Charlie thought it was just a little too quiet around here!

I think I jinxed us with the last post.  We were headed out to breakfast yesterday and as my boyfriend was backing Charlie down the front steps in her wheelchair, the back broke and gave away, Charlie flipped right out, and landed face down on the concrete!  I remember telling him to go slowly because I didn't strap her in...we were just going to the car, after all.  All in hindsight, right?  He caught her arm as she went down, so I think that kept her from smacking as hard as she would have, but she still hit pretty hard.  We rushed her back inside and she was screaming her little head off.  I was looking for huge bumps, blood, broken bones and found nothing.  I got her calmed down, but when I went to try and move her to lay her down, she started screaming again, so I stuck her in the car and drove her to the ER.

They put her in a neck brace, checked her all over, then took x-rays of her neck.  She was absolutely FINE, aside from some small scrapes.  I knew this about the time we took her back for the x-rays because she started acting completely like herself again by that point.  Still scary!

I snuck a pic while she was still in the neck brace:

What her chair looked like:

The back...you can see where it broke:

We have a Kimba Ottobock.  If you have the same chair, make sure to check this out!  I posted this to Facebook and a special needs message board I visit, and I've had a few people tell me they've had trouble with the same part, or have heard of or seen this happen to someone else.  One of my Facebook friends checked her son's chair and she said the part was a little loose.  The company WILL be hearing from me!  The crazy thing is, I had JUST gone over the whole chair, tightening everything that had wiggled loose over the years.  I always tighten something if I see it loosen, but right before Charlie was discharged after her trach was placed, I went over the whole thing, making sure it was up to snuff for the weight of all her new equipment.  And ironically, we only had the suction machine with us yesterday, as she did not need the vent, and the oxygen tank was already in the car.

So...crazy day!  We did eventually get to breakfast, at about 3 PM.  With no stroller, we had to just carry Charlie everywhere.  She spent half of "breakfast" laying on the booth beside me, and half of it sitting on my lap, hamming it up for the other customers.  Little booger acted like nothing had happened!  We were still really shaken up though.

When we got home, we had a little package waiting in the mail for us.  Tubie Whoobies!  I ordered them a little while ago and was just about to inquire about my order to see when it would arrive and there it was, to brighten our day a little!  I make Charlie's g-tube pads of course, but these are super cute and I could not resist.

Well, hello Mr. Dinosaur!

All the Whoobies together: