Injured

Wow, I type that word and I think...Who? When? Where? What sport? and then I remind myself that it didn't come from playing football last fall or basketball over the winter. It hasn't come from the start of the baseball or soccer season's as we head into our very first games of the spring this very weekend. It hasn't even occurred from the hours and hours of track practice Blake has been putting in the last couple of weeks. So if its not Blake or Allie and it wasn't caused by some form of athletics then again I ask Who? and What did it to them?

Well...I have three children. The 14 year old, the 12 year old, and the 4 year old. Ruling out the older two which I have just done in the previous paragraph leaves my youngest, Ashley Kate. Who just happens to be the one sporting an injury that isn't getting better. Leaving me to wonder just what are we to do other than give it more time?

Now that I have answered the "who" let me try and answer the "what" or "how" or "when". As far as we can tell Ashley Kate has been injured while in therapy learning to walk. Something isn't right and isn't working. She currently is unable to stand up, take steps, or do any weight bearing on her right leg. Originally we thought it might be coming from her low back or right hip. Its not. Next I thought maybe her ankle had been sprained or strained. Nope. No evidence to support that theory. Then we thought perhaps her right knee because it appears to be swollen a little larger than her left and she is resistant to any form of palpation or manipulation of it. We shot x-rays to look for any type of break or fracture. None show up on film. Leading us to believe it is in the form of soft tissue damage. We can't pin point exactly what the injury is we just know by her behaviour that its there. She can sit with her knees bent or legs crossed and still maneuver around the house with no pain. She just can't stand on the leg. No walker. No parallel bars. No standing bar. No anything. It seems to cause her trouble when the leg or knee is extended. So... we are taking some time off. Yep, no physical therapy this week and probably not next week either. We are hopeful that rest will give it time to heal. If it doesn't I'm not sure where we go from here or what they will decide to do.

Anyway, when I think of injury the last person I think of is Ash. I'd completely expect for Blake or Al to come home injured in some fashion from all that they do each week, but my Ashley is just learning to stand and step and walk. I just never thought we'd be nursing a knee injury in my 4 year old. Just didn't cross my mind. Then again, much of what we "nurse" in our Ashley never crossed my mind. It just happened. As far as she's concerned she likes the extra 3 hours a week in her schedule to do nothing but play. I'm just hoping for her to heal quick enough that she doesn't lose the ground she's gained lately. I'm also hoping for the pain to be a distant memory so that when she's starts back up again it doesn't hinder her from moving forward.

Yesterday, she did ask for me to help her stand up on 3 different occasions only to collapse into me as soon as she extended her leg. Instead of standing in her walker she has taken to happily pushing it all around the therapy room. I guess she figures its better than nothing.