What A Long Day! Get It Down Day 4

Paige and I spent the whole day at CHEO today. And I mean the whole day. We left here at 8, arrived at the hospital around 9:45 and didn't see her orthopedic doctor until 2:30. Its always like that in that clinic. Too many kids with too many broken bones!

The news for Paige is not wonderful. Not only is her knee dislocated, her hip is as well. The dr. tried twice to put it back in, but it is just too painful for her. She has an insane level of pain tolerance, and she was obviously hurting. She had a bad night last night too. She wasn't able to settle in and sleep very well. No position was comfortable for her.

We weren't able to get very good x-rays because she couldn't extend her leg out at all.

So, tomorrow, we go back, where they will admit her, sedate her, and try to put everything back where it belongs. I imagine she may end up casted, as he said it needed to be stabilized and rested for a while afterward.

He is hopeful he can get some good x-rays while she is asleep and possibly an MRI. He said that he wouldn't have time to do any "major" surgery tomorrow, but he wouldn't be surprised if this latest incident has brought us to the point where it will be sooner or later.

I hope we haven't pushed the envelope too far - I want her to walk, but more than that, I want her pain free.

She's so good to take to the hospital, so easy to entertain, and so patient to wait. Such a little love.

We spent lots of time people watching. Five hours in a waiting room that had probably 100 people in it will do that to you!

I always look at people and think, "I wonder what his story is - I wonder what she is thinking about." Everybody has a story, and there are probably a good mix of wonderfully uplifting stories and horrible stories all sitting in the same room.

Paige had a little v-tech toy with her that spells out words, sings little song, etc. It's got lots of pages on it, and lots to keep her busy. About 10 feet from us was this tall, lanky 15-ish looking boy, who had pants 8 sizes too big, a hoodie with the hood pulled up, and ear buds cranking music out. Dakotah refers to kid's who dress like this as "gangsta"

He had a casted arm - probably a skateboarding accident or something like that. He was impatient and had a doting mother who tried to make conversation with him every few minutes. He would roll his eyes, take his ear buds out, grunt at her, and then go back to whatever gameboy type thing it was that he was playing.

After a while, his batteries died in his ipod. Well...he slumped even more, sighed, tapped, etc. And he kept giving Paige really dirty looks. He was staring at her toy as if to tell her to stop playing with it.

His mother said to him, "honey, do you want to move to the other side of the room?"

What she should have said to him was, "grow up - everyone here is tired of waiting - deal with it." And then she should have remarked how patient Paige was being, how well behaved she was acting.

He could have learned a lesson from her. All this from a child who is going on no sleep, and a very painful problem.

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At one point, a woman probably in her late 40's came over to see her. I guess I've come to recognize the people who are happy to meet Paige. She started talking to her, asking Paige to show her the toy, etc. We chatted for a bit, and she told me she had two kids with Down syndrome, both almost 11. I was like, "Oh, wow, how neat! Are they twins?"

No...they are both adopted!! A boy and a girl, born just one day apart from one another. How cool is that??

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Like I said, I have started to be able to recognize people who "get it" and those who don't. We also met a don't today. She stared at us in a "what's wrong with that kid" kind of way. Eventually she started to talk to me.

She said, "Is she yours?" I didn't even really understand what she meant. When it clicked, I said, "Yes, she is my daughter." "Oh," she says, "I just wondered because sometimes you see people who take them out just to get them out for the day."

O.k. First of all, Paige goes out all the time, and goes wherever we go. And, she goes to school every day. And last of all, she is NOT a "them."

I take a deep breath, and say with lots of cheer in my voice, "Oh, Paige and I go all kinds of places together when she's not in school."

"She goes to school?" *sigh* yes, she goes to school.

Then she launches into this story that goes something like this, "My mother had this friend who had a daughter that never grew. The doctors told her mother she would die when she was born. Back then, they didn't do anything for them like they do now. But, she is the same age as me, and I'm 42, and she's still alive."

Not understanding how this story had anything to do with me, I just kind of said, "hmmm...wow."

But that didn't deter her. She persevered. She actually said to me, "Do you have any other kids?" I said, "Yes, Paige has an older sister." Then she says: "IS THERE ANYTHING WRONG WITH HER TOO?"

Excuse me, what??!?!

I said, "No, both of my children are pretty healthy." This time with a little irritation in my voice. And she continued! She said, "Its funny how it happens, you just never know, one kid can be fine and the other one can be like this." (pointing to Paige.)

Oh boy.

I said to her, "Paige can hear, I'd prefer it if you spoke to her instead of about her."

Finally, finally, she pulled back. I guess she figured a mom who has to deal with such problems as I do can be a little touchy.

She's right. I always get touchy around people who chose to be ignorant.