And Its A Pink Little Cast

The orthopedic surgeon was able to see Zoe first thing this morning and his diagnosis was a broken arm. He did not take another X-ray since he thought cartilage was hiding the fracture and it would not show up. I learned something new at least--toddlers very seldom ever sprain anything and toddler's fractures as they are called are fairly common.
And Zoe slept through the whole examination and only woke when they were completing the cast. That was a blessing! She did cry out during the exam when the doctor twisted her wrist (which was his confirmation it was broken), but she went right back to sleep. It may have been the Tylenol I gave her, but I felt like God helped her stay asleep too. For Zoe to sleep like that is unusual, so I was very thankful.
Zoe will have to wear this cast for the next 3 weeks. The cast is much lighter than the splint, doesn't pull her shoulder and accommodates clothing with sleeves. Once the cast was on, Zoe felt the cast and then her other arm trying to figure out what this thing was. It was rather comical.
After we left the doctor's office, I took Zoe to see her Aunt Hannah at work. We got a cup of soup and a muffin to share there and had lunch while Hannah was on break. And I learned one advantage to this cast there--when your child is holding her purse in one hand, she can't grab displays with the other. However the cons outweigh the pros, so I'm glad its only 3 weeks.

Broken Arm

Yesterday Zoe was happily playing and carrying a little dress around with her. Somehow in the course of traversing the den with it she tripped and fell. It seemed like just a normal toddler fall that happens all the time. However she started crying immediately and when I picked her up she wouldn't be consoled. I noticed she kept holding her left wrist and she wouldn't use it to reach for anything, so we decided we should get it checked out. After a very long wait (3 hours) at the emergency room, they finally took X-rays. The X-ray tech was pretty sure it was broken based on how it looked and Zoe's actions, so she was very surprised that no breaks showed up on the X-rays. Then the doctor took less than 5 minutes to look at it (they were so backed up that there were no rooms available and Zoe got treated in the hallway) and decided that it was probably broken even though nothing showed up on the X-ray. His evaluation was that she fell on her hand and bent the wrist back causing a hairline fracture. He also said these types of fractures usually do not show up on X-rays until about 3 - 4 days after the break. His assumption was that it will show up on the X-ray done by the orthopedic surgeon. The good news is that no bones were out of place and they did not have to set the arm. The bad news is that they couldn't confirm the break or even where exactly it occurred in her arm although they were pretty sure its broken somewhere. I will feel much better after we see the orthopedics, but in the meantime Zoe has a plaster splint from elbow to wrist and an ACE bandage wrapped around her arm. The nurse thought Zoe would probably have to wear it for 3 - 4 weeks, but its up to the orthopedic surgeon.
She did start playing much more happily with her arm immobilized. She can certainly still get into just as much stuff with one hand as with two. Thankfully it hasn't seemed to phase her. She doesn't have any clothes with sleeves large enough to go over the splint, so hopefully the weather stays warm enough for sleeveless for awhile.
We've also been fighting a cold/flu bug here and Zoe has a very bad cough and runny nose right now in addition to teething and the broken arm. So life has been interesting, but its comforting to know that God never gives us more than we can handle and He is in control of each situation. And Zoe got lots of treats like Oreos, chicken nuggets and french fries out of the deal along with the Honey Grahams her Grandma brought her today and lots of extra attention (like sleeping with Mommy), so I don't think she minds too much (until we go see the doctor again of course)!

And The Reaction to Dairy Is....

not very good. This blog was intended to be about Zoe, but not always about her dietary issues. Its been two weeks since we started dairy products. She seems to do OK with yogurt and cheese, but whenever she gets milk she has a reaction. It seems the more natural form the milk (less processed) the more it affects her. After another visit with the pediatrician yesterday, she decided its time Zoe visits a GI Specialist.
We've had a lot going on the last two weeks. Zoe had more vaccinations and had reactions to those the first weekend. The next weekend she broke out in a rash and had a fever which I think was another vaccination reaction to either the measles or chicken pox. In between these events, she started getting her two top teeth. And both times she had a lot of exposure to milk, she had very bad diarrhea and even blood in her diaper. And the last two nights were the first Zoe slept more than 3 hours in one stretch in a week. I kept getting up to check on her because it was so unusual!
The GI specialist is going to evaluate her reflux as well which does not seem to be getting better. The doctor recommended either nursing or putting Zoe on soy milk until we figure out what's going on with the cow milk allergy. Zoe has been starting to wean herself, so it may soon be the soy milk. The doctor does not think I need to stop dairy again. Zoe can have foods with milk in them (like breads, etc), just not the actual milk and be careful with cheese and yogurt. I am not looking forward to this visit since some of the tests are quite invasive, but maybe we will get some answers. I am thankful for good medical care and that we have a chance to find out what's going on.
So that's the latest update. Zoe is happy and healthy otherwise. She is starting to do some cute things and its so much fun to watch her figure out what's going on. One advantage to having the loft is the great laundry chute it makes. The other day Zoe saw me drop the clothes over the rail. She decided she wanted to help so she marched in the bathroom, grabbed a few clothes and headed off to the loft. Now that's another of her favorite "chores". I'm waiting until she has to do those things--I'm sure it won't be fun anymore!

Home For Sale

We've had our home on the market now for approximately 2 weeks For Sale By Owner and I have finally completed the online listings. I thought I may as well use my Blog for free advertising as well! So if any of you know of someone looking to buy in this area, I know of a very nice one for sale.
We are praying for wisdom as we take this step that God will work everything out in His time and according to His will. (He always does anyway, but sometimes it hard not to get impatient.)
I've included the links to the online sites if any of you are looking or know of someone who is looking to buy. Most of all we ask that you would pray for us that we would follow God's leading and everything would go smoothly.

http://norfolk.craigslist.org/rfs/438615214.html

http://www.infotube.net/search_detail.php?u=EMINGRAM&photo=1&Adnumber=184043

http://www.owners.com/Search/ShowListing.aspx?id=1949617&loc=MA