It seems odd to me to be writing this all down. The Lord has taken us to the brink and back, and walked with us every step of the way. Let’s start at the beginning…
Two weeks ago (on a Friday) while we were camping for Tootle’s birthday Sugar Belle wrecked her bike. She fell on her left hip, and it was hurting her quite a bit, to the point that she was limping. So, we took her to the chiropractor when we got back and she limped for a couple of days. Then, all seemed well.
The following Friday (one week ago) I had to go to my Doc. While I went to my Doc, the kiddos stayed at Mr. OverKill’s Mom and Dad’s house. When we went to pick them up sugar Belle was limping again, but this time said that the pain was in her heel. So, she limped around like that until Monday evening, when she began to have excruciating pain. We were able to take her that evening to the chiropractor and he said that the muscles were balled up and spasming. He recommended ice, Motrin, and staying off of it.
The next day we took her back to the chiropractor and he adjusted it a bit and did some therapy on her foot.
She was a little nervous, but she took it all very bravely.
Wednesday passed with me feeling like I was caring for a newborn, I was carrying Shug everywhere, or helping her hop everywhere. Helping her ice her foot every so often, but she was still in quite a bit of pain. I decided to go ahead and call the pediatrician and were able to get her an appointment for Thursday morning.
We finally found a wheelchair to borrow, and even though Shug was hurting quite a bit she felt like she would be OK to take Tootle to her first orchestra rehearsal (more on that later).
While at orchestra rehearsal, Sugar Belle practiced getting around in the wheelchair.
Of course she had to explain to me exactly how she was making the wheelchair move…
She’s so precious!
After orchestra, Sugar Belle felt like she was up for wheeling around at church. So, off to church we went. The kiddos went to their class, and I went to mine, albeit a little late.
In my class we doing Beth Moore’s Wising Up DVD series. As I sat down Beth was saying (of course this is my paraphrase) anxiety is really a control issue. We become anxious when we realize that we cannot control a situation. She went on to discuss the well-known verse, 1 Peter 5:7
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
She was saying (again this is what I took from it) that the word “cast” in the original is more like throwing a baseball, as quickly as we can, we need to and can, “throw” our cares/anxiety on the Lord.
She also spoke about the passage in Philippians 4 that says
6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Beth said (don’t you love it how I think I am on a first name basis with Beth Moore?) that sometimes we just have to keep going back to the Lord and giving those anxieties to Him, multiple times if need be, until we have the “peace of God.”
At the time I thought, “Great! I needed to hear that.” Between my health issues, and now Sugar Belle, I was feeling a touch of anxiety. It’s hard to lovingly care for someone else, when you yourself are feeling…less that healthy.
We headed home and started getting everyone ready for bed. Sadly, Shug was having a hard time settling down, she was hurting quite a bit. I thought, perhaps we pushed a little hard… I gave her some Motrin and iced her foot again, but she was still not doing well. Mr. OverKill and I put her to bed and went to the family room to pray for wisdom. Neither one of us really felt strongly what to do. Taking her to the local ER wasn’t a very appealing option, driving 3 hours to All Children’s wasn’t sounding like the right thing to do either.
So, we sat down to pray together. Almost immediately, she started to settle down and fell asleep. When we finished praying we both felt like we should wait and keep our appointment with the pediatrician. She was up once or twice during the night, but we made it through and headed out to the Doc.
I called my mom and Mr. Ok’s parents to let them know that we were headed to the Doc. My mom offered to take the other 3 kiddos with her, and that turned out to be a huge blessing. So, off we went to the Doc, where we waited and waited. Finally she got to see the Doc. He examined her, and then proceeded to tell me that he was concerned that she had an infection in the joint. He went on to say that the situation was dire, and he wanted me to put her in the car and drive straight to All Children’s Hospital. What?!?! Instantly my heart was in my throat. I grabbed my purse, and my child and headed out the door.
Once in the van I immediately called Mr. OK and told him what the Doc had said, all the while praying my heart out! My next call was to my mom, and then Pastor T. Then, Mr. Ok’s parent’s (I think). I didn’t know the particulars of infection in the joint, but I knew enough to know it was bad. The pediatrician made it sound like she could die….
At this point, Beth’s words came back to me, throw that anxiety on Him. I also had Tootle’s violin solo “Great is the Lord” stuck in my head.
My father-in-law ended up riding with Sugar Belle and I, which was a huge help. Once I had made all the phone calls I needed to, and my brain was quieted, the enemy started firing his darts. But in my mind, they weren’t darts, they were flaming, sticky, tar balls. Horrible thoughts assailed my mind, and stuck there. I ended up imagining myself taking each of those thoughts, those flaming tar balls, and throwing them with all my strength to the Lord. Each time, I would say, “Lord, I trust you.” The most amazing thing happen, I was given the “peace that passes all understanding.” I was beginning to think that I was a horrible mother, how could I be so calm???? Then, I realized, I was experiencing the peace that passes all understanding. I knew the Sugar Belle was in God’s mighty hands, and that her life was His to do with as He pleased. I was reminded that He is working all things for our good, mine and Shug’s. I remembered that if the worst (in earthly terms) was to happen, she would be with Jesus, and I would see her again one day. Peace filled my soul.
We arrived at All Children’s after a very short stint of getting lost. I checked her in and within 10 minutes Mr. OverKill walked in the door. Five minutes later, they had Sugar Belle in triage checking her over. They gave her some Motrin to help with the pain, as they knew she would have to be examined, and it would be excruciating without some meds. After hearing the whole story, the nurse in triage said “It has to be something tendon related.”
Roughly five minutes later, we were taken to a room, where she was looked at by another nurse, who also listened to the whole story. Shug told the nurse that she was very nervous (she was crying at this point). The nurse was so kind and explained to her that the only thing they were planning to do at this point was take an x-ray. The nurse explained the whole procedure to her. Then she assured her that there would be no surprises, and that they would always explain what was going to happen. Sugar Belle started to feel a little better about things. While we waited for the Doc, Mr. OK decided to help keep her preoccupied by playing tic-tac-toe with her.
The Doc came in and we gave him the whole story. He examined her foot very carefully, checking several points, and the corresponding pain associated with turning her foot various ways. He looked up said “She has Sever’s disease.” He then explained Sever’s disease, and it’s treatment. He gave us a very helpful word picture so that we could understand what’s going on. Basically, he said, think of tendons like a cable that is anchored in cement. Until about age 15, however, the tendons(at the heel) are set into a growth plate, in our word picture, think plaster. What happens in some children is that due to a quick growth spurt or lots of physically activity, the tendon pulls on the growth plate and distorts it, causing great pain. Then he said an incredible thing, “It’s the same condition that occurs in the knee called Osgood Slaughter. I began to chuckle. My Sis had Osgood Slaughter, and I remember wearing knees braces, I thought for the same thing. Interesting….
The treatment? Basically what we have been doing, icing it down every 4 hours, Motrin for the inflammation, and crutches for a bit, until she can walk comfortably again. After telling us the treatment, he canceled the x-rays he had ordered, saying that it would be a waste, and there was no need as she was presenting a textbook case of Sever’s Disease.
I was dumbfounded. I was really expecting the worst. I must have asked him 5 times if we didn’t need to do an x-ray, and if he was sure that it wasn’t an infection. He explained to us the reasons that is was not an infection, and it all made sense. I was concerned about pain management for her, as the Motrin we had been giving her didn’t seem to be terribly effective. Silly me, I should have been dosing her according to weight, not age. She is a big girl, not fat, but tall and muscular. She can take an ADULT dose of Motrin.
It took a while for it to sink in with me that she was good to go. On the way home Mr. OverKill’s dad told him that when he prayed for Sugar Belle that morning, he had specifically asked that the cause of her pain would be found out with the least amount of testing. Talk about an answered prayer!
The likelihood that she will have a reoccurrence of this, is high. However, after doing some research this morning, I found that there are exercises that she can do to help prevent injury in the future. I also discovered that if we had known the cause of the pain at it’s onset Friday, and treated it properly then, it wouldn’t have escalated. Now that we know that, we can watch for the onset and hopefully not go back through such a painful experience.
So, now that we have her on the correct dosage of Motrin, she seems to be doing much better. She is still sore, tender, and painful, but not like it had been. My back is feeling much better also, now that I am not carrying/assisting her everywhere she goes :)
We couldn’t be more grateful to the Lord for walking through this with us, and for bringing Sugar Belle home safe and mostly sound :) I learned so much about the Lord yesterday, what a blessing. How good He has been to us!!!!