The Phantom Ghost

So.....The Phantom Ghost has not been nice to us this year. For those of you not familiar with the Phantom Ghost here is what happens. One night your doorbell rings and you have a treat left on your doorstep. It has a picture of a Ghost and a poem with it that reads....

The phantom ghost has come to town,
to leave some goodies as you have found.
If you don't wish for a Halloween hex,
help him decide who to visit next.
Copy the ghost - make two,
and make two copies of this note too.
Then hang the ghost where it can be seen,
And leave it there until Halloween.
If you fail to heed this advice,
the phantom ghost may strike you twice!
Now make two treats that you can share
with two friends for whom you care.
Within two days the phantom should go
to the houses you chosen so don't be slow.
Make sure no phantoms have been there before,
then leave the treat outside the door.
Deliver at night when there is no light,
Ring the doorbell, run, and stay out of sight.
After house number two your task is done.
The phantom has struck...Isn't Halloween fun?

Sounds like fun doesn't it. Believe me the cookies we received were the best and I'm hoping the phantom will share her recipe. The problem came when it was our turn to deliver the treats.

Brian and Kennedy drove around the neighborhood looking for houses that didn't have the ghost in the window. One of Kennedy's friends didn't have a ghost and she debated whether or not to deliver a treat to him but there aren't too many place to hide at his house and they had just remodeled and put in a stone pathway. She decided to go to an easier house and picked out our next door neighbor. Brian pulled down the street a little ways. She did just as the poem says to..

Deliver at night when there is no light,
Ring the doorbell, run, and stay out of sight.

But she tripped somewhere along the way. Kennedy says she was trying to slow down to avoid a parked car. I think she forgot about the curb. But either way she ended up in the middle of the road. She started screaming at the top of her lungs. Brian saw her in mid-air. He jumped out and picked her up and was asking her what hurt the most. Of course it was dark and he couldn't see much. He did pick her glasses up off the road. She replied that her knees hurt bad. He got her in the car and turned on the light and knew right away that her arm was broken. No doubt about that. He drove around the block and came home to tell me, grab his wallet, and get out of there. He was going to leave without me. I wouldn't let him. I had on slippers and had to get the baby dressed as I had just taken him out of his costume. But we made it to the local clinic 15 minutes before closing. They immediately saw her face and didn't bother to ask why we were there. Then when we showed them her arm and told them we were pretty sure it was broken they took us right back to the back room and didn't even make us pay a co-pay. The doctor was there immediately and they took her for x-rays. They cleaned up her face the best they could and made sure her nose wasn't broken. And her knees that she was complaining about were barely scrapped. She was in shock and shaking really bad and we hadn't had dinner yet so I was worried more about her going into shock than anything else. But they took great care of us. Once the x-rays were done he told us that an orthopedic surgeon needed to look at them and they called the surgeon. He pulls up the xrays on the computer at his house..or his blackberry..or whatever and tells us that it can wait until morning. She got sent home with a splint and we were to be in his office at 8:00 am the next morning.


This is at the clinic. (Notice the wrist, that's a big lump...not just the way she has it laying.)



This is back home with the splint.





On a side note Staci's parents were leaving town the next morning at 5:00 AM. I called them from the doctors office as soon as I knew surgery would be involved. They immediately cancelled their flight. Brian's side of the family has a history of getting hurt and although they felt horrible about it they are more used to the issues. They handle these type of situations with more ease. Staci's side of the family on the other hand isn't used to issues. Brian says that I handled it pretty well. When Kennedy had to gets stitches I was a mess. I did do better this time but I was also not the one with her when it happened. Brian was. That made it easier for me. Brian also has a very cool head about him.

That night Kennedy had a blessing by her father and Grandpa Joe.

The next morning, because my parents had cancelled their flight, they watched Oaklan for us and we took Kennedy to the surgeons office. Brian's Dad was able to stop in just in time to see her during recovery and Brian's parents came and brought us dinner that night.

She broke both of her bones in her arm but she broke them right at the ends next to the wrist. The doctor says that this type of break is very uncommon and it means that she didn't brace herself she fell on top of it and bent it downward and inward. Of course it broke through the growth plate (we can't do things simple). He was worried that there wasn't enough of an end of the bone to pin into so he may have to put a plate and screws in. So we were prepared for the worst.

Here is what her wrist looked like that morning...after the splint all night.


The surgeon was able to schedule a surgery during his lunch time. So we went back home to wait for surgery. Then went back to the Mt Ogden Surgical Center. They were so great to work with. The knew they were dealing with a nervous child and nervous parents. Each person on the staff came in and introduced themselves to us and told us exactly what their role in the surgery was. Kennedy got to get into her gown, her booties, and then they gave her this little bear which we named "boo boo".

Waiting for surgery.





It was about a 40 minute surgery and when the doctor came out to talk to us we were surprised to learn that he was able to pin it instead of putting the plate in. YEAH!

Here is the x-ray of the pins.



This is Kennedy in recovery




And back home sleeping




She got to pick out the color of her cast and she chose a white glow in the dark cast. I had asked Kennedy to let me know when she went to the bathroom just so I knew that she was okay after the surgery. (Oh the things that parents have to track!) So at 4:00 AM she wakes me up to tell me that she went to the bathroom but WOW - her cast was glowing! It is pretty neat. Because of the swelling the put on a hard cast but then they cut it down the top and the bottom and re-wrapped it with a bandage to keep it together. So it's hard to see the glow in the dark all the time, but it does glow. We go back to the surgeon Wednesday 11/04 for a follow up to make sure those pins are staying in place.

And for those of you wondering how her glasses looked after this they look surprisingly well. The nose rests and the bridge of the glasses are what did all the damage to Kennedy's face. The nose rests dug into the sides of her nose and so those are bent all up. The bridge of her glasses is what peeled all the skin off her nose. Yikes! But they didn't shatter which saved her eyes. And she didn't knock out any teeth either! We are lucky.




As soon as we came home from surgery the next door neighbor, the one that we left the treat for, came over with a big bouquet of balloons. She felt so bad at what had happened.




Kennedy has also had friends and family spoil her rotten. Thanks to all of those who have wished her well. It's appreciated.