These pictures aren't really good because I took them with my phone, but about two weeks ago I got a call from Alex's nurse that she was in the classroom and had a vibrating plush lady bug on her tray. Alex was having a particularly MANIC day - she was laughing uncontrollably, pulling her hair and rocking back forth....apparently she was rocking so hard that she came forward with all of her might and nailed her head on her wheelchair tray - which had the lady bug on it and Alex smacked right into the hard plastic battery pack of the lady bug.
When I got home and saw her I swear she looked a little bit like Avatar....huge purple and green bump right in the middle of her forehead! Of course she was still a bit manic so she was all smiles - didn't seem to phase her at all.
During the week you could tell it bothered her a bit - but two weeks later she still has remnants of the bump!
Fast forward to that Sunday. We were getting ready to go to church. I was upstairs - Aaron was downstairs with Alex. All of a sudden I heard the loudest crash and Aaron yelling. I ran down the stairs faster than my feet could carry me to find Alex laying on the ground - strapped IN her wombat chair (basically a large high chair) and Aaron half lifting her back up but with a clear look of pain on his face and one hand behind his back. Apparently when he was wheeling her into the living room from the kitchen to watch TV while we finished getting ready, one of the wheels FELL OFF her chair! Unfortunately, Aaron didn't realize it until he let go of the chair to reach for the remote control and she went down like a ton of bricks. Her chair has a very large acrylic tray on the front of it and when Alex went down it was unclear or not if her arm had gotten stuck.
All I know is that Alex was crying. And I mean CRYING. You know those baby cries when the baby is screaming but no sound is actually coming out? The ones that scare you to death because their lips are turning blue? That was her. We had NO clue if/what she hurt. After 45 minutes of crying I was one foot out the door from taking her to the hospital (and I know it's silly, but I always play a triage room conversation in my head between myself and the nurse - "what brings you in today", "Well I don't really know." "You see my daughter is non-verbal and ". I knew at first she must have been crying because the fall had to have scared the beejezus out of her, but after a few minutes she was still crying and I was trying to move every single one of her body parts to make sure nothing was broken.
I have said it numerous times before, but her not being able to communicate is by far the hardest, hands down, part of her disabilities. I cannot express how absolutely heartbreaking it is to know that my child is hurting and scared in such a way and there is absolutely no way for her to tell me what hurts. And the fact that I have to play a guessing game on what I think MIGHT be hurting her is equally heartbreaking. Coupled with the fact that I am doing my absolute best to hold her, rock her, and comfort her and not knowing if she understands what I'm doing instead of making the hurt go away. Sigh.
Oh - and the reason Aaron only had her half lifted up and his hand behind his back? Yeah, he pulled his back out when he reacted so fast. Sunday was also the 15th anniversary of the day we met - I joked with Aaron that there hasn't been a dull moment since the day we met - and that morning was definitely no exception!!
Needless to say we didn't make it to church...I think God understood though!!
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