Recovery

When we were in the hospital, the one thing every doctor told us over and over again was "she's young, she'll heal quickly."

I knew in the back of my mind that kids really do heal quicker than adults, but it was hard to process that thought when I sat staring at Sadie's scraped and bruised little body. And when I had to listen to her scream every time someone so much as touched her broken hip.

Yet here we are, three weeks later and I'm a believer. 

Kids' bodies are incredible. Sadie's orthopedic specialist told us that since the hip bone is one that's heavily cushioned with tons of muscle, therefore giving it lots of support, that it would heal quickly on its own. He was right! Sadie used her walker for about a week and a half after coming home from that hospital. At first, she leaned heavily on it and would hardly put any weight on her bad leg. Slowly, though, she started getting a little faster and a little braver. By Monday the 12th (only 10 days after she got hit) you could tell she was getting tired of maneuvering the awkward walker around the house and would start leaving it behind to take shaky steps in order to get where she wanted to go faster. A few days later, the walker was ditched and she was walking with a limp everywhere she wanted to go. Today you would hardly even know anything happened a little over three weeks ago. She only limps a tiny bit after she's been running around and playing hard. Her giant hip bruise is mostly gone and the road rash has left only faint scars that are slowly fading with time.

Basically, she's gone from this...

to this...

...in just a few weeks.

Despite the amazing lightning-fast physical recovery, I'll admit the emotional recovery is still in process. For all of us - not just Sadie. She's understandably very nervous about any and all streets with cars. I've noticed when she and Ellie are playing that the "bad guy" in whatever scenario they're acting out is often a truck. I think she's more emotional in general about everyday stuff. Heck, so am I. We all are! 

I've never been prone to anxiety or worrying of any kind, but this whole deal has given me a taste of it. I have to fight not to be a nervous wreck every time the kids play in the front yard. Sadie actually got back on her new bike (given to her by the guy who was driving the truck, actually...a really cool story) a couple of days ago and I had to give myself a stern lecture about letting her ride on her own without me following along right behind her or, at the very least, standing guard at the end of the driveway. Every time one of them even heads in the direction of the street, Sadie's accident starts flashing through my head and I have to fight down the panic and the urge to yell at them to stop. right. there! It's not just our front yard, either. When we're in parking lots, their hands are both firmly gripped in mine. I've always been a big believer in seat belts and car seats, but now I'm vigilant about making sure they're always buckled. Even just for short distances. And, of course, the helmets. My kids will always be seen with helmets on their heads. Always.

You can also imagine my feelings about sending Sadie to Kindergarten in four days. I keep telling her I'm going to send her to school with a helmet on her head. I'm kidding (kind of), but I can already tell that sending her off into the strange unknown where I can't be there to watch over her every minute is going to be much, much harder than I thought it was going to be even just a month ago. 

It will be a true test of my mother-acting skills to see if I can keep up a happy, excited face and walk away when the time comes instead of breaking down into a bawling mess of emotion and spending the afternoon spying on her with long-range binoculars!

We also took these pictures the other night before we finally tossed Sadie's old, banged-up bike in the trash. The pictures don't do it justice, but you can see how bent the back wheel is and the twisted seat and handle bars.

I was glad to have that reminder out of here!