Broken Collarbone

Not me or Steve. Audrey. I've always thought that she would have the dubious honor of being the first Nolen kid with a broken bone and she didn't disappoint. Now that I think about it, having none of our kids break a bone wouldn't have been such a huge disappointment.

Anyway - we were in Colorado at my grandmother's house to see her and a couple of my uncles and their families. Mom and Dad were with us, so there were a slew of people there. 16. We were hanging out after dinner. The grownups were chatting and the kids (my 3 and my two teenage cousins) were hanging out in the sunroom (former greenhouse). My cousins Nick and Zach were pushing Audrey and Julie in the swing my grandmother (Gigi) has out there.

Nick had been pushing the girls and was slowing the swing down when Audrey decided to hop out. She made it out of the swing, but landed on her shoulder. After 30 minutes of her in "Full Audrey Drama Mode" complete with tears, screams, hiccups, and lots of indiscernible dialogue, we decided that she was indeed hurt and wasn't going to calm down anytime soon.

Steve and I got her in the car and drove her to the ER in Alamosa. She was the only patient there, so we were seen very quickly. Since it was after her bedtime, she dozed when we got into our room. The doc came in and did a quick exam while she was sleeping. When he touched the spot that she said hurt the most, she woke up. He said it was probably a broken collarbone, but that we'd need x-rays to verify.

A little while later, the x-ray guy came in with a wheelchair and wheeled Steve, holding Audrey, into the x-ray room. After they came back, Audrey was in high spirits and chattered happily for the next twenty minutes. The doc came back, showed us the break on the x-ray and told us Audrey would get a sling.

We waited for twenty or so more minutes, Audrey chattering away, until the nurse came back. He pulled out a size "x-small" sling for Audrey. It's red with little clowns on it. She thinks it's cool. Good thing. We also ended up with copies of the x-rays to show Audrey's doc back here.

We got her in yesterday afternoon and the only thing the doc here did was to add an ace bandage wrap to her sling to keep her arm still. He said that the usual "X" brace they use for older kids and adults doesn't work too well with little kids. She will wear the sling and wrap for 2 weeks until we get back home from Texas and get her back in to see the doctor.

Audrey is doing well with the whole thing. She takes some children's ibuprofen morning and evening and just pretty much does her thing the rest of the day.