Here's What Happened?

I promised to update you on our adventures yesterday and here it is. We decided that since yesterday was a holiday it would be fun to take Kat up snowboarding and Nan could bring a friend and play in the snow. None of Kat's friends could come, but 4 of our young adults wanted to go so they would take her on the mountain and we'd hang below with Nan and her friend.

We made a plan to meet up at 3:00 and they headed up. We watched from the bottom and got to see Kat come down the run twice. She was doing really well.  I of course had left my camera in the car because we were going to get that stuff later after we had gotten a feel for where things were. The inner tube run that we were planning on taking Nan to was up the road so we would need to drive. I had brought my laptop in high hopes of being able to sit in a "lodge" and type and read the day away. At this particular site, the "lodge" was a crowded cafe and at the time there wasn't an available seat. There were a few spots that I thought would work for me if they ever opened up. I made a mental note to check back, since we planned on staying till 7:00 that evening. 

We left to check out the inner tube runs that were going to cost an arm and a leg to do an all day pass. We decided to let the little girls play in the snow (pictures to come) till it was time to go meet the other group. After we did that and ate, we'd head back and do a 2-hour shift of inner tubing which was a bit more reasonable. They played, ate their sandwiches and we headed back to the other site to meet up with our group. We unloaded the car and took it to the "brown bag" lounge. I pulled my camera out since I had a great view of the run, put my large lens on and proceeded to look through the eyepiece for any signs of Kat coming down the hill. I really wanted a few shots. 

I noticed I missed a call from one of the guys (it was 15 minutes before we were to meet up). I tried him but couldn't get him so I just kept looking through my lens. I then get a call from my hubby saying Kat was hurt and they were bringing her down on a sled. "EXCUSE me!!!!" Hurt! Like slightly hurt, terribly hurt....what kind of hurt? I leave all my stuff with a nice lady and head up to meet my hubby (the little girls were with us). Now, back up a bit....probably 3 times in the first 1/2 hour we were there I saw people being brought in on a sled and I thought "wow, how do they get them from down the mountain....I did not want to really find out though!! When I met up with hubby he said "she hurt her wrist". Okay, that's not soo bad!

Now you have to know a few things! First, there's not a whole lot of "fear" in my daughter. Second, she doesn't like to slow people down, and third she'll try anything especially if someone says she can do it. Now we also trust these young adults she was with tremendously so there is no fault in anyone. They did use wisdom in taking her where I would never dare to tread. (Actually, I wouldn't never even set foot on a ski lift for that matter). Soooo...look at the map. I marked all the areas out. The first thing my hubby said was "They went to the top". I said "what in the world is she doing at the top". This is only the second time she's gone snowboarding. But we knew why. She's not afraid to try something new, she didn't want to slow anyone down or keep them from going where they wanted to go and she didn't want to be stuck alone, so she went.

She was doing really well actually and got quite a ways down (see the map). One of the guys was keeping a good eye on her. There apparently was an "edge" or "cliff" as she said, and they were telling her to move away from it a bit. She wasn't going fast at all, just carefully maneuvering to a better spot. She felt herself start to fall and without thinking caught herself with her hands (a big no-no in snowboarding). The minute she landed and felt pain in her wrist she thought "what in the world was I thinking. That was stupid". She really wasn't sure what she had done, just that her wrist hurt. One of the guys came up and determined they should summon a medic. She said "can we just start walking?"...they walked quite a distance, calling one of the other guys who was probably close to the first aid hut to tell someone to meet them. 

Enter the amazing medics. They strapped her to a board, assessed her, wrapped her wrist, took her vitals and then skied her down the mountain. She said it was crazy but the guy was going so slow that she wasn't even scared. Do you see on the map how far they had to go...they had to go from the top all they way to where we were at the bottom. At the bottom of the hill they hooked the sled to a snowmobile who took her the rest of the distance to the first aid building while people looked on (as I had earlier)..this time I was high tailing it as fast as I could behind it to meet up with her. 

The medics inside just chuckled at her bravery and the fact that she was actually walking down the mountain and not just waiting for someone to come get her. Crazy girl.  They took her vitals which were a bit elevated, so despite her calm demeanor and no tears they knew she was in pain. They checked her out and said there was a possible break and we should take her right in for xrays. They commented again on her bravery and we went on our way. They were amazing medics and nurses and I was very impressed with how well they handled it. Even the guy who brought her down addressed her by name and told her to take it easy.

We connected with our group and said we were heading back to get her to the doctors. In all the process of phone calls, one of the guys lost his car keys...oh we prayed he'd find them (it turns out someone turned them in...yeah). Fast forward a bit....we decided that instead of waiting till we got to Vancouver which was an hour and a half away, we'd stop at an Urgent Care in Gresham Oregon which was closer. They got us in quickly but we waited a good hour in the waiting room. This was no fun for Kat. They had unwrapped her arm so she'd be ready for the physician. I think it all set in and the emotions began to come. Tears, pain, frustration. But she was such a good sport. We continually prayed and declared that there were no broken bones. We called and texted several people to have them pray. The physician came in and said "wow, that is swollen, let's get some xrays". They took her back and when the physician came back in he said he was very surprised that there were no broken bones. It just appeared to be a bad sprain. Of course we weren't surprised because we had been declaring that there were no broken bones.  He did insist that she wear a brace and a sling for a week so it can heal and then next week take her back to her doctors so they can re-check it. His concern was for the growth plate. Apparently breaks can show up there a week after an injury especially once swelling has gone down.

So it was quite the day...no inner tubing, but she did get to make 4 or 5 runs down the mountain before getting hurt which made her happy. She'll go again. She's ready! The other group called us when they left and ended up bringing pizza up to our house and hanging out watching a movie and eating. That made Kat feel great. She's very sore and taking ibuprofen and icing her arm regularly. We're continuing to believe for total healing. 

i have to get to a meeting now, but if there's time I'll post pictures of Nan from the day. It may be tomorrow though. With Joy UNquenchable,