As we stood outside our daughter's hospital room I said to Angela, "We have had only a handful of bad days together, and this is definitely one of them." I said this as Carley's anesthesiologist was inside her room loading her I.V. with a sedative. We watched from outside as Carley counted backwards and slipped into a comatose state, then the doctors closed the door to keep us out in the hallway while they reset her broken arm.
I spent the last half of Friday Nov. 27 second guessing every decision that lead up to the events that brought us to the hospital that night. If we would have let Carley stay at her Papa's a little longer...If Carley would have gone with her aunt and Gagi to Georgia...If I would have decided against taking a bike ride...If we would have turned left out of the driveway instead of right...If I would have rode beside her with more concern for her safety...then maybe everything would have been okay. But everything was not okay on this Friday evening.
Earlier that day as we sped down the hill on our bikes, I was leading the way ahead of Jacob, Carley, and Taylor. As I completed the decent and began to climb the hill at the end of our road I heard Jacob calling to me. I turned to see no bikes riding toward me and quickly realized something had happened. Then I heard Carley crying out and running in my direction. I got off my bike and ran to her knowing this would not be the typical "you'll be okay" speech I give after a fall. I saw the fear, the pain, and the disfigure arm as she ran pleading for my help. A hug was all I could give.
Jacob headed back home to get help and Taylor pushed two bikes back up the hill as I carried Carley back home. Angela met us half way in the car and we headed to the doctor. Because of our flawed health care system, Carley spent about 7 hours with an untreated broken arm and was only given the equivalent of one Tylenol pill for the pain. That's 7 hours with a completely dislocated fracture of both bones in the left forearm, and virtual no pain medicine at all. She never really cried out in pain but patiently, with tears in her eyes, waited for the relief she trusted her Mom and Dad to bring her way. She's always been tough, but this day she was the toughest!
Relief eventually did come her way. A good staff at Greenville Memorial eventually got the job done and she's now on the road to recovery. She is also looking forward to getting her cast put on this week (they only splinted her arm and wrapped it allowing the swelling to go down before putting the official cast on). Carley is now debating which color to choose for her new cast. We joked "Clemson orange", but she's leaning towards "baby blue".
It was one of the worst days of my life. I think I will always remember her running toward me for help and it will forever break my heart to have her feel any real pain and real fear. But Angela and I both used the experience as a teaching opportunity that benefited both her and us. An event like this is a good indicator of just how grounded you are in your Faith. And I'm glad to say that it is our Faith in God through His son Jesus Christ that made this event not only tolerable, but in many ways, beautiful.
We are working on getting Carley's x-rays, but in the mean time, the above picture is an x-ray from the Internet that is comparable to her break. Doesn't that make you cringe?
