Painful Friday, OUCH!

I was on my way...when I got the call....

"Hello Kathy, this is Debbie in the office at Northside school..." her voice trailed off, but sounded so happy to have reached me. "We tried calling you at home but got your machine. Katie broke her collar bone. What hospital do you want the ambulance to take her to?"

"WHAT!!" somehow I wasn't prepared for that news.

"Yeah, I know this is a shock, but the paramedics say she's doing great, they just need to know what hospital you want her to go to, Auburn or Placerville?"

My head was still visualizing my daughter crying in pain. "Uhmmm, take her to Auburn, I'm on the freeway going to Roseville right now, so I'll turn around and go back to Auburn."
"Okay, thanks Kathy." click.

I tried calling my husband. He should be at home...No answer. Where is he? I tried his cell. No answer.
Before I could close my phone, I got another call from Debbie.
"Hello."
"Hi Kathy, hey listen they can't take her to Auburn because the accident is a trauma, they have to take her to Roseville Trauma Center."

"TRAUMA!!"
okay, to me "trauma" sounds bad!

"Uh, Okay, I take the next exit and go back to Roseville. Thanks Debbie."
click.

Now I'm trying to drive, wondering where my husband is, thinking about Katie in an ambulance, looking at the time (school's almost out, who will pick up my other daughter from school), and then it hit me..
Where is Roseville Trauma Center?
I know I've been there before when Thea had her accident, but where is it again?

No problem, I'll just call Debbie back.
I recently got a new cell phone, and I don't have my numbers all entered into it yet. I couldn't easily find the number for the last person who called me. This was frustrating.

I got out the address book from my purse and called my friend, Denise. No answer.
She's at the school! Most parents are going to be at the school for Valentine parties because school will be closed on Monday.

I have a fairly good memory and this time it didn't fail me. I found it! The hospital is next to sunsplash, just off the freeway. As I was just about to walk inside, my cell phone rang again.

"Hello"
"Hello, Mrs. -------. This is ??? (I don't remember his name). I'm the paramedic taking care of your daughter. We can't take her to Roseville because it's closed."

He sounded so happy that I thought he was joking! Hospitals don't close, I'm right here, they're not closed!"

"Who is this? You're joking with me right?"

"No mam. I wouldn't joke about something like this. I'm the paramedic, -----. We're just coming up out of the canyon and we're taking Katie to Auburn Faith Hospital."

Now I felt like an idiot. This really is the paramedic!
"Sorry, I thought you were kidding. I'm at the Roseville Trauma Center right now and they're not closed."

"oh, I meant closed to severely injured patients. They're too full. Katie is doing great, she'll be fine."

I asked to speak with her.

She was alright. *sigh*. Still, I couldn't wait to see her.

I got back in the car and finally reached Michael (my husband). He had been at the grocery store. No cell service in Georgetown. He'll stay home and pick up Megan.
another *sigh*.

It was a slow motion 70 mph ride back to Auburn. Long lines at the lights and pedestrians taking baby steps in the crosswalk.
Finally, I got there. I ran into the ER before anyone could call me and tell me something different. Immediately I saw a parent I knew in the waiting room and I thought, why is Chris here?
She was wondering the same thing about me. We chatted for a moment while I waited for my turn at the counter.

Room 9. She's in room 9.

I found it fast, like a women possessed. Get out of my way, I'm a mother on a mission!

However, nurses here see moms like me all the time and somehow managed to stop me.

"Here, sign these forms! Here, here and initial here."
"FINE!!" at this point I'll sign anything! Just let me see my girl!

After that everything slowed down. I stood with Katie as she lay in her huge wheeled bed. She had an IV and her finger was stuck inside a monitoring device that reads your pulse and oxygen levels. It hurt to move and she was covered in bits of grass, but overall she was doing well.

My phone started beeping. Low battery. Soon it was dead.

We talked and joked about the entire event.
She was playing football at recess. She caught the ball and a boy tackled her. She heard a crack and pop followed by severe pain.
The exrays revealed that yep, it's broken. The most common break for football players.

Football? I thought I had girls? Tom Boys. I have tom boys.

3-4 weeks in a strap that pulls you shoulders back to make you stand upright.

Luckily a chocolate milkshake from McDonalds has healing powers. Especially for a girl who just got braces put on her teeth the day before.

By the time we got home, all her friends had called, including the principal. One of Megan's friends even stopped by with a sweet little book she had made to help Katie feel better.

Megan. If I had any doubts about the relationship between my girls, I don't now. They were incredibly sweet to each other.
Megan, along with a bunch of other 2nd and 3rd graders saw the firetruck and the ambulance come. Katie asked to see her when she was on the ground and Megan kissed her on the cheek.

I'm so thankful this interaction happened because rumors of the accident raged throughout the school the rest of the day, from "Katie broke both her shoulders and one leg" to "Katie's in a coma!" Megan of course already knew the truth. During her valentine party she wrote "I love you Katie" on a big heart for her sis.

Katie, in the car ride home said "I'm glad this happened to me and not Megan. She is younger and I don't think she could handle it."

I love my girls so much. This accident put life in perspective. My kids. My family. They need me.
Suddenly my weekend of solitude didn't seem so necessary.