Uncle Roger's Notebooks of Daily Life

Fallen Angel

Yesterday was quite a day. Jared proved yet again that he takes after my father. It started off swimmingly and ended up painfully familiar.

We were up early, as we always are on Sundays, to head to Half Moon Bay for swimming lessons. Jared's is first (he's having issues with putting his face in the water) followed by Sara's (with me). That all went fine, as always (except for all the blood, but that's another post.) Afterwards, we took the kids out to the little play structure in front of the building. Sara spent her time climbing the ladder and going down the slide while Jared ran around doing everything.

Like many of these structures, this one has an extension that doubles as a place to hang the swings and as a horizontal ladder (or "monkey bars"). At the end is a ladder to climb up to the monkey bars. Jared was climbing these, planning to swing on the gymnast's rings once he got to the top. Well, he's young and his body is bigger than his sense of coordination can really handle, and he fell. He hit the ground pretty hard and didn't get up. He started crying quietly and I went to pick him up. He had landed on his left arm and it looked like he had possibly hurt it.

I held him and waited to see if he would calm down. He did, and, while it certainly looked like he was favoring his other arm, he wasn't avoiding all use of it. He seemed okay -- perhaps a sprain, perhaps just a bruise. We continued on our way -- we dropped off a present to one of Jared's cousins that lives there and went to Fresh Choice for lunch. Jared likes that place because he can get salad, pasta (no sauce!), and, of course, ice cream with sprinkles. He actually ate a fair bit and used both arms to do so (though he was still favoring his right.)

After that, it was off to Mollie Stone's for some groceries (he didn't want to play in MollieLand, but that could have been simply because there weren't any other kids in there) and then home for a nap. Jared slept well, but that's not unusual. After an hour or so, I brought Sara in to play. She'll climb up on his bed and try to wake him, which he usually doesn't mind. This time, however, he was tired and didn't wake easily. Even Sara's angry banging on the side of the bed with a big Lego didn't work. So she played with me and about an hour later he finally woke up.

At this point, I looked at his wrist which was still slightly swollen. I touched it and shook it gently and he said it hurt. So, we decided to take the kids out for a ride -- to the emergency room.

Jared was not happy about the idea -- he was scared. Still, I entertained him, trying to keep his mind off where he was, while Rachel filled out the paperwork. Luckily, it wasn't busy, so we didn't have long to wait. We were called into the triage room and the nurse began checking him out. He was a nice guy and did a good job of calming Jared down. He looked at Jared's arm and asked if it hurt. Jared pretty much said "yes" to everything -- because he was scared -- so it didn't seem like he could be in much pain. I watched as the nurse wiggled his wrist, thinking that I sure hoped it wasn't broken because that would certainly make it worse. Jared didn't say much, but I could tell he had some pain in his wrist.

After the nurse got all his vitals, we were off to an examination room. They led us down the hall and into a room. When I saw where we were headed, I stopped, unable to go in right away. It was the same room where my dad had been, convulsing on the table in the throes of a heart attack. As I went in I was overcome by the flashback to seeing him there, in such immense pain, and I could barely breathe. Jared, Sara, and Rachel disappeared for a moment and I was reliving that terrible morning when we got there to see him like that. The pain, the recovery, the setback, his death -- all washed over me again. Rachel suggested I go out of the room, but I felt I had to keep it together so that Jared wouldn't be scared. I did, I think, manage to hold it together, but I didn't enjoy it.

A doctor came in to take a look at Jared and, again, was wiggling his wrist -- it seemed like a bad idea given that they weren't sure whether or not it was broken. Jared, however, wasn't making a big fuss about it, so I think they assumed that he was okay. As I mentioned, however, my dad walked around for two days on a broken hip before admitting he felt any pain. The doctor said he would get some x-rays taken and see what had happened, but I honestly think the doctor believed it was not broken.

Shortly after, a nice (and nice looking) nurse came in, bringing Jared some crayons and a coloring book -- Timmy the Dinosaur goes to the Emergency Room -- but just as she was getting him set up, the orderly came in to take Jared for his x-rays. Jared knew the term (X is for X-ray) but that didn't mean it wasn't terrifying. Luckily, I was allowed to go with him (not that I would have let him go alone, mind you, but it saved me from having to throw a hissy-fit.)

We walked down the hall and I explained that they were going to take a picture of his arm, just like I take pictures of him, except that the x-ray machine takes pictures of the inside of his arm. Well, he was definitely scared, but he was a real trooper. The technician took five images of his wrist and arm as I talked about the differences and similarities between the x-ray machine and my camera. The x-ray camera was bigger and noisier, but I think he liked my camera better.

After the x-rays, we went back to the examination room and he colored for a bit. I blew up a glove and another nurse came in and drew a face on it, complete with -- by request -- a tongue sticking out. Pretty soon, the doctor returned with the x-rays.

He seemed completely surprised by the discovery that Jared's arm was indeed broken. Turns out, Jared had a Torus Fracture on his left wrist. This is pretty common in children and is generally caused by a fall where the kid lands on an outstretched hand.

The treatment was to put a splint on the arm and then to see an orthopaedic surgeon for further assessment. The doctor left and another technician came in to put on the splint. The technician showed him the splint, wet it, and proceeded put put it in place and wrapped it with something like an ace bandage. After that, we got his x-rays, his prescription, and some info about what had happened. We signed some forms (on a Panasonic Toughbook tablet, no less) and we were on our way.

By the time we got home, Jared had started to unravel the bandage, so I got a sock and slipped it over it. As soon as I get a chance, I'm going to pick up a pair of Buzz Lightyear or Mickey Mouse socks (or something that he'll like) to "decorate" his splint.

At the hospital, they told us to make a follow up visit with an orthopaedist, so this morning I was on the phone to Jared's doctor to get the name of someone he recommends. He said to call his office and get the info (I had called him at home) so I hung around until the office opened. After that, I called the orthopaedist's office and set up an appointment for Wednesday afternoon -- the earliest they had. I left a message for Rachel and she arranged to take the afternoon off. They'll likely take the splint off and put on a proper cast, which will take care of the unwrapping problem.

Meanwhile, this will impact his ability to do stuff at school, and swim lessons may be a problem as well. There's no class next week because of the pumpkin festival, but he'll have his arm immobilized for at least 3-4 weeks. He'll also have the splint on for his first ever field trip this Friday. And for halloween.

At his last check up (ironically, just a week ago), his doctor pointed to the spots on his legs and said "lots of bumps and bruises. That's good. He's tough." Well, he is. Not so tough that he wasn't terrified by the whole emergency room visit, but brave enough that he didn't cry or complain (except to say he wanted to go home.) He's a good kid, and strong. He'll make it. Luckily, he loves milk so he'll have strong bones. He'll need 'em, I think.