My daughter's name is Sarah Margaret, named after her great grandmother, which is cool, I love the name Sarah after our Biblical matriarch, but, I've always wanted a little girl named Maggie. When I was 6 months pregnant with her, my husband's grandmother passed away and that is when we decided to name our baby after her if we had a girl, and since his grandma went by Margie, it was just one step away from Maggie. On my husband's birthday, he looked at me and said, "Let's have us a little girl today." Well, she didn't come that day, but eight days later our precious Maggie was born. When I was pregnant with my son, I did everything right, I quit smoking, ate the right foods, etc, but at about the age of three he began showing signs of asthma and allergies. Needless to say a lot of attention was paid to him throughout the years because he would get so sick. When I was pregnant for Maggie, I smoked (tried to quit) and feared the entire time I was pregnant that this baby would have asthma as well. God was good to us, and Maggie was a healthy baby, she had colic for the first four months and everynight I would show up at mom's in tears, begging her to help stop the baby from crying, but other than that, she was my healthy one. I was accustomed to worrying about my son's medical health, but, never had to worry about Mag's and then something would happen that I consider my most terrifying and trying moment as a parent to date.

Super Bowl Sunday 2000
My sister and her family came out and brought the four wheeler so the kids could ride on my 2.5 acres of land covered in snow. I had a pot of chilli going, my sister and I played on the computer while the guys and kids played outside. At one point someone came up with the brilliant idea to tie a sled up to the quad. My husband took the lid from one of those little turtle sandboxes, poked a hole into it and attached a rope and off the kids went. I didn't like it one little bit, and usually everyone writes me off as being overly paranoid about my kid's safety, so, this one time I bit my tongue and said nothing.
At about 4:00 pm I noticed my husband going out the kitchen door, I didn't think much of it at the time, but something told me to look out the kitchen window that overlooks our backyard, and I saw Maggie flat on her back under the gnarled oak tree and watched as Scott carried her into the house. At first I thought, she was just a little shaken, but once Scott got her into the house and saw the angle of her leg, my heart jumped into my throat....but, I had no idea how bad it was going to be and I thank God for that. Maggie had on her brand new Carhart bibs and at several layers underneath, and so it was hard to tell if there was any swelling, my sister who is a nurse pondered long and hard about what to do next (knowing Maggie shouldn't be moved.), but after a few minutes, she said, "Let's get the bibs off as gently as we can." Maggie who was in tremendous pain and terrified beyond belief cried out in agonizing protest as they worked to get the bibs off, while I stroked her hair and cooed soothing words to her, Gretchen took one look and said, "Call the squad, Val, and tell them she has a broken femur." Well, I didn't know what a femur was (thigh bone), but I knew it was bad because my sister was in the very familiar nurse mode I knew all too well in family crisis, I began to dial the phone and froze with fear, and I thrust the phone at my sister, "I can't speak." As we waited for the squad to arrive, I just kept kissing my weeping baby while Scott stretched out flat on the floor on his stomache with his lips placed firmly on her forehead, while everyone else just stare in horror, especially the 14 Joshua who had been pulling the sled when it wiped out with both of my kids on it. At one point he looked at me in desperation and said, "I'm so sorry." I looked at him and said, "This is not your fault." And I meant it. The squad arrived and they took one look at the nasty angle her leg was in, and then they cut off five layers of clothes (which most probably saved her life, it kept the fracture from compounding.) and with one look they knew. Maggie had broken the second longest bone in her body, but, I still had no idea what lay in store. (Another one of God's mercies on such a hard day.) On the ride to our local hospital (I had no clue even at this point how bad it was. Always take your child to the nearest Children's hospital in this situation.) they wanted to get and IV in Mag's, she was in tremendous pain, and even more frightened and I knew from her incessant shaking, that she was in shock, she threw such a fit that her vein which was moments ago plump and ready, disappeared. (They call it rabbit veins.) She cried and cried, with huge tears falling from her big brown eyes, and I thought I would surely die from her pain, I felt it too, but on a completely different level. My heart was as broken as her leg, there is no better way to bring a parent to their knees than through their children. When we arrived at the hospital and the x-rays confirmed the worst, we were informed that there was nothing the hospital could do for her except get an IV in her and do something for her pain, Scott and I were then told to leave until they got the IV in, and we went out into the hall and soon the screams came, we tried to walk down the hall, and still we heard our little terrified girl crying and begging. "Mommy, mommy!!!" We took the cowards way out and decided to go outside and have a cigarette, and I got on the cell and called my mom. When we returned all was quiet, Mag's had been given some morphine, so her pain wasn't as bad, but, it did nothing for her terror. Scott and I let her know we were scared too, but, everything would be alright, as we could hear the Star Spangled Banner being sung on T.V. as the Super Bowl celebrations were underway, life was going on, but ours felt like it was in suspended animation. The transport finally arrived to take us to Children's, I rode with Mag's and Scott went home to get a few things like pillows, Maggie's blankie (it's so old and decrepit we call it skankie blankie). The bumps in the road were killing her as Children's was about a 20 minute ride, she recieved another dose of morphine, but not once since the moment she got hurt did the tears stop and the more my anguish grew.

While we were waiting for a doctor in our little ER room, Maggie was still scared but had calmed down some, and I asked her if she wanted to read a book, she said yes, and I read her a selection, she chose one and set to reading. Across the hall there was a doctor finishing up with casting someone, and in the hall I heard another doctor ask him if he would help put a child in a body cast, the doctor said no, and this voice was irrate and said, "That's a bunch of bull, we have an eight year old little girl with a terribly fractured femur and you want to drink coffee." I knew at once the voice was that of Maggie's doctor. He came into the room, took one look at Mag's and smiled as if he hadn't been mad just a second ago. His name was Dr. William McDonald, he was a resident, and his concern for Maggie was every bit as striking as his beautiful blue eyes (anyone got a younger sister needing a good man? I wish I had someone to fix him up with!)

He explained that Maggie needed to be put into a body cast, but he wanted to wait until the next day when he had a crew he knew he could trust. Between that statement and the one I overheard in the hall, I knew that God was in control, and placed Maggie in very good hands. For the night she would be placed in Buck's traction, which consisted of straightening the leg and securing it with weights, the following morning, she would be placed into a bodycast and would stay in it 3 months. Okay, the world was coming to the end at this point.
They took her to her room and shooed us out while they put her in traction, once again, Scott and I took the chickens way out, and this time we practically ran down the hall, but, still I could hear the cries, "Mommy, Mommy!!"
We must have looked like the walking dead, that is sure what we felt like as we got our first glimpse of many of Children's Hospital cafeteria, when we returned, she confessed that she felt better now that her leg was straight, but she was scared about the bodycast. That night was spent reassuring her, telling her a million times over that we loved her, and many times, I reminded her that God was watching over her, and as I always have, urged her to pray to Jesus when she's scared, and she did. (She is a bigtime Jesus believer! Thank you God in heaven!!) She got more morphine and finally went to sleep, and Scott and I did our best to sleep on the single little couch thingie they provide for parents.
He went to work the next morning (he copes better that way) and I called my mom and asked her to come sit with me while they casted Maggie (this was still the end of the world at this point.) And despite my mom having a one year old to raise, she came up, and I think that she was hurting everybit as much as me, she was watching her child suffer with fear and unspeakable pain just as I was. The first body cast
When Maggie returned, she looked like a big turtle with half a leg, her cast went from just below her armpits, down her left leg to the ankle(the leg she broke), and down her right leg to the knee. We went home the next day, and I was completely unprepared to take care of her, before the week was out she smelled like nothing I've ever smelled before, the inside of her cast was mildewing from the urine that slid back inside the cast (there was a huge opening for the private area, and they would go to the bathroom in what is called a fracture pan, it's not very deep, and the part that goes underneath them is a long fat lip.), and she was getting bedsores on her bottom. Another problem was that due to her inactivity and trauma to her body, her bowels shut down, one night she bawled as I gave her a suppository that didn't work, the next day it was a stool softener which was atrocious, she had terrible cramps and the stool wanted to come but was impacted, I literally had to dig it out of her, I went through nearly two boxes of baby wipes that day, we were both crying and sobbing, and at one point, she said, "Mommy, I'm scared." I said, "I am too, Mag's, I'm just learning here, but, we ARE going to get through this together." Needless to say, I despised this cast and couldn't imagine three more months in this state, and yet again, my best friend Jesus took over. We brought her home on Tuesday and went back for xrays on Monday, it was a chore to take her anywhere, load up the reclining wheel chair in the van we borrowed from my parents for the duration of her recuperation, then take out the 5 or 6 pillows it took to brace her legs and make her comfy, then the blankets and then cart out the blue turtle. (my 68 lb little girl weighed about 80 or more pounds.) After the traumatic xray's, the pain pills weren't helping, they tried "wedging her cast" which is cutting out strategic parts of the cast, because Dr.McDonald didn't like how her bone was healing. Everytime they wedged they would xray again, sending her into more fits, after a few attempts Dr. McDonald left for the longest time, and the nurse, Carol came in and said, that he had conferred with several Doctor's to make sure he was making the right call, and when he didn't like the answer, he'd call another. Most doctor's said, "Ah, leave her in it." He came into to the room and explained to us that Maggie could remain in the cast, but, he felt that if she did, she ran the risk of a concave deformation in her thigh, and suggested (in his humble opinion) that she be placed into skeletal traction. Okay, somebody shoot me please, the sky is deffinetly falling! Yeah, right, it was a nightmare, but a blessing in one of God's glorious disguises. We were given the choice of doing it right then, or in the morning, we decided to let her spend one more night at home in her bedroom that we had just moved downstairs to the playroom a week before, and then take her first thing in the morning. IV time again and this time, she was a defiant little wench, she screamed and fussed, and I swear if she could have gotten out of that bed, we would have all been in trouble! I eventually had to get stern with her, very stern, and they got it in. I was allowed to go into the operating room with her for a bit, this time they doubled the dose of versette(makes you forget.) because she remembered everything from her first casting. She had her blankie with her (people have always critisized me for letting her keep it this long, but, I'm glad she had it, it could be there to bring her comfort when I couldn't.) Those beautiful brown eyes were heavy and she looked as if she were sleeping, the doctor's gave me the nod, I kissed her and said, "Mommy love's you." She said nothing and I hoped she was out of it, and as I reached the door, I hear her familiar, husky, yet weak voice say, "I love you too, mommy." My tears fell like a monsoon, as I entrusted my baby yet again to strangers.
What is skeletal traction?
Picture your leg raised in the air, then bend it at the knee, now, imagine a screw on either side just above your knee, your calve is held in a sling type device that is weighed down by a bunch of weights, now lay there two weeks. Or be the mom who has to suffer kid T.V for two weeks :) While Mag's was being put into traction, Scott and I hung up all of her stuff from her room at home. I wanted everything to be familiar as possible. Her posters, stuffed animals, cheerleading and baseball pictures, well wishes from her class, C.D's, video's etc. She was a bag when she returned, and Iucky me, I got to spend all night with Miss Grumpy britches! The next day, she was in a better mood and said, she wasn't hurting at all, refused all pain pills, but insisted they give her what she called poopie pills. (Who could blame her?) What would follow would be twelve days of Disney channel, (I made her let me watch All My Children), missing my husband and son, and growing closer with my daughter. At first I spent every waking and sleeping hour there, but, I had another child at home who needed his mother, so, I did the every other night deal. And on Friday's we continued our family tradition, only instead of Blockbuster, I'd check a tape out from the hospital video library, and instead of going out to dinner, Scott and Brooks would bring us something up and we'd eat dinner and do a movie.

We were prepared for three weeks in the hospital, and there were three factors that kept me sane, my faith, the outpouring support of friends and family and meeting other parents who had children there that might never come home. Their stories were a constant reminder, that for us, this was temporary not everybody was that fortunate.
We were on the burn unit (two other kids were there in traction), and our room was right across the hall from the debreeding room, it was trying on both of us to listen to the agonized children as they were put into that huge tub of water, it was just awful. One boy in the room next to us, was in constant pain, so much so, that he could only moan, but he could form no words. We prayed for him and Maggie made him a sweet get well card.

Dr. McDonald loved to tell people how Maggie had blown him away on the day they met, he had never seen a child come in with a broken femur and be calmly reading a book when he came in, it was obvious she had touched him, and it didn't hurt that he had his own little girl. Twelve days into traction we were told that Maggie's leg had healed nicely, and she would be taken out of traction and put back into a body cast, the next day.
Talk about irony! First body cast, end of the world, second body cast, Hip hip hooray!!! I was so sick of the hospital, missing my home and regular life, and I had longed for 12 days to bring my baby home, and this time, after lot's of brain storming, I was ready to care for her in the bodycast. I was estatic to say the least, but knew for the next two months or so, it was going to be lot's of work! Armed with a bottle of poopie pills we brought her home, and despite her protests, I flipped her like a pancake frequently, determined the bedsores would not return, and when she had to go to the bathroom, I would wrap a Chux (those things they lay under you on hospital beds.) around the lip of the fracture pan to keep her body fluids from going inside her cast and it worked like a charm. Having an 8 year old in a bodycast is very much like caring for an infant with an opinion, and I had to wait on my very opinionated daughter hand and foot, "Mommy, scratch this," "mommy, get me that." etc. Every morning I woke up to, "mommy, I have to use the rest room." It was lot's of round the clock work, but, I was happy, because she was home and healing.

Maggie would spend her 9th birthday in her cast, my giant family and some friends came and celebrated with us, she was such a trooper, never once did she play the woe is me game, she just accepted her situation and made the most of it. She would be in her hot pink body cast for two months, and it was time for another visit for x-rays, I packed a little dress for her, hoping for the best. And the good news came, she was coming out of her turtle shell, I was happy, she was scared and dreaded the saw, she hated the saw every bit as much as the IV's. I was with her when they cut her out, and I still get overcome with emotion thinking of that first glimpse of my little girl, seeing her entire body for the first time in months, it was beautiful. Her leg was put in an immobilizer, and we were sent upstairs for physical therapy, where she was given the choice of crutches or a walker, she preferred the stability of the walker, and they began teaching her how to use it. To see her stand up, was such an awesome gift, at that time it was the most lovely thing I had ever seen. She was in the immobilizer for about three weeks, after that she got around the house with her walker and slowly begun the process of learning how to walk again and becoming just a normal little girl again. Easter came and my family came out for the annual Easter egg hunt, Mag's went out with her walker and my nephew Nick helped her look for eggs, again I cry as I think about it, to me it was a small little miracle that she had worked hard for. Maggie would not walk on her own until June, with a very pronounced limp. I will never forget the day she went outside on her own and I looked out the window and cried as I watched her swing, such a simple thing a I know, but I cannot tell you how bad I had been craving to see her just be a little girl again, doing all the things we as parents take for granted.

Lessons Learned and Blessings Given One very important lesson I learned was how quickly and easily we take the everyday things for granted, but I try not to anymore, I still can easily be moved to tears watching her walk, dance, jump on the trampoline, fight with her brother. Every normal thing my children do, is a tremendous gift One of the greatest blessings God gave me through this experience was a special and unique bond with my daughter that was not present before, she was always my little girl, but there is something deeper between us. We faced a nightmare together and fought as hard as we both could, and in the end, we were victorious. During this whole thing, many times I would tell my friends or loved ones that I had no idea how people get through this kind of thing without faith in God. If I had not had Him holding my hand all the way, I would have surely lost my mind. And I learned just how tremendously strong my little girl is, I am confident that she could face just about anything and beat it, she is full of mettle and grit. Today she is our Maggie, whole and healthy, the limp is barely detectable, and although she could not play baseball in the spring, God was good and she was strong enough to cheer this past football season. A true gift. And I thank God more than I can ever say, for bringing blessing out of tragedy and for teaching me some very important lessons.

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