her hand off at just below the wrist, and it was wedged down sideways. She was in so much pain. My heart broke for her. After a wait, we met with a doctor who told us to visit an orthopedic clinic in Edina. I asked, "Are you certain they can set her arm? It looks really bad." She replied, "Yes, that is what they do."
Off we went to the next clinic. After a much longer wait, we had her arm x-rayed and then we met with a specialist. He told us that there was nothing they could do, that they did not have pain meds for her, and that she needed surgery. He said we had to go to a hospital in St. Paul. I said, "It is now rush hour and that is so far away! She's in so much pain. Can't we go somewhere closer? It will take an hour to get there!" He replied, "No, she needs surgery and they are the best. You need to go there." They assured us that they would call ahead and let them know we were coming.
Off we went to the hospital. It was so hard to get Jia strapped into the car without causing tons of pain. My heart broke for her even more. She was shaking and falling asleep from time to time. I was so worried she was going into shock. We eventually made it through the awful rush hour traffic to the hospital. As we arrived, Joe's cell phone rang. It was the orthopedic clinic saying that the hospital didn't have an ER, so they couldn't take us. We needed to go back through rush hour to the children's hospital in Minneapolis. I was FURIOUS! We turned around and headed back at a snail's pace.
We eventually arrived at the next hospital. Thankfully, Jia was seen immediately, and the doctors there knew what they were doing. Unfortunately, it was hours after she had broken it! They gave her pain meds right away, and later, with a team of ten people, they were able to set it without surgery. Because it was so long before she was properly treated, her arm swelled quite a bit. But we kept it elevated, and gave her lots of TLC, and after a few days, she was feeling so much better.
Here she is at home after all the drama that day/night, and on morphine, PCP (due to the procedure) and oxycodone:
Poor Jia was miserable about missing gymnastics, piano, many birthday parties, camp, not being able to hold her favorite books and losing her dominant hand! It helped that we blinged out her cast with rhinestones and her friends and family signed her cast with a silver marker.
It also helped that her many kind friends at school made her cards. We were blown away by their thoughtfulness and creativity!
The pink poster was done by her best friends in her class. It includes sections on: "Why You Should Be President" with a picture of her standing in front of the flag ("You like to help, You make good suggestions. You are fine in front of a lot of people."); Compliments ("You are a good speller, really tough, never lets me down, sweet girl, my best friend"); a bookmark (because Jia loves to read); and an interactive cutout of someone hanging from monkey bars! We were really touched by the kindness of all these children.
It has been a tough few weeks with Jia being so restricted by having the cast. She is attending camp this upcoming week (with many activities she to avoid to the point where they just told her to bring books). We had another doctor visit this Friday and she got a waterproof cast! Just in the nick of time for camp on Monday! What a huge relief! It is pink and much smaller. They added a glow-in-the-dark strip on top, and we covered it with flower vines and more rhinestones.
Things are looking up!
As for the last rite of passage, Jia is moving on to third grade. Third grade! That's big kid stuff. I cried about that one. She also tested into the gifted program at school. This means more challenges. I know she is up to the task.
Here is a picture after her last day of school:
We are so very proud of our girls!
