Strength

It is the sound no mother wants to hear - a cry of pain from one of her children. The kind that cannot be calmed with a colorful bandage and a kiss... The kind that means you'll have to hurt them more to get them into the car, and then into the doctor's office or ER, so they can be examined and treated.
I know some people can't imagine going through this on a regular basis. Alice gets random breaks due to her genetic condition... She was just standing there one second, and then on the floor with a terrible scream in her throat and a broken thigh. Whenever I've had to take her in (and it has been four times now) for a broken bone, it has been horrific- but at the same time I feel an incredible sense of calm because I have to be calm. I am a Mother in that moment. I have to be strong.
This time I tried to splint it before we left, but her thigh bones are bowed so anything straight just pulled at the break. (Sorry, baby... I'm so sorry.) I ended up just wrapping it and then carefully carried her out. I'm learning. My boys and Evelyn were ready to go when I asked. Gotta love that they knew what had to be done. They asked questions and I answered them as best I could.
Sure enough, the x-rays showed a clean break. Even so, we are looking at major surgery this Friday. It used to be that inserting rods into the bone was a commitment to continue having surgeries every few years (inserting longer rods as the child grew.) Now, there are newer telescoping rods that will grow with the child. We'll be talking to Alice's doctor about it more tomorrow. Our options are to: 1) Put her in a spica cast for the next few weeks and allow her femur to heal how it is. Then she will still have two bowed femurs with several healed and healing fractures - very susceptible to more breaks in the future. Or, 2) Allow the doctor to perform surgery, essentially breaking the bones further in both legs to straighten them and insert the telescoping rods for strength. This should prevent more breaks in her femurs after Alice heals from the surgery. It is not an easy decision, but we are leaning toward the surgery. It is tentatively scheduled.
So, here's what's so amazing about our sweet girl. It is an hour drive to Children's hospital, and she mercifully slept most of the way there. When she woke up, she told me about her "big owie" but didn't cry again until I needed to lift her out of the carseat. When her daddy arrived, he managed to coax a smile from her (this was before the morphine drip.) She was so brave and cooperated while they put the IV in and the temporary splint on. She is so much stronger than I could ever be and it's so unfair that she has to be... but at the same time, it is so inspiring it takes my breath away.