Hectic Times

OK, I really wanted to get back on track with my blog after the holidays.  It seems that just wasn't in the cards.

As you may have remembered that my youngest ( I only have two) daughter was 8 1/2 months pregnant, and wishing she could have the baby before the new year.  That  said,  here is the story of our Christmas.

Juli, her sister and another friend of hers from Columbia wanted to cook us some traditional Colombian food.  Everything was wonderful. It was getting to be after 8:00pm and time for grand kids to be in bed waiting for Santa to arrive.  So my oldest daughter (Elizabeth), her husband, and their three kids headed home. I am so lucky to have them only about 3 blocks away.  Juli, her sister and their friend also headed home.

About 20 minutes later Brian (Elizabeth's husband) called to tell us that Elizabeth had fallen and probably broke her leg.  He told me that he needed to hang up because the ambulance had just arrived.  So, discussion at my house started as to how bad it was and who was going to the ER to see her.  A few minutes later, my phone rang and my youngest daughter answered it.  It was Elizabeth saying that her leg was dislocated.  Missy (my youngest daughter) said that Elizabeth sounded in good spirits and did not seem upset.  After that conversation, we decided that I would wait 20 to 30 min. and then head to the ER.

On my way to the small local ER, my phone rings and it is Brian.  He informed me that Elizabeth was not a the local small ER but at the main county hospital.  I turned the car around and asked him why they had taken her to the hospital. His response was that the local ER could not handle her.

When I arrived, I was not prepared for what had happened.  When Elizabeth fell, she hyper extended her knee and  had destroyed the PCL, LCL, MCL. She had partially torn the ACL.  The doctors were afraid that she would lose her leg.  They called in a specialist because they needed to take her into the OR under general anesthesia to set the leg back in place.  That also meant a 24 hour  stay in the hospital.  I stayed with her until 2:30 in the morning. But with 3 small children expecting Santa to arrive I needed to be home when everyone arrived in the morning for Christmas.  We tried to have as normal a Christmas as we could under the circumstances. We were able to Skype Elizabeth from the hospital so she got to see her kids open up their presents.  She was released in the afternoon and wanted to come over to the house for Christmas afternoon/evening.

To make matters worse, her husband Brian headed to Afghanistan on the 26th of December leaving behind Elizabeth, a nine month old, 21 month old and a 7 year old.

All that said, my crafts and free time have been put on hold.