Boo-Boos and Broken Bones

When my son Andrew was about three years old, he and his sister Amanda were playing in the bedroom, jumping from the dresser onto the bed. Andrew of course thought that he could do whatever big sister could do. So he strapped on his super hero cape and made the leap. He didn’t quite make it and broke his forearm and dislocated the elbow. I made a splint of a magazine wrapped around the arm. My wife Cindy and I bundled his sister and took her to my mom’s house on the way to the hospital.

When the x-rays revealed the problem, the orthopedist came in to repair the problem because of the possible nerve involvement of the dislocation.  It was a stressful night. Once the “surgery” and casting was over and Andrew was returned to pediatrics, Cindy and I went home to catch some sleep.

Andrew was wound up and was climbing the caged crib, but the nursing supervisor, Mrs. Joan Richards told the nurses not to call us in, to give him the Tylenol, and let him settle down. Everything worked out well and other than a slight bump in his forearm, he’s recovered.

Now, it’s his daughter, Moriah’s turn. She fell while skating yesterday and hurt her arm. When Andrew called last evening, I advised to give her something for pain, cold packs, and if she continued to have pain or swelling to have her seen and get x-rays. She did well overnight, but when she wakened and tried to use her swollen wrist, she had pain. At the emergency clinic, the x-rays revealed she had a buckle fracture, just above the wrist. She’s in a splint and sling. Tomorrow she’ll get a cast. At least she waited until she was seven almost eight to break her arm.