Nose job

A couple of weeks ago, Paige went to a classmate's birthday party.  When I went to pick her up afterwards, the father met me at the door with a concerned look and said, "We've had a little accident..."  Uh oh.  He took me inside and there was my Paigie, laying down on the couch with blood all over her clothes and face.  Ewww....

As many fun parties go, this one had a piñata ... and Paige's nose got seriously whacked by the stick when everyone rushed in for the candy.  I knelt down beside Paige to comfort her, and then realized that I also needed to comfort the friend who had accidentally hit her and comfort the birthday girl & her parents.  It had clearly been a traumatic ending to the party.  The sweet mom has been so concerned about Paige ever since and often calls to check up on her.

Not knowing much about noses myself, I wasn't sure how to tell if it was broken.  It wasn't crooked, necessarily, but she was in a lot of pain for several days.  Finally took her to an Ear, Nose, Throat doctor who said that she had badly fractured her septum and would need surgery.  Boo.  Surprisingly, the news wasn't as traumatic to Paige as I had thought.  She was just happy she'd be asleep for the whole thing.

See?  Didn't seem scared at all ...

Well, maybe a little bit.  She got a little teary as they wheeled her away from me. :(

After the surgery, the doctor told me that he hadn't ever seen a septum so shattered.  He'd had to piece it back together before securing it back in place.  Ouch.  

She got a really funky ice bag in the recovery room ...

... and was too drugged up to really enjoy her wheelchair ride to the car.

The rest of that day and the next were NOT fun, poor girl.  She was super sick ... and then finally started to perk up a bit and has felt next to normal ever since.  A personal visit from her school teacher definitely helped. :)

She's received treats and flowers from lots of wonderful friends, neighbors and family. I loved the flowers from our neighbors, the Schwabs, with a card that said, "We hope you 'nose' how much we love you." She nose, she nose. :)

Thankfully, she's dancing around the house like normal today ... But no more piñatas at our house, I'll promise you that!