Funny Bones

In only a way our Madie can manage…

I got a call from the school nurse soon after the kindergarten recess. Nurse Nikki calmly explained that Madie somehow managed to jam her leg between a few wooden bars on the school playground.

Other students responded to her calls for help, teachers were deployed. Nurse Nikki explained that she was most impressed that while other students were very distraught over the incident that Madie was quite calm; informing the adult responders when their efforts were causing pain so they could try different courses of action. Nurse Nikki applied lotion in an effort to lubricate the knee/leg and extract it from the bars – no luck. Ultimately, the school janitor had to be called and he unscrewed one of the bars from the playground equipment in order to free her.

Once finally extracted Madie was taken to the nurse’s office for evaluation and an ice pack. After which, she ran back to her classroom; she may have been a bit scratched up and smelling like Lilly of the Valley hand lotion but otherwise she was unscathed.

I didn’t dare ask if the janitor was able to put the playground equipment back together. Instead I spent the next few weeks watching the mail anticipating the bill from the school. I wondered if they would just chalk it all up as part of the regular tuition. Of course, I was mainly just relieved it she did it at school, where there were witnesses to her recklessness and the whole thing didn’t result in a visit from Child Protective Services.

Little did I know, I should have been preparing for another call. It came just three weeks after the leg-jamming incident. Nurse Nikki was back on the phone.

“Mrs. Ash? It’s Nurse Nikki from St. Thomas…..Madie was playing on the playground…she’s alright….she was climbing on top of the little log cabin, the playhouse thing, and she was told to get down, a few times, and then she was scrambling to get off the top and she seems to have fallen. She fell about four, or five, feet. Probably just four. She landed on her right elbow. That was an hour ago. She hasn’t moved. Her arm, I mean. I think it’s probably fine, but she could benefit from going home and having some Motrin.”

Long pause.

Now envision me standing in my kitchen clutching the cordless phone, open mouthed, and frozen.

Nurse Nikki continued, “I’m sure it’s fine, but you may want your pediatrician to see it anyway, and I’d hate to have you take her for x-rays, they are very expensive, and most times really unnecessary, but she hasn’t moved and it doesn’t look too swollen, but I’ve had an ice pack on it.”

The rest is a bit of a blur. Wilson (our son) was having a play date while the play date’s mother and I were having lunch. She was midway through her chicken salad when we got the call. With her fork mid-air she was mouthing to me, “Who’s on the phone? What’s the problem?” Her son, Owen, had broken his arm at the beginning of the school year. She was a veteran of broken limbed children, just what I needed. She swung into action.

“OK, boys! We are cleaning up and packing up!” Then, to me, both calmly and sternly, “I know you want to kill her, but get her healthy first. A cast is going to suck.” Wise words.

I got to the school. There is one cranky old receptionist at our Catholic school. The old nuns would have loved this woman. Fortunately, she loves Madie and has told me numerous times, “That Madie sure is a pistol!” And other things meant to be a compliment like, ‘She’s one to watch grow up!” Mrs. Cranky Old Receptionist was just laughing away as I walked in and she pointed towards the nurse’s office, “You know where you are going!”

I signed in, muttering something about whether we were setting a new school record for injuries. According to the nurse, when I joked how much this incident was going to run us (the annual school fundraiser was on) she quickly informed me it was the Faculty Fund I needed to remember. Thanks to the jungle gym incident earlier in the month, the number of school chaperones on the playground had already been doubled.

We stopped at our pediatrician’s for confirmation of what I already knew. He was waiting for us, head slowly shaking. Apparently, he was rather surprised she hadn’t broken something before.

Of course all that happened a year an a half ago – before the AD/HD diagnosis and meds.

Just two weeks ago I learned (the hard way) that those AD/HD meds really do wear off around 3pm. Like some crazy sitcom, Madie went and broke her arm again. She’s casted again; temporarily (partially) restrained for four weeks. She managed two fractures this time, not just the one. And, rather than breaking it at the school, we she did it in a way only she could manage – at the home of an orthopedic surgeon’s while playing on a trampoline. For the record, those safety nets on trampolines are only effective if you are playing inside the net.

We hear (and have heard) all kinds of euphemisms over the years. Polite ways of describing our “AD/HD Combined Type” daughter. All those adjectives we’ve heard: crazy, wild, impulsive, rambunctious, active, excited, energetic, exasperating and spirited; they are all fitting. She is all those things. But she’s also fun, loving, funny, smart, grand, independent, brave, happy, and frankly, I think, she’s fantastic. Who else but my Madie would pick a hot pink cast with a neon orange spiraled stripe? Well, at least that’s what she picked the first time!

She’s not as proud of this break. She opted for a deep purple cast this time around. It’s not as flashy, a little less eye catching, but it still shouts “Madie”! I have hope that the slightly more subdued color choice is her way recognizing the need to tone down her general behavior. Perhaps by showing some restraint in the color selection she’s making a small step towards containing those impulses of hers.

Likely it is not the case; considering the fact that she was unwilling to promise my husband that this is her last break. I think we all need to be prepared for another call from Nurse Nikki. But rather than dread the call, I’m learning I need to sit back and simply marvel at the Magic of Madie. I have no idea what each day with her will bring. Her unpredictability is one of the few things I can really predict. That and the fact she’ll always need good health insurance.

Readers: As a special note, please take a moment to click on the following link:
http://sos-research-blog.com/10/s-o-s-best-of-the-best-edition-11-family-life/
The blog is provides parents and teachers with tips, helpful hints, resources, book reviews, giveaways, and more on “invisible” special needs to help your child through Social-Other-School (S-O-S) issues.

Tags: AD/HD injuries, break bones, implusive behaviors, reckless play