Broken Arm

So yes, Lance has a broken arm. He broke it more than two weeks ago on April 18th.  I waited to write about this until we were at a good point in his recovery. Why has it taken two weeks to get to a good point? Let me begin...

Lance was playing outside a lot that Monday. We had just eaten dinner and I was bathing Jude while Lance was playing outside on the playground that neighbors our house with his buddy Killian. Apparently, he was doing something like this:

All of the sudden, I hear: 

"HELP ME! OW OW! HELP ME, SOMEBODY!" 

Anyone who knows Lance knows he has a tendency to be a little over-dramatic, so I have to be honest and say I wasn't terribly concerned when I heard his initial yell. 10 seconds later, when it hadn't subsided, I knew something was definitely wrong and I sprinted outside only to be greeted with a picture of Lance lying in a crumpled heap at the foot of the swing set crying and not getting up. I rush to set him up and notice his arm doesn't look quite right. If you've ever seen a crooked arm, you'll understand the nauseating feeling that swept over me as it became obvious his arm was broken. Broken badly. He told me he had been hanging on the top bar of the swing set (he climbs up the angled bar) and when he dropped as he usually did, this time his arm hit the baby swing on the way down. Ugh...

I scoop him up and rush him inside. I was in a bit of a panic and found myself carrying him around the house not really knowing what I should do next. Our neighbor Melissa came over after Killian told her what happened and took Jude while George and I loaded Lance into the car and drove him to the hospital.

All in all, I have to say it went quickly and smoothly. We were taken back almost immediately and were placed in a room to wait for the doctor to come. Lance was uncomfortable, obviously, but I think he was scared which made it difficult for him to calm down. One of the doctors started an IV (and got it first stick with a kicking, crying child--George and I were very impressed) and gave him some Fentanyl right away. About two minutes later, Lance was happily resting on his stretcher waiting for his xray. I think the pain medicine made him a little high. I remember at one point, he looked down at his broken arm and said:

"I like this arm. It's my favorite arm. I really like my arm."

I told Lance I was going to take his picture while we were waiting (and was greeted with an "are you serious?" look from George), but I was disappointed to realize I left my camera at home. Unusual for me. So, no pictures from the hospital. Sorry!

It was an ugly break from the look of the xray and they had to get an orthopedic surgeon to come set the bone. They gave Lance some Propofol that put him to sleep and proceeded to basically bend his arm in half while we watched. 

SNAP!

I looked at George and realized what that sound was. I just heard my son's bone break. The surgeon said it was necessary so they could set the bone properly, but it was still a horrible sound and I have to admit I felt a little sick. That's my baby's arm they're breaking!

We were in and out in about 4 hours. They wrapped his set arm in a soft cast, gave us a sling, and sent us on our way when Lance woke up. 

It took some getting used to, and his arm was sore, but we managed to have some fun even with his broken arm.

Lance got to swing in the baby swing. He actually liked it a lot.

We tried to do things that were easy and not active, but it's hard to keep a 5-year-old boy still.

Finally, it was 7 days since the break and it was time to get a hard cast! Lance was sooo excited!

Getting an x-ray. Jude wanted to watch the lady adjust it.

Lance was really excited to get his cast and kept waffling between colors (he wanted a purple cast, but we managed to convince him blue was probably better).

After looking at the x-rays, the doctor came in and gave us horrible news. The bones had shifted during the week and needed to be re-set. I guess the cast they put on in the ER was too loose and when he was running around, the bones were able to move.

I remember getting this terrible knot in my stomach. Re-set? They told me that we could go back to the ER to have him put to sleep again, but in their experience, it was better to just get it done quick in the office--less time and less invasive. I decided they knew best and said okay.

It was awful. They hung Lance's broken arm perpendicular to the floor by his index and middle finger and then put weights on his elbow. I had to hold him down while he cried and screamed because his bone was essentially being re-broken. I broke down and cried and they added more weights and then manipulated the arm by pushing on the break. The worst was hearing Lance cry and say "Please stop! Please, this hurts. Please!"

I think it only lasted a couple minutes but it seemed like an eternity.

Lance was pretty subdued afterwards. You can see the weights next to the bed that they hung on his arm and that pole is the contraption they used to hold his fingers. Barbaric-looking, huh? They re-wrapped his arm in a much better-fitting soft cast.

They discharged us with a lecture about proper sling usage and essentially told us he couldn't do anything a 5-year-old was supposed to do. I was feeling extremely guilty about his arm having to be re-set, so I promised them I'd keep his feet on the ground.

It went better and he was a little more still last week, but it was nigh impossible to keep him immobile. On Saturday, we had a pretty good scare. We were at a park with some friends and Lance was doing this:

He fell off this orange fence thing onto his broken arm. George and I were pretty worried and George thought I should take him in to get an x-ray that night just to make sure everything was okay. After three hours on a stretcher in the ER, everything looked okay and we were sent on our way.

This past Monday, we had our follow-up appointment.

Lance was excited, but hesitant. Last time we were here, they broke him arm!

This is the picture of his break right now. Apparently, in children as long as there isn't any angulation and the bones are aligned decently, the bone will heal and any bumps will get smoothed over with time. I think that break looks pretty ugly, but apparently it was good enough.

He got his hard cast!

We still have to be careful and he does still wear his sling around sometimes, but the hard cast is so much better than the soft splint! 18 days in this baby and we should be good to go! Now all he needs is a bunch of drawings and his cast will be perfect!