Anterior cruciwahcallit ligamadealie?

"Aaaaaaaaaa! ssssssssss. Aaaaaaaaaa! ssssssss. Aaaaaaaaaa!"
-Peter Griffin

Yesterday Jess fell down at school while in her theatre class. I guess they were miming/play acting with swordfighting. She wiped out and landed on her knee on a concrete floor. Ouch. She went to the nurse, they iced it. She went through the rest of her day and came home. We elevated it, iced it, gave her ibuprofen... told her that if she didn't feel better this morning that we'd take her to the doctor.

Well, she didn't feel better. And we knew she wasn't kidding because she's the kind of kid who doesn't let you know when she's hurt. She hides it and plays through the pain. She couldn't lift her leg or even sit because the pain was so bad. So Doug took her to the doctor.

Our doctor stuck a needle in her knee and pulled out a bunch of gunk and blood and said 'yup. You did something bad in there" and told her that he believes she has a torn ACL. X-rays and a visit to the orthopedist were ordered up. X-rays were inconclusive. So she'll have an MRI on Friday and we'll see how bad it is, whether or not surgery might have to be done or if weeks of physical therapy face her.

In the meantime, she's couchbound and in a knee immobilizer She can go to school and has to take it easy and elevate the knee whenever she can.

She'll be okay, I'm sure. I'm not too worried about her being okay. What upsets me is the timing of this incident. In about 5 or 6 weeks, she's supposed to be on her way to London, where she will walk walk walk all over the kingdom and act, and play and cavort and enjoy. But... if she is unable to walk, unable to do it... under doctor's orders... well, she may not get to go.

And I throw up a little bit in my mouth when I think of this, for two reasons. First, it is hard to get a 15 and a half year old excited about things, and you should see how excited she is about this trip. Honestly excited. Not just a "yeah, that sounds kinda fun I guess" excited.

Second, I don't think I get the money I've paid to the trip thus far back. I would need to check with Keri. But it may be a loss of 800 clams, and that dizzies me.

For a kid who has made it all the way to almost 16 without getting hurt even once... why did this have to happen... now. Right now.

I suppose that if I could play our little game that we play called "It Could Be Worse" and I could come up with a list of things that could, indeed, be worse.

It could be worse... it could have happened while she was ON the trip.
It could be worse... it could have happened while she was ON the trip, and up on stage in front of an audience in Stratford.
It could be worse... a bone could have broken and split right through her skin and she'd be in the hospital now.
It could be worse... she could be ... dead.

I guess. It could be worse.

Anyway. Pray that the MRI shows that she's not all torn up. Pray that if she is, she'll be okay to go. Just send her some mojo... because even though she and I haven't discussed the "what might this have an impact on" discussion in regards to London, I know she's thinking it. So ... pray for the girl's knee and that good things come of it.

Sigh.