5 Bones in 2 Years

When we took "Boo" to Skate City for a school sponsored fund raiser, she managed to fall over backwards and smash her elbow in 4 places. It was a horrific experience. The management called 911 for an ambulance without our permission, which put us in the awkward position of deciding whether or not to have her ride with them to the hospital or with us. She did not need an ambulance ride and the EMT said they should not have been called without our consent.

So we drove "Boo" to the Brighton hospital, which we trust. The doctor there was wonderful, but we had a very long wait and "Boo" was freaking out more than I've seen any child do before. I think she's had some bad experiences with hospitals. They gave her pain meds because she could not calm down enough for them to even x-ray her arm. During all this I've called the hotline number to report a serious incident involving a foster child. (Required) And the person they finally direct me to tells me on the phone that "Boo" should never have been given any pain medication or an I.V. without director approval. The doctor took the phone and had a few choice words with her.

After the x-rays were taken we were told to drive her to Denver Children's Hospital because they'd need to put her under anesthesia and pop one of her bones back in place before putting a cast on and they don't do that at the Brighton hospital. By this time it was 10 pm. The accident happened around 7ish (if I recall correctly). The hotline caseworker says they can't do any procedures on "Boo" until they get written director's approval. They kept her waiting until 10 am the next morning before they got the approval and then dragged their feet another two hours with details. I can't imagine how traumatized "Boo" would have been if they had not been allowed to give her any pain medication until that time. After all this happened, "Boo's" caseworker called us and gave us her cell phone number. She claims she could have gotten a director woken up and signing within an hour. She's a forceful woman, so she may be right.

So, to top it all off, our family certification worker comes out a couple of days later to make sure "Boo" is okay and informs us that we've had five broken bones in two years and that if we have one more our foster home may be closed. She explained that the first one was my broken ankle in January of 2009, then Brianna's in January of 2010, Katie's in June, Gloria's in December, and now "Boo" in March of 2011. So now we are treating the kids like they are made of glass. We don't let "Boo" or "Junie B." skate at all. They even said we should have made "Boo" wear a helmet and full pads at the skating rink. She fell while standing on carpet next to her teacher in the snack area. She wasn't even skating. So, we should have made her look like a freak with all her friends, as the only one wearing full protective gear. I'm wondering why the rink doesn't make full gear a policy?

Well, the final straw was that the hospital only put a temporary split open cast on "Boo" because of the swelling. She was supposed to get a new solid permanent cast a week later. It took Children and Family Services a MONTH to get Medicaid straightened out to cover that, by which time her bones had already healed and her arm had frozen into a really bad 90 degree angle. She had to work daily on stretching it for another month just to be able to straighten her arm or turn her wrist. (Insert rude comment about government health care here)