Chapter 2-Why Is There Pain?

What is causing Marcia's pain?

Chapter 2-Why Is There Pain?

We were having so much fun playing. I didn't even give the pain I was having any thought until in the middle of the night.
I woke up screaming. "Mommy please make this pain go away. I can't take it any more mommy. It hurts!" I was crying so hard I was almost unable to breathe.

Mommy came running to my bedside saying, " Settle down Marcy what hurts?"

I was crying so hard I had hard time trying to tell mommy what hurt. As I sobbed with unbearable pain I tried my best to tell my mother my feet hurt.

She gave me pain medicine but, I still continued to cry.

The pain was so bad it made my whole body hurt. I knew something was wrong. It felt like mommy thought I was being a baby because she just told me to go back to sleep. The pain medicine didn't help. I continued to cry. Mommy didn't come back to check on me again that night. I cried until sleep won the battle.

The next day Leigh was concerned about why I was crying all night. I told her that my feet hurt, She felt bad for me. I told her not to worry. that " I will be alright."

When mommy woke up she told me if it didn't get any better we were going to see our family doctor immediately, Mommy was worried. I could see it in her face. I didn't sleep at all last night. I tried, but the pain was still more than I could tolerate so all I did was cry.

Mommy was really concerned about me now. I don't usually complain about pain and she knows this. I am not a cry baby, so the more I cried the more mommy showed concern. It wasn't long before she gave in and said," That's it! I am taking you to the doctor now!"

Mommy doesn't drive so she called an ambulance because one minute we were at home and the next minute we were in our family doctor's office in a room waiting for the doctor to come in.

Mommy was pacing the floor, I was still crying. I said,"I'm sorry mommy."

My mommy shook her head," No I'm sorry. I just thought you wanted attention."

Tears continued to fall down my cheeks even though I was trying hard to stop crying I just couldn't. I was scared.

Dr Johnson came in saying,"Hi Agnes,what is wrong with the little one here?"

Mommy explained about my surgery.

"Marcy is complaining her feet hurt."

He said, "Well I guess so. In my opinion she is in a Chinese torture chamber and needs to come out of it sooner than they thought (referring to my body cast). Her body needs to breathe."

Dr.Johnson told mommy he would be right back. He left the room, When he returned he said,"I'm sorry I took so long. I called Dr McQuinn at A.I. DuPont He told me to tell you to bring her back to the hospital today if you can."

I could tell mommy was concerned because it was up to her to get us there. Normally my sister Gwen and her family would come take us to my hospital visits, but this was an emergency. We didn't have time to wait for them to come get us because they lived an hour and a half away in Pennsylvania.

Dr.Johnson told mommy that he was going to give her a script for a different pain medication.

Can I leave Marcy here while I go get this prescription filled?

Mommy walked over to the drugstore. It was across the street from the doctors to get the other pain medication filled. She must have made the necessary phone calls for one of her friends to take us to A.I. DuPont because by the time she came back to get me from the doctors office our ride was waiting outside. Mommy always managed to make things happen especially when something was this important.We were on our way to my hospital.

I was starting to cry again. Mommy gave me the stronger pain medication for the ride. It made me sleep for the whole ride. Mommy woke me up when we pulled into the hospital. I was real groggy and still in pain. I started to whine again.

Mommy said, "Just keep the faith Marcy Belle and do what your Doctors tell you to do."

I smiled at mommy. "Okay, I will."

Mommy always told me to keep the faith, especially, when we were at the hospital.

What is faith anyway? Mommy told me just to believe and I will get better. I still didn't understand.

We didn't have to wait long because my doctor, Dr McQuinn, was waiting for us. I was taken to the cast room. I was scared to death! I have a fear of loud noises. I think God gave me extra sensitive hearing when he took my ability to walk away. I dislike anything that makes a sudden loud noise. I don't like balloons, fireworks.or guns. I most, certainly, didn't like this LOUD saw that was coming toward me to cut my cast off! I'm petrified! First of all, I do NOT know this person at all. Second, this saw can cut ME! and third, the saw is way too LOUD! In my mind all I can picture is this stranger cutting off my leg or even my cutting my belly open.OH NO! ummm mmm three strikes you're OUT! I let out this blood curdling scream that was so LOUD it looked like half the hospital staff came running to see what was wrong.

The poor Intern looked at my mom with a confused look on his face saying," I didn't even touch her yet. All I did was turn on the saw."

My Mom shook her head saying,"I know. I'm so sorry."

Someone must've paged Dr. McQuinn.

I heard him running into the cast room saying,"Hey,Hey,what's wrong with my girl? No smile for me today?"

I shook my head vigorously,"No!" wiping tears from my eyes. I had a runny nose from crying so hard. Mommy handed me a tissue. I blew my nose and handed my mommy back the snotty tissue. Mommy put the dirty tissue in the trash.

As soon as I heard My Doctors voice my body started to, slowly, relax.

I love doctor McQuinn. He is always patient with me. He said,"Are you in pain Marcy?"
I shook my head emphatically," Yes." OK then I need to get your cast off so I can look and see what is going on. I smiled at my favorite doctor and said, "Okay, then, YOU do it."

Dr. McQuinn said,"How about we do it this way. You close your eyes, hold your ears. Mommy can help you hold your ears. I want you to count really loud while you are counting I will take off your cast.You can tell me how long it takes me by how high you count."

I said, "Okay" even though I knew he was trying to take my mind off the saw.

Mommy got as close to me as she could. Together we closed my ears real tight. I closed my eyes tight too.
I began to count as loud as I could "one,two,three,four."
I jumped the saw started I counted five,louder six,seven,eight,nine,ten.!
My voice shaking a little, but I continued to count "eleven,twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen,sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-two,twenty-three, twenty-four, twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty!" Man was I glad Leigh taught me how to count! I said, "I'm tired of counting are you almost done?"

Dr McQuinn said,"You can open your eyes if you want."

I opened my eyes my cast was cut in half. I could see my legs. They are really skinny. My legs were still laying in the bottom shell of my cast The top part was cut away. The waist of my cast was also cut completely away. The look on Dr McQuinn's face changed from happy to concerned. When he touched my feet I started to cry...He looked up at me, sadly. He said,"I did your surgery. An intern cast you and whoever that was didn't put the proper padding or gauze where your sutures are on both of your heals:this is why you have been in pain."

I said," What are sutures? He smiled and said, "Stitches."
I just grinned asking, "Can you fix them please?" I could see tears in Dr.McQuinn's eyes.

He turned to mommy and said, "Agnes, Only Marcy would say something like that. I am so sorry any of our interns should know better. Her heels are a little infected now. We caught it before it got too bad. She still has a lot of healing to do so we are going to keep the shell cast. I will teach you how to wrap ace bandages around her feet and legs. This way it will do away with the body cast."

Dr.McQuinn taught mommy how to properly wrap my legs and feet.He explained to her how to put my legs in the bottom shell of the cast. Mommy watched carefully as he wrapped ace bandages slowly around each cast and leg making sure the bandages were tight enough to stay in place,but not tight enough to cut off blood circulation as this is important for many reasons. Mommy knew it was important to make sure she knew how to do it correctly,so she asked my doctor If she could try it

He said, "sure."

Mommy did a great job.
It made me happy that mommy learned to wrap my casts because, usually, she would have someone else learn how to do the things you needed to know to take care of me because she was always afraid she was going to hurt me.

Dr McQuinn was so skilled with his hands. He was able to maneuver the saw and the cast so well that he accomplished several tasks at once. I was amazed. The cast is now removable. I am so happy! He made it possible for me to be put in a bathtub now. In a full body cast my caregivers could only sponge bathe me in bed. He gave me back comfort and He also managed to salvage the sticks which kept my legs apart. The pain was easier to bare now. Mommy let me give my doctor a hug. My legs had to be kept apart and wrapped until they healed more. I am just thankful for a little break everyday. It really isn't so bad now that I have padding on my heals the infection will clear up.

I couldn't wait to get home to tell Leigh what had happened. I knew I was hurting and crying for a reason now. I wasn't being a brat. I know I can be a brat at times, but I wasn't this time.

Chapter 3-Time to be admitted again   (E) Time for the hard work to begin. #1906413 by Marcia~I'm Home :)