Oops they dropped "the baby" on her head!

Ok....in an effort not to incite panic, let me start off by saying our child is FINE, well aside a soft ligament strain, but it could have been much worse.

I received a call yesterday from our daughter's cheer coach about (10) minutes before the end of their practice session asking me to come directly to the school. You know those words set off sheer "PANIC" and sent every nerve and emotion screaming through my body. I was able to extract from her cheer coach that she had not "fallen" but that there had been an issue with a stunt and I needed to come to the school. I could hear her crying in the background, so at least I knew she was alert!

The stunt was a new one they just learned on Monday during their formal gymnastics class. They have dubbed it the "Frankenflip". The stunt involves our little one laying flat on her back on the gym floor, with her hands palms down on the floor by her ears. There is an additional cheerleader on each side of her as they are responsible for grabbing a leg and pulling her up into a reversed handstand. Once in this position, she is to flip over and land on her feet ....that is how it is suppose to go.

What happened in reality? Her cheer bases executed on different counts, which placed "O" higher on one side then the other. They lost their hold, and she came down twisted on her neck. Then they lost their grip altogether and she came slamming down on the gym floor - no mat!

Needless to say, we were off to St. Thomas Emergency Room and were seen immediately by the ER triage team. Several x-rays later, two doctors exams and several other poking and prodding, they determined it was a soft ligament strain.

So they issued her a cervical collar for support (not much hope she will keep it on) and wrote her an excuse, which said "No stunting for one week". Dr. Myers said that is the first time he has ever had to write that on a release to return to school/work notice. He turned to our daughter and said "Makes you sound really cool, like you are a stunt woman or something!"

Of course homecoming is this week, and they had planned to perform a dance and stunt. Miss Thing is none to happy about her medical restrictions, despite my efforts to provide her with a run down on the statistics around critical injuries involving cheerleaders.

Be that as it may, she will have to be satisfied with wearing her uniform and cheering subdued on the sidelines. Thank GOD for his blessings and her well being!