Our weekend, and a prayer request

Friends, it was a rough weekend. Caitlyn and I became the most recent victims of the nasty stomach bug that's been making it's way through our family late Friday afternoon. (Dylan, Darren, and Meghan had all previously suffered through it in the preceding week or two.) As Caitlyn and I were both pretty much bedridden (between trips to bathroom) for most of Friday and Saturday, all previous plans were cancelled, including "Cowboy Days" at the New Mexico Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum, which we had all been really looking forward to, a birthday celebration for my Nana, and a half shift at work Saturday night.

By Sunday morning, though, we were both feeling remarkably well, so after church yesterday afternoon, we ventured out to the second day of "Cowboy Days" and had a great time. In fact, I planned to blog about it last night.

However...

We decided upon returning home that, given that extra hour of daylight, we still had plenty of time to play in the backyard and work a bit in the garden. The kids were having a blast swinging, while I sat at the picnic table resting and alternately watching them and Darren, who was working on planting at the flower bed. My gaze had just turned from Caitlyn, gleefully suspended in mid-swing, when I heard the sound of her screams. In that short instant, one of the chains of her swing had somehow slipped off of it's hook, and she was thrown to the ground below, where she sat screaming and cradling her leg. Quickly scooping her up, Darren carried her into the house where we performed a quick assessment and found, to our horror, an ominous lump on her right shin. Given the fact that she was screaming in anguish, saying she couldn't move her leg, and trembling with pain, we wasted no time in bundling her into the van for a trip to the ER. Darren accompanied her while I stayed home with Dylan and Meghan, though it was pure torture for me to wait anxiously by the phone the entire time they were gone. After several hours and a series of X-rays, it was determined that Caitlyn had, as we feared, broken her leg. (More specifically, she suffered a spiral fracture of the distal shaft of her right tibia.) The orthopedic surgeon who was consulted last night felt confident that surgery was not indicated, so a temporary cast was placed from above her right knee to the tip of her toes until he can assess her again (hopefully tomorrow).

It was after 11 when Darren and Caitlyn finally returned home last night, and we tucked her tenderly into a little "nest" I had prepared for her on the sofa in our bedroom. She woke up once in extreme pain at around 2:45 this morning, at which point we medicated her with Tylenol and codeine, and we've decided to keep her (at least for a day or two) on a three hour alternating schedule of the Tylenol with codeine and Motrin, which were prescribed for her last night. I hate, hate, hate seeing her in such pain! Darren has been calling every medical supply place in town this morning in an attempt to procure a set of pediatric crutches, but none seem to be available in quite the right size. For now it looks like the best we'll be able to do is to have set delivered from Albuquerque to a local store tomorrow. Thankfully, Darren is able to be home for the next couple of days to be with us and to help our poor sweet little Cait.

But if it's not too much trouble, do you think you could spare a quick prayer or two for the comfort and quick, uncomplicated healing of our little girl? Thank you so much!