We wandered the zoo, everything was going relatively great. The last stop was to let the boys play on the big playground for a few minutes. There are these posts that gradually get taller. Kids play on them and walk between them every day. Steve has done this many times. I was standing near him and he asked for my help. I replied that he could do it, no problem, and continued to watch. Much to my dismay, he did not make the leap from one post to the next. Instead, he ended up in a crumpled heap on the ground (which is recycled tires, so slightly more comfortable to land on that concrete). And he was crying. A lot.
I did a couple of checks, bending his arm, wiggling his fingers and wrist. He could do all of those things, but he did cry extra when we bent the arm at the elbow. My initial thought was that he had jammed it while trying to break his fall (even though I was standing right there, I have no idea how he landed), so maybe with a little time it would feel better. We visited a couple more animals, then headed out to get some lunch/brunch.
It was rough going. All Steve wanted to do was whimper and snuggle into me, which makes eating very difficult. He did eventually eat most of his grilled cheese, but he was favoring his right arm a lot and cried every time it was bumped or moved. Hmmm...this was starting to seem like a more serious injury.
By the time we got home, it was naptime. I gave Steve some Tylenol to help with the pain (we only had liquid Motrin on hand and he doesn't tolerate that very well), and we set him to sleep. I went out to work on the pool while Matt attempted to enjoy some of his Father's Day by watching golf and Formula 1. Some time later, Matt came out to the pool carrying Evan and told me that Steve couldn't throw a ball or hold a juice box with his right arm. No good. We couldn't wait any longer.
We took a lovely family trip to the prompt care. I've been asked by a couple of people why we chose prompt care instead of the emergency room. 1) If it wasn't broken, although by this point I would have been more shocked if it wasn't than if it was, we would only get charged a doctor's visit fee. 2) If it was more serious than they could handle there, they would tell us that immediately without charging us for an office visit. I felt it was the best option. Luckily for Steve, there weren't any patients ahead of us and we had to wait a very short amount of time to be seen. We also had the attention of everyone on staff that day trying to make this poor little guy smile.
When the doctor started asking Steve if various places on his arm hurt, he responded no to all of them. Really? This was not the time to be tough, kid. So we reminded him to tell her if something hurt and as soon as she got to his elbow, you could see the pain flashing across his face. Poor kid. She was not hopeful that there wouldn't be anything broken, and sent us for x-rays immediately. Matt went into the x-ray room with him and they took pictures of both arms so there would be a reference point. Right away when we were shown the pictures the doctor and the x-ray technician saw the break. They put a partial mold on the elbow wrapped in a lot of bandages and gave him a ridiculously big sling to help immobilize it. All while trying not to hurt him any more than necessary. Poor kid.
We went to Children's Hospital of Wisconsin on Monday afternoon to Orthopedics. They made the official call that the break had missed his growth plate (thank goodness!) and would not need surgery. We asked about a waterproof cast and were told that if they did that, he would almost certainly need surgery in the future. No thank you. We went with a standard cast in blue and I found a waterproof cast cover on Amazon to help with bath times and hopefully swimming (we have yet to try the pool). Steve and I stopped at McDonald's on the way home for 49 cent ice cream cones since he was such a rockstar during all of the shifting, positioning, and jostling.
So, yeah...this is all Betty Brinn's fault. If her museum had been open at a decent time, we could have waiting a few more years for the first broken bone, at least from these kids (I've broken both arms, separate injuries, officially broken a foot, unofficially broken the other foot, and my tailbone a couple of times).
We will be going back to Children's Monday afternoon for a follow-up x-ray. They want to make sure that the cast is holding his arm in the correct healing position. He should only have a few more weeks with the hard cast (less than 4 I think) and then he'll get a splint for a few more weeks. We should be arm support free by the time we head to Lake Winnipesaukee in August!
Also, there are a bunch of new pictures and videos in the Public Instant Upload album. Check it out!
I did a couple of checks, bending his arm, wiggling his fingers and wrist. He could do all of those things, but he did cry extra when we bent the arm at the elbow. My initial thought was that he had jammed it while trying to break his fall (even though I was standing right there, I have no idea how he landed), so maybe with a little time it would feel better. We visited a couple more animals, then headed out to get some lunch/brunch.
It was rough going. All Steve wanted to do was whimper and snuggle into me, which makes eating very difficult. He did eventually eat most of his grilled cheese, but he was favoring his right arm a lot and cried every time it was bumped or moved. Hmmm...this was starting to seem like a more serious injury.
By the time we got home, it was naptime. I gave Steve some Tylenol to help with the pain (we only had liquid Motrin on hand and he doesn't tolerate that very well), and we set him to sleep. I went out to work on the pool while Matt attempted to enjoy some of his Father's Day by watching golf and Formula 1. Some time later, Matt came out to the pool carrying Evan and told me that Steve couldn't throw a ball or hold a juice box with his right arm. No good. We couldn't wait any longer.
We took a lovely family trip to the prompt care. I've been asked by a couple of people why we chose prompt care instead of the emergency room. 1) If it wasn't broken, although by this point I would have been more shocked if it wasn't than if it was, we would only get charged a doctor's visit fee. 2) If it was more serious than they could handle there, they would tell us that immediately without charging us for an office visit. I felt it was the best option. Luckily for Steve, there weren't any patients ahead of us and we had to wait a very short amount of time to be seen. We also had the attention of everyone on staff that day trying to make this poor little guy smile.
When the doctor started asking Steve if various places on his arm hurt, he responded no to all of them. Really? This was not the time to be tough, kid. So we reminded him to tell her if something hurt and as soon as she got to his elbow, you could see the pain flashing across his face. Poor kid. She was not hopeful that there wouldn't be anything broken, and sent us for x-rays immediately. Matt went into the x-ray room with him and they took pictures of both arms so there would be a reference point. Right away when we were shown the pictures the doctor and the x-ray technician saw the break. They put a partial mold on the elbow wrapped in a lot of bandages and gave him a ridiculously big sling to help immobilize it. All while trying not to hurt him any more than necessary. Poor kid.
We went to Children's Hospital of Wisconsin on Monday afternoon to Orthopedics. They made the official call that the break had missed his growth plate (thank goodness!) and would not need surgery. We asked about a waterproof cast and were told that if they did that, he would almost certainly need surgery in the future. No thank you. We went with a standard cast in blue and I found a waterproof cast cover on Amazon to help with bath times and hopefully swimming (we have yet to try the pool). Steve and I stopped at McDonald's on the way home for 49 cent ice cream cones since he was such a rockstar during all of the shifting, positioning, and jostling.
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| Please be assured that he is not in pain in this picture...just REALLY tired |
We will be going back to Children's Monday afternoon for a follow-up x-ray. They want to make sure that the cast is holding his arm in the correct healing position. He should only have a few more weeks with the hard cast (less than 4 I think) and then he'll get a splint for a few more weeks. We should be arm support free by the time we head to Lake Winnipesaukee in August!
Also, there are a bunch of new pictures and videos in the Public Instant Upload album. Check it out!
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