Injuries Come in Threes . . .Fours . . . Fives?

We have had a string of injuries in our family- all coming within a day or two.  It was crazy.  This was all about a month ago.

1) Michelle wasn't sure what she had done, but reported that her knee was really red and swollen and hurting.  It was difficult to walk and she was limping quite badly.   She went to an orthopedic surgeon and physical therapist.  She had an MRI and the diagnosis was that she has arthritis that is quite severe. She was given exercises to do and ice and heat therapy was recommended.  It was recommended that she avoid certain things- like treadmill running, which she had been doing a lot because it was too hot to run outside.  She is way too young to have these problems!  But she is much better now.  Michelle is so active and loves to exercise.  She is physically strong and healthy.  So this was quite a blow.  She does the prescribed exercises and heats and ices it when it flares up.

2) Kristen was making lunch for her family and using the immersible blender to blend some black beans.  She tried to unstick them and severely cut her thumb.  She almost cut the end of her thumb off.  Her husband took her to the emergency room and they put her back together by stitching her up.  Being a mother of six, it is difficult to keep an injured thumb dry.  

It also is doing much better now and healing up.  The jagged, dead thumbnail catches on things, but the feeling has come back and she is healing nicely.

3) Remember our sweet Hannah Rose?  Well, on the same day as Aunt Kristen's injury, she had another injury.  She had just been released from restrictions on her broken elbow when she broke her ankle in the growth plate.  Shonna and Blake went away overnight and hired a babysitter for the 24 hours.  Saturday afternoon, the kids were all playing on the trampoline.  Hannah landed wrong and cried out in pain.  The babysitter carried her inside and there she sat until her parents got home later that afternoon.  They went to a local doctor on Monday, but Shonna felt unsettled about his diagnosis (mother's intuition,) so took her back to Primary children's orthopedic hospital in Layton the next week where they determined she had broken her ankle in the growth plate.  Ahh!  

So Hannah had to use crutches, wheelchair, and boot for the next month at least.

The family had a trip planned to National Parks.  So Blake ordered this special kid backpack as they planned to do quite a bit of hiking.

It was the week school was to start.  So Shonna takes her to school in the morning in her wheelchair where she attends her Chinese immersion class.  Then Shonna picks her up and brings her home and teaches her  the rest of the subjects in the afternoons.  

We sent her some fun books to read during her confinement.

The backpack worked great on their trip.

 We told Blake it was a good thing it was tiny Hannah that broke her ankle and not one of the bigger kids!

Hannah and Shonna went back to Primary Children's on Monday and Hannah can now walk on her foot with the boot and soon with nothing.  She will be able to finally start going to school full time next week.  This sweet little girl has been so patient and happy through all of her troubles.  

We thought that was it.  Troubles come in threes, right?  But suddenly Ken's knee took a turn for the worse.  Twenty-eight years ago he was playing softball and went to catch fly foul ball.  With his eye on the ball, he didn't realize the fence was so close and ran into in, shattering his knee cap.  The doctor pieced it back together, but he's never been able to play basketball or softball again or run.  But he walks daily and rides a bike several days a week.  It has held up pretty well, considering.  But quite suddenly, the pain increased dramatically.  He stopped going on his daily walks, started icing and heating it alternately, and babying it more.  But the pain was intense.  He went to his doctor and good friend, Greg, who gave him a cortisone shot.  At first he wasn't sure it had helped much, but now he feels like it is much better than even before the flare up.  That flare up was on the same weekend as the above injuries.

Ken icing his knee

ON that same weekend, my heel started hurting very badly.  I could hardly walk.  It was scary. I woke up Sunday morning and could barely get into the living room. When I talked to Michelle, she suggested I had plantar fasciitis and sent me several exercises to try.  They have really helped, so I, too, am back to walking.  

So there you have it.  The Hinton Family Injury Report.  Hopefully, that is all for a good while!