Fracture

I had an accident with Scarlett in the bath this week and I feel horrible about it. My heart aches for her and I can’t help but blame myself.

Scarlett has outgrown her infant bathtub. She is now 39 inches long. I decided that it was time for the big girl tub. I put her in the tub and she loved it. She was moving her arms up and down. I was thrilled when I saw her moving. I didn’t realize that she could move that much. It looked like she was making snow angels but in the water.

When she was done with her bath I kneeled down to get ready to move her. I suctioned her mouth, folded her arms over her chest and tucked her feeding tubes over her body. Scarlett has to be picked up laying flat. I do not have the luxury of placing her on my hip or throwing her over my shoulder. I have to put one hand under her head, the other under her butt and lift. It is extremely difficult to move her. I thought she was ready to be moved so I picked her up. Her feeding tube had somehow gotten stuck in the shower door. I had to immediately put her back down in the bathtub. I tried to remove the feeding tube from the shower door. It was stuck and would not budge. Scarlett was screaming at this point. I then had to remove her feeding tube extension from her body. That was the only way that I could get her out of the tub.

I quickly brought her to the bed and she was still uncontrollably crying. I put her on the ventilator to help calm her down. She then fell asleep for an hour. When she awoke, I could tell that something wasn’t right. She started crying again when I tried to change her diaper.

We (me and my sister Wendy) headed over to see her Pediatrician at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. They did an x-ray and discovered that Scarlett had an incomplete fracture in her femur. We then met with an Orthopedic Surgeon. He explained to me that Scarlett’s bones are weaker than healthy children because she doesn’t bear any weight on them. SMA not only affects Scarlett’s muscles but they affect her bones too! He thought that a splint would be the best option for her. A cast would’ve lead to pressure sores and it’s really uncomfortable. She will have to wear a full leg splint for 4 to 6 weeks and then should be able to return to her normal activities. When she heals we are going to start aquatic physical therapy!

I can’t help but feel totally responsible for Scarlett’s injury. It’s eating me up inside. I know that accidents happen but this shouldn’t have happened. I’m so careful with her. I’m thinking that she fractured her femur when I put her down to remove the feeding tube from her body.

We applied a couple of months ago for a medium size bath chair through our insurance company and they denied it. They said bath chairs are not a covered benefit because they are not medical. A bath chair is the only safe way for me to bathe her. I guess they expect me to give her sponge baths which really doesn't clean a person. Scarlett deserves and needs normal baths with soap and water because of her c-diff. Did I mention that they are also denying Scarlett's medical food and nursing hours. Yep! I wonder if our huge hospital bill for our bath accident will make them reconsider covering the bath chair and nursing hours. We will see...

I had a long talk with Scarlett and I apologized. I kissed her on her forehead after our talk and she gave me the biggest smile. She forgives me and I hope that one day I will forgive myself too. She is the light in my life and I love her so much!


Settling down for bed


She still gives me smiles! Oh how I LOVE her!



Relaxing while watching Madagascar and The Bee Movie


She's a princess and gets TWO wands


Looking out the window at the leaves blowing in the wind


I almost forgot to mention that Scarlett's temperature is back to normal. We think that she had a little virus.