Ouch!

Last weekend Alaina's Comp soccer team (Go Velocity!) had a tournament in Ft. Bragg. At the last minute, I had decided to stay home so I could help Andy with his Eagle Scout project...I figured there will be hundreds more soccer games and he will only do his project one time. And, Dave was out of town, so no one would be home to help if he needed it. So, another family had kindly agreed to take Alaina with them and everything was great until the second game.

I guess when you play aggressively (Alaina is in the white jersey) an injury is bound to happen, I just had never really thought about it since none of the kids have had any major injuries in 10 years of playing sports.

So, just after she scored a goal in the second game, she had a bad fall. Everyone thought she had dislocated her shoulder and some of our awesome team parents rushed her to the ER and called me to let me know what was going on. X-rays, showed that her shoulder was broken in two place...her left femoral head was fractured from her humerus (the shoulder ball was completely severed from the bone) and broke her achromium bone (where the little knob in the middle of the shoulder is). She was so brave while the doctors were figuring out what was wrong.

After several hours of going back and forth with doctors in Ft. Bragg and Oakland Children's Hospital, and after several transportation options disappeared, I left for the 4hour drive at 9pm. In the middle of this, we had a dinner going on for Andy's Eagle helpers and our neighbors were having a wedding in their backyard!

Alaina was finally asleep when I got to the Mendocino Coast District Hospital, so I got the update from our coach's wife and team manager. They were unbelievable during this ordeal! So kind and helpful and loving. I am so grateful for them! I slept in chair at Alaina's bedside, and in the morning we began another chapter in the broken shoulder saga.

A new ER doctor came in and was upset that the night doctor hadn't given him adequate information and said she should immediately be transferred to Oakland. But Oakland wouldn't accept a hospital transfer and it became a doctor vs resident power struggle, ending with our doctor calling the resident a "preemie" and hanging up on him! I decided it was time to leave, so with one last IV dose of morphine (etc!) Alaina's kind coach drove our van so I could sit in the back with her while she slept and threw up on the windy road home.

Early Monday I called the doctor's office in Oakland and was told they couldn't see her until THURSDAY! So I took her to her pediatrician who was horrified by the xray and was able to get her in to an orthopedic within a few hours. Alaina had surgery the next day and I stayed the night with her in a chair (this is getting predictable, huh?). She got so many balloons, flowers, animals, and a HUGE basket of candy! I joked with her that maybe it was worth it, but she didn't think so.


Dr. Schilling was great and even though she is still in pain, and will be until the pins are removed, Alaina is on the mend! Thanks for all the prayers, calls, visits, and gifts.