Last year (summer 2012) I became a camp counselor for MD Anderson's pediatric camp for patients and their siblings ages 5-12. I used to be a camper at Camp Star Trails, and I remember how much fun I had as a camper. I wanted to come back and love on the kids as they got to leave the hospital or any treatment behind for a week and just have fun. Being a camp counselor is one of the best things I have ever experienced. I get upset over minute things, but these kids go through things that I can't even imagine, and they still have a smile on their face. It's amazing. They are such an inspiration.
This year I wanted to come back and be a counselor again. I got there, made some new friends, played ultimate games of Spoons, and about a thousand games of Uno. The week went by fast, and it was finally the last day. Of course, after running after ten year olds for a week, you get pretty exhausted. The kids had pretty much all left and all I could think about was getting in the car and going home to my soft bed. Unfortunately, that all went downhill.
Since I am in fact an amputee, walking long distances is sometimes difficult for me. The facilities that Camp Star Trails uses has golf carts on hand to help any kids or counselors who may need to ride instead of walk. There was another amputee there, a camper so I had a deal with her cabin where I would give her rides to her activity, then I would go to mine, and I would pick her back up. All that to say that my cabin had a golf cart. So my three fellow counselors and I drove back to our cabin and did some last minute cleaning and packing. Our plan was to put everything on the cart and drive back up to the gathering hall to put it in the cars and such. We parked the cart at our cabin, took the key, and went inside. Ten minutes later, we go back outside and the cart is gone! I am still not sure how this happened since I had the key around my neck on a lanyard. We had to walk up to the gathering hall.
It's not that far of a walk, and I didn't really NEED the cart, it was just nice to have for the longer distances. We were walking back up on the sidewalk, rolling and carrying our bags along the way.
Let's do an equation here.
Rolling suitcase + Klutzy Emily + a backpack = Bad plan.
I think we have established by now I am a klutz. A huge one. It's pretty bad. So anyway, we were walking along and I basically tripped over suitcase. Normally, I would have gotten up, laughed, and dealt with the teasing that would probably come along with it. But not this time. No....my body had other plans in mind. What I think happened is my prosthetic twisted or something. Anyway, I was walking, I tripped, and next thing I knew I was in excruciating pain. This pain is unexplainable. It was worse than amputation. I was screaming. The camp doctor came over and tried to figure out what was wrong, but felt as if he shouldn't try to fix anything since he isn't an orthopedic. I completely understand that now, but at the time, I was not happy. I remember him trying to ask me what was wrong with my leg and me replying with something along the lines of "I don't know. You tell me. You're the doctor!" Not one of my prouder moments, but I get pretty sassy when I'm in pain.
About this time, I have attracted many people by my screaming. My three fellow counselors, camp staff, the doctor, the head nurse, and a few more counselors were all standing over me as I sat on the sidewalk, holding my nub. I was able to pop my prosthesis off, which is good. So, two male counselors came over with a golf cart to take me to the parking lot and put me in my parents car. (They had thankfully just arrived.) The nurse gave me 800 mg of Advil and a Tylenol 3. (Extreme pain killers.) They didn't really help that much though. I needed something more heavy duty.
Now on a side note, I'm an optimistic person. I look ahead, and I always try to find the bright side to everything. So here's the glimmering thing about THIS story. These two male counselors were EXTREMELY attractive. They picked me up and put me on the back of the golf cart and put me in the back of my parents car.
Too bad I couldn't enjoy it. But if these counselors happen to stumble upon this one day, I would like to say thank you for your help. Y'all are great.
Ok so back to this tale of woe. My parents got to the car, and decided to take me to the Emergency Room in Katy. My parents are friends with an orthopedic, and he recommended this place. The only problem was that Katy was an hour or so away, and I knew I couldn't handle the car ride. I begged my parents to take me to nearest Emergency Room. Finally, they did. But honestly, they might as well have taken me to Katy. We get to the ER. They give my dad a wheelchair with no help getting out of the car. My parents had to get me out, but it was extremely painful. I'm pretty sure I woke up people in China with my screams. My dad had a ringing in his ear for an hour. We get in there, and by now I can't handle the pain any longer. My mom had to convince the nurses that I needed to be handled immediately. They took me back, took of my gel liner that was still on, and we saw this:
WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! IF YOU THINK YOU WILL GET SICK OR DIE OR SOMETHING ELSE HORRIBLE DO NOT LOOK AT PICTURE!
Finally, we get put into a little alcove with a curtain and the doctor comes in. He takes one look at my knee and looks absolutely confused. After a couple of X Rays, he finally says that it is time to put the knee back in place. He goes over there and starts massaging it back in, but it still hurts like crazy. He said that the knee had "minimal improvement" which is doctor speak for he had no idea what he was doing. You would think he had never seen a dislocation before in his life! It was nuts! Four hours later, my mom called another orthopedic doctor at my regular hospital. THAT doctor got on the phone with the ER doctor and walked him through what to do. Basically what happened was the doctor didn't make me straighten out my nub before he started to relocate it. I am still in a terrible amount of pain at this point, and I'm tired and sick of being in the hospital. The ER doctor goes over to my nub and takes the pillow out from under it without any indication what he was doing, and it was painful! So again, my sassy pants took over and I told him I was going to need a bit more warning before he did anything. I think that made him angry because he kinda walked away and didn't come back for ten minutes. After he was done throwing himself a pity party, he came back over and gently took the pillow away. He asked me to straighten out the nub as much as I could. I straightened it out pretty far, and I thought I couldn't go any further. He looked at the nurse and told her to "pull the stump out."
At this point, what goes through my mind is "No one is pulling my stump." So I gritted my teeth, straightened it out a few more inches and then I felt a POP and instant relief. The doctor was dumfounded. He was looking at my knee, looked at me, and looked at my knee again. "What did you do?!" he asked.
"I straightened out my knee more...."
"What...but...how...." were his only words
My mom had been texting my sisters the entire time while we were at the hospital, and she of course let them know when it relocated. My sister and her boyfriend had been praying only a couple of minutes before it relocated. This is absolute proof that prayer works, and that God was watching over me that day.
After X Rays, we found out that my knee had been fully relocated. The doctor gave me a brace to put my leg in, and they sent me off. Unfortunately, three doses of morphine and six doses of other painkillers don't exactly blend well together in the stomach. I was sick for the next two days. But that's a nasty story that we don't have to go into detail about.
After we got home, my mom called my doctor at MD Anderson and asked him what we should do next. I was ordered to have an MRI on the nub. I have had several MRIs before, so this was no problem for me.
For whatever reason though, I had a complete Dory moment and forgot that I was supposed to take off mybra certain undergarments that have a wire. I realized this as I was going into the back to get my MRI taken, and I asked the male technician about it. He said I had to take it off, but I could do it in the back room. We get to the room, he steps out, and I start taking off this undergarment. Now, for those of you that do not know, an MRI machine is basically a gigantic magnet. So when this undergarment with a metal wire was taken off and put on the table next to me, it flew onto the machine. This magnet is very strong, and it took some muscle to get it off. But luckily I was able to, and didn't have to alert the technician of any embarrassing moments.
So here's the diagnosis. I have to be on crutches while wearing my leg for 6 weeks.....it's just a minor setback.
Have a great summer everybody!
E
Finally, we get put into a little alcove with a curtain and the doctor comes in. He takes one look at my knee and looks absolutely confused. After a couple of X Rays, he finally says that it is time to put the knee back in place. He goes over there and starts massaging it back in, but it still hurts like crazy. He said that the knee had "minimal improvement" which is doctor speak for he had no idea what he was doing. You would think he had never seen a dislocation before in his life! It was nuts! Four hours later, my mom called another orthopedic doctor at my regular hospital. THAT doctor got on the phone with the ER doctor and walked him through what to do. Basically what happened was the doctor didn't make me straighten out my nub before he started to relocate it. I am still in a terrible amount of pain at this point, and I'm tired and sick of being in the hospital. The ER doctor goes over to my nub and takes the pillow out from under it without any indication what he was doing, and it was painful! So again, my sassy pants took over and I told him I was going to need a bit more warning before he did anything. I think that made him angry because he kinda walked away and didn't come back for ten minutes. After he was done throwing himself a pity party, he came back over and gently took the pillow away. He asked me to straighten out the nub as much as I could. I straightened it out pretty far, and I thought I couldn't go any further. He looked at the nurse and told her to "pull the stump out."
At this point, what goes through my mind is "No one is pulling my stump." So I gritted my teeth, straightened it out a few more inches and then I felt a POP and instant relief. The doctor was dumfounded. He was looking at my knee, looked at me, and looked at my knee again. "What did you do?!" he asked.
"I straightened out my knee more...."
"What...but...how...." were his only words
My mom had been texting my sisters the entire time while we were at the hospital, and she of course let them know when it relocated. My sister and her boyfriend had been praying only a couple of minutes before it relocated. This is absolute proof that prayer works, and that God was watching over me that day.
After X Rays, we found out that my knee had been fully relocated. The doctor gave me a brace to put my leg in, and they sent me off. Unfortunately, three doses of morphine and six doses of other painkillers don't exactly blend well together in the stomach. I was sick for the next two days. But that's a nasty story that we don't have to go into detail about.
After we got home, my mom called my doctor at MD Anderson and asked him what we should do next. I was ordered to have an MRI on the nub. I have had several MRIs before, so this was no problem for me.
For whatever reason though, I had a complete Dory moment and forgot that I was supposed to take off my
So here's the diagnosis. I have to be on crutches while wearing my leg for 6 weeks.....it's just a minor setback.
Have a great summer everybody!
E
