Snag #7842703

So in my last post I mentioned my fated Mario-style constant jumping and diving of obstacles, on fire.  Well Claire and Cassie seem to have inherited my love of adventure... and their Dad's love of breaking bones. Sorry Doug, I am blowing wide open our long-standing joke (reality) about all of the girls' broken bones growth plates bumps bruises etc. being from your end of the gene pool.

Claire broke her ankle Thursday evening playing basketball.

Yesterday we spent the morning together at Meaford Hospital (you may recall I was desperately avoiding the place just this time last week?) and emerged with an air-boot cast thingy, thankfully I was able to talk the Doc into that instead of a plaster cast.  

Claire can remove it for showers - thankful again for the bathroom reno we did this past March which includes a walk-in shower with seat/bench - and to change her clothes but otherwise she has to keep it on and pumped up.  

How does this affect our family dynamic you ask?  Yes we are a bit busy these days... did I mention the stage play in three weeks?  Claire is bound and determined to continue with the play, her super-woman approach scares me.

I just called her at her Dad's, she said the cast is very uncomfortable to sleep in and she has to plan her activities to allow more time, her armpits and hands are already getting sore from her crutches, but she is actually pretty experienced at this so she is adjusting quickly.  Dad is pampering her with her breakfast of choice today, chocolate chip pancakes I hear.  :-) Phew, happy to talk to her and to Cass.

Cassie did just remind me on the phone that she now needs to be extra careful again because their injuries seem to alternate... Claire Cassie Claire Cassie Claire Cassie sigh sigh sigh AGH!  I asked her if she could please wait until the new year as November and December are sort of booked up.  She huffed - the nerve! ;-)

On facebook last night I posted that I will be getting the girls bubble wrap for Christmas, and a membership to a CHESS CLUB.  Seriously, for those of you who know us you may be mentally trying to tally the breaks and bumps the girls have had in their short active lives, I think one of my jobs today will be to go back and add them up.  We started with Claire's broken collarbone (ice skating) when she was in senior kindergarten, then Cassie's concussion (a climbing mishap at school) in grade one, Claire's broken and dislocated toe which needed surgery, Cassie's broken wrist (then broken thumb from an ATV accident while in the cast for the wrist - just saying!), at least a couple more broken toes and a thumb (TWICE) since then.... I'm exhausted. 

Trouble is, Claire will be too.  Luckily this break is in the growth plate, so it should heal quickly (she is gulping milk with her pancakes), follow-up xrays in three weeks - oh yah I can't make that one.  :-(   But the next three weeks will be interesting, she will have to foist off her babysitting job(s) - phew for a twin, Cass said she'd take over in the interim.  And their dog-walking job will have to have other arrangements - somehow I see myself being roped into taking the less active pooch around the small block with Cass and her active puppy charge?  Not to mention the play and rehearsals. Grade three piano lessons/practice without pedal. And school, they are smiling over the fact that they will get rides to and from school now for at least three weeks. HA HA Mom. 

Just to throw in my whiny cents worth again this morning... I have to mention that this affects our home life too.  The girls have been doing a great job at helping out around the house extra and now I've lost my star helper, and the secondary star helper as she will be tending to her sister. For everybody who has or has had kids with broken bones and crutches etc, you know how incredibly invasive the damned things are to your daily household routine.  I will have a full-time job on my hands trying to keep the kid down and resting more let alone pick up her slack in the chores I already have been having trouble doing.  

I think I am going to finally take up CCAC (I have ongoing nursing care, thankfully!) on their offer to help around the house.  I have been resisting that thinking that housework is therapeutic for my rehabilitation, and my family has been great at picking up the slack. But it may be time to call in that favour.  And... again... I find myself thinking that I need to get better at asking for and accepting help from all of my friends and family who are offering to help us. Damn my independent streak - buddy I think we are fighting a losing battle!?

I am going to sit down today and make a list of the stuff I/WE need help with in the next month-ish and I'm sorry to say... I will be in touch.  Thank you.... and did I mention... thank you. Thank you thank you thank you.  :-) 

Some injury pics from the Richardson girls' archive:

 Claire's baby toe fracture and dislocate - 

surgery with pin Owen Sound, Nov 2011

 Cassie's broken wrist, biking, June 2012