Dear Auntie Jenny,
We need your help. This week Oma told us a story about you, and frankly, we’re not sure what to make of it. You see, we have been told several “stories” of late, mostly by Opa. He’s all into mountain lions knocking one of us off a horse named “Laredo”, another of us whipping out a sword to fight the wildcat, and the third one bandaging wounds and carrying the injured to the doctor. Recognizing fact from fiction in Opa’s narratives is simple. But we’re not so sure about Oma. Honestly, we wonder if she also has an affinity for exaggeration? Maybe does she add a few details to enhance the storyline? This is what she said about you; please let us know if it’s the truth.
Using Letter “X” day as her excuse, Oma told us about how you broke your foot. She said that last January you were climbing on a rock that was inside a building, and you fell off it. Thankfully, the floor was covered by a squishy mat. But unthankfully, your foot twisted when you landed and you said, “ouch!” Little did you know then, but you had fractured something called a “calcaneus bone”. Oma made us say that word! Then she made Auntie Erin put her foot on the table she could point to a calcaneus bone!
The next day you went to Urgent Care. You had to hop on your good foot because your hurt foot was very sore. A smart physician’s assistant said, “Look at your poor, swollen, purple foot, Jenny! You will need an x-ray so that I can see what’s wrong with it.” (See how Oma managed to incorporate our letter-of-the-week with your accident? She is clever, we must admit.)
We did not know about x-rays, so Oma explained that x-rays were pictures of the inside of you. This is weird. She says we all have bones inside of us (do we really? That is hard to believe) and that if we break one of them, we must get an x-ray so a doctor can fix it. Your x-rays showed that you broke your calcaneus bone not just in one place – but in lots of places! And, that you would need to go see a special bone doctor called an orthopedist.
Well, that special bone doctor operated on your foot and fixed it right up. Oma did not explain what an operation was, so we are still in the dark about that. (Maybe we’ll figure it out when we’re older.) Anyway, the orthopedist took more x-rays of your foot after he operated on it, and Oma showed us those:
She pointed out that now, instead of just bones, you have some metal inside your foot! Oma said you have eleven screws in there, then she made us count to eleven! We counted correctly, but we had to use one more finger than we have on our two hands! Wow. We wanted to know when the metal will come out, and Oma said never. Never is a long time, we know that much.
Last of all, Oma had a craft for us. We made pretend x-rays of our hands, and while she threw out words like “carpels, metacarpals, and phalanges”, we ignored her and concentrated on gluing Q-tips in the right places. Hooray for us!
So, Auntie Jenny. What did you think of Oma’s story? Are there any details in need of correction? Be sure and let us know, okay. By the way, congratulations on being able to walk again, finally! Although we miss your scooter, we are happy your mobility issues have been resolved. Please come visit preschool any time.
Love from your nieces and nephew,
Miss Nomi, Miss Em, and Mr. Mo