Some Kids Get All the Breaks!

Luckily we made it 10 and a half years without a broken bone.  However, William changed all of that on Wednesday Oct. 26th.  

Wednesday morning I was expressing my extreme happiness at the fact that all we had on the schedule for the day was a couple of therapies, no doctor or hospital visits all day.  This was an especially wonderful thing this week because over the previous 9 days, we had been to some type of doctor/hospital appointment 9 different times.  I was ready for a break.  A day to take the kids to school, come home, get a shower, do the therapies and then have all afternoon to catch up on a few things around the house.  

Well, 12:01 (approximately) came, Bryce's therapist had just left, Annalise was just finishing up with hers, my friend Heather, who also happens to be Bryce's respite/habilitation/attendent care worker had just arrived to spend a few hours working with Bryce.  I was happily anticipating feeding Annalise, getting her down for a nap, and then enjoying some me time to clean out my closet, do some laundry, and maybe even blog a little, when the phone rang.  It was one of the teachers at the boys' school who said that she had William in the office.  She explained that he had a little accident on the playground.  I didn't think anything of it at that point because the school they attended last year would call me every time one of the kids would get any little scratch.  But, Mrs. Pickett went on to say that as they were putting ice on William's wrist it just didn't look quite right and it seemed to be very swollen and that maybe I should come over and pick him up.  

So, after laughing at me for thinking that I would actually have a doctor free day (what are good friends for right), Heather agreed to watch Annalise as well, while I went to get William.  I picked him up and after looking at his hand, knew that we needed to get right to Urgent Care.  William was a little trooper through all of this.  He hadn't even cried at the school.  Once he saw me he broke down a little bit, but really held it together until we were in the car.  Once we were in the car he said that it really hurt and cried pretty hard all the way to Urgent Care where, luckily, they were able to take us right in.

They looked at William's wrist, instantly put it into this sling and said that they needed to transfer him to Cardon's Children's hospital where he would most likely need surgery to repair the break.  They told us to be very careful not to move his wrist.  They explained that this was a very severe break, and that any little movement could pinch off the artery in his arm and stop the circulation to his fingers.  William has always been one to do a job well, and this break was obviously no different!  =)  So, they helped William get back into the car and we headed off to the hospital.  On the way, I called John and let him know what was happening.  Once we got there, I sent a text to Heather and told her we may be a little longer than I had originally thought.    

When we arrived at the ER, they got him registered and into a room.  They then removed the splint and took some x-rays.  That was by far the most painful part for William.  Still, he did not even cry!  I felt so bad for him.  Once we got back to the room, they hooked up his IV and gave him some morphine.  It helped some, but he was still in a lot of pain.  They also told us that he had indeed broken both of the bones in his forearm and we would need to wait for the orthopedic surgeon to come and let us know if he would need surgery to correct it.  

These pictures don't really do it justice, but you get the idea anyway.  

After a second shot of morphine, he was feeling a bit less pain and we spent most of the afternoon watching TV and waiting for the doctor.  When he finally arrived around 5:30PM, we were happy to get the news that William would not need surgery.  They would need to do something called conscious sedation so that the doctor could put his wrist back in place.  They did it right there at the bedside and I was able to be there the whole time.  They gave him the medicine through his IV.  A few seconds later, William said that he felt really weird, and then he was out.  It was kind of weird, his eyes were open the whole time, but he was totally unaware of what was going on.  It took about 10 minutes to fix his arm and about 45 minutes for him to begin to come out of the sedation.  It was funny as he was coming out, because about 20 different times he looked over at me and said, "hi Mom" all sleepy like.  It was obvious that he was still out of it.  He also said one time, "Mom, you're nice."  and asked us multiple times how long he had been asleep.  He of course doesn't remember any of that!  We finally made it home about 9:30.  I tucked William into bed and went out to fill his prescription for pain medicine.  

 They had to put his arm in a splint since there was so much swelling.  We will go back this Wed. to get the real cast put on.

His fingers swelled up pretty good over the last few days and he has not been able to move them, but as long as he is using the sling, he hasn't been in too much pain.  Last night was the first night that he did not wake up asking for more pain medicine, so I think he is on the mend!

 

William has some great friends that have been worried about him.  On Wednesday when we got home, there was a plate of cookies for him that his cub scout leader, Brother Rogers had brought over.  Friday, Christopher Pickens came over with these cards that he had made.  And Friday the boys brought this poster home from school.  It was one that William and some of his classmates had been working on and they wanted him to have it.  Also, one of William's classmates goes to our church and she told him today that the whole class had wanted to make get well cards for him, but that they ran out of time.

William is loving all of the attention he is getting!

So, how did he do it you ask.  Well, he was at recess playing a game where you jump over a jump rope which is being held by two other people.  If you make it over the rope, they raise it a little higher.  Well, William had gotten pretty high and so he had to "jump at a funny angle" (those are William's words).  He made it over the rope, but landed wrong on his arm.

I feel bad for William,  but once again, I am so thankful for all the little tender mercies that the Lord has shown us through this whole experience.  I am so, so, so glad that this happened on a day that I was at home and not in Phoenix at some appointment.  I am so glad that Heather had arrived just before I had to leave.  She and her husband were a lifesaver that day.  They watched Bryce and Annalise, picked our other boys up from school, and made dinner for John and the kids at home!  Heather is the greatest and I am so glad that she is working with us again!  I am also thankful for the understanding ladies that I work with in Cub Scouts.  We have cubs on Wed. and I totally forgot to call and let them know I wouldn't be there, or have the treats ready that Jacob was supposed to bring.  I felt bad when I remembered, but they of course were fine with it.  We also received many well wishes and prayers from our friends as we were waiting in the hospital and I am so thankful for that as well.