Two weeks ago yesterday, we got a phone call from a friend of Brent's mom. Roseann told us that Dianne had fallen and broken her femur and that she was in the ER/hospital. Unfortunately, Brent's sister and her family were out of the country on a cruise, so we were the closest family to call. After some debate and lots of looking at the weather, we decided to book two plane tickets west for the very next morning. We knew if we didn't get out of town then, we'd have to wait several days before we could leave. The reasoning for this decision was the prediction of 6-8" of snow that was headed our way. It's funny to me how vague the weather report can be sometimes, but for winter weather, they have been spot on this year.
Anyway, we packed our bags and headed to the airport early to catch the 8 a.m. flight to Phoenix. (Thanks to Southwest, it was a non-stop flight). We lined up to begin boarding around 7:30 a.m. and noticed that it was beginning to snow. By the time we left the ground about 30 minutes later, the ground was covered with snow. We made it just in the nick of time!
The plane touched down about 11 a.m. Phoenix time, and Roseann's husband Bill and another friend of Dianne's, Tom, picked us up and took us to his sister's house. We drove up to the hospital in his mom's vehicle, not quite knowing what to expect. She was in a room and on pain medicine, and was really frustrated that this had happened. A few hours later, the orthopedic surgeon came in to explain what had happened. When she fell, she spiral fractured her femur - meaning it broke from the outside top near the hip and around the front near the knee. BARF! She also fractured her hip joint, but the femur was the major break. They had to wait until her blood thinners wore off before they could do surgery, which was to entail screws, a titanium rod, and three incisions.
Thursday afternoon, they came and took her back for surgery while we waited in the nastiest waiting room I have ever been in. Even the one in Pine Bluff was so much nicer than this one in Casa Grande Regional Medical Center. The surgery took longer than we anticipated, so I went to Walgreens to grab a few things. (By this portion of the day, I realized I had pulled something in my shoulder and it was KILLING me). So I needed a heating pad stat. Finally about 9 p.m., they brought her back to the room and said the surgery was successful. She was on a pain pump and still very loopy from the surgery, so we left her in the care of the super nice night nurse Steve, and headed home.
After taking showers (to wash off the nasty waiting room), we were fixing a late night snack when the home phone rang. The caller ID said "Casa Grande Regional Medical" and we started freaking out not knowing what was going on. I couldn't get to the phone fast enough, so I called the nurses desk back to figure out what was going on, but they weren't sure. Come to find out, Dianne had woken up and wondered where we had gone! Brent told her to go to sleep and we would see her in the morning, and to not call and scare us like that again!
On Friday afternoon, Kelly, Barry, and Caitlin got back from their cruise, and I think Gamma was glad to see Caitlin. Dianne also had lots of visitors to friends from church to friends from the local community college where she plays the piano for the choirs. Even though the circumstances were not the best, I really enjoyed getting to meet everybody who she talks about all the time. There were a few strange ducks, but everybody was really sweet and genuinely seemed concerned about her well being.
We all arrived Sunday morning to the hospital to be able to spend some time with her before we had to leave for the airport. She had a really bad night due to the morphine and we immediately got the nurse to turn the pump off. According to Dianne, there was a foot going up the wall, the sink looked like a refrigerator, the TV began to sprout legs, and the walls were closing in on her. She was almost hysterical when we got there. Luckily, this was to be her last day at the hospital. That afternoon, she was scheduled to go to Oasis Pavilion Rehabilitation. This is a brand new facility where she is staying for the next few weeks. They will give her physical therapy a few times a day, and get her back on the road to recovery.
Oh and I can't forget to mention that we missed the biggest snow storm in several years, but that was just fine and dandy with me. In Phoenix it was a lovely 65 degrees with no humidity, and I was glad to break out the flip flops.
Fast forward to today, and she is doing much better! The therapist is making her walk several feet to get things and also working on Occupational therapy things like going to the bathroom, etc. We are so thankful for everyone who prayed and continues to pray for her recovery. Within a few short months, she should be back to doing high kicks and playing the piano!
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