Broken Arm

On July 12th we had our first broken arm and what an ordeal that was.  I was watching my sister's two kids off and on with Steven and Alyssa while they were in Hawaii and decided it would be fun to take all the kids to the park and let them feed the ducks and get some energy out.  So I texted Alyssa and she agreed.  We met at the park and the kids had a blast.  After feeding the ducks we went to the playground and let the kids run around.  We hadn't been there very long when I see Braden fall on the other side of the playground and then he starts screaming and running towards me.  So I get up and go to him to find his arm twisted and bent in a very awkward position.  It was clearly broken.  He was crying and just kept saying "I can't lift up my arm".  He was trying to pull it from his shoulder but it wouldn't lift.  Thank heavens I was at the park with my brother and his wife or I don't know what I would've done.  Little blessings...Anyways I picked him up and ran over to the car to take him to the ER.  Luckily the hospital was right across the street from the park so it took all of 2 minutes to get there...again little blessings. They got us right into a temporary waiting room and put Braden in a wheelchair.  Then we waited about 45 minutes.  Apparently they had to call in an orthopedic surgeon who was out and about because the regular ER docs didn't feel up to the task of resetting his break.  Finally they took us back to get some X-rays and let me tell you that was not fun.  The lady who did the x-rays didn't know that his arm was broken in more than one place and thought it was just the lower arm so as she grabbed his arm to get it positioned right, she twisted it.  Braden started hitting and kicking and going wild.  This stupid lady had to nerve to say to him "if you're going to act like that then we'll wait until you can behave."  I rushed into the room at that point whether they wanted me in there or not and told the lady that his arm had several breaks and she just twisted the broken upper arm which is why he was freaking out.  Needless to say I was not a very happy camper and insisted someone else be sent in to get the x-rays, but the damage had already been done and Braden was freaking out if anyone touched him and screamed over and over "no don't twist it!"  Finally after much pain and agony we got the x-rays while I held him on my lap and we both sat on the x-ray table.  Not a fun experience.  Finally we got settled in a room and they gave him a strong dose of morphine which helped immensely, then the orthopedic doc came in, although he didn't seem too thrilled to be there.  Apparently we had interrupted his golf game.  They sedated Braden and set to the task of resetting his arm.  I was in the room but not taking it so well.  It's hard to watch someone do that to your kid's arm and be o.k.  As he was coming out of it, the doctor came over to talk to me about the break.  He said there were actually 3 breaks, two of which he had just set, the ulna and radius just above the wrist and the third he would not touch because it was the humorous just above the elbow, but it was along the growth plate.  Because it was along the growth plate we would need to go to Primary Children's Hospital and have pins put in.  He said he would put the arm in a temporary splint and we could go there in the morning.  But, as Braden started to come to the nurses got concerned about the color of his fingers and the swelling.  They called doctor back in and he took a look.  When Braden said it felt like ants were in his fingers (in other words they were tingly) they moved right away and ordered an ambulance.  The doc said with this new development they were concerned with him having nerve damage and it needed to be seen to right away.  So off we went in the ambulance.  Let me tell you that was a trip - 90 mph all the way to Primary Children's with the sirens blazing and shooting through any red lights we came across.  Too bad Braden was tripped out on drugs because otherwise he would've thought it was coolest thing in the world.  I'm not sure he remembers much of it.  Once we got to Primary Children's it was more waiting.....and waiting...and occasionally someone would come in and make him scream because he still didn't want anyone to twist it,  then I would settle him and get him to sleep and they would come in and make him scream again.  Finally they said they were waiting for doctor's orders. Since it was past hours of operation, they wanted to wait until the next morning when they could schedule the surgery to place the pins.  I got ready to spend the night in the hospital with Braden writhing in agony, and then they sent word that the doctor, oh wonderful man that he was, decided it wasn't a good idea to leave a 5-year-old with a broken arm until the next morning. So he told them he would be there in about 20 minutes and to go ahead and prep Braden for surgery.  By this time it was approaching 11:00 pm so you can imagine how appreciative I was to this good doctor who had to get himself out of bed to come over and do this small favor for us and then get up at 6:00 the next morning to complete the rest of his scheduled surgeries.  By the time Braden got out of surgery and was waking up from the anesthetic it was 2:00 in the morning.  The nurses were great, bless them.  They had a bet on whether he did it on the monkey bars or a trampoline.  They said those are the most common reasons for broken arms.  When I told them it was the monkey bars they put tally marks on their board.  It helped lighten the mood anyways.  We had to spend the night in the hospital because he had to have a round of antibiotics through his IV before they would let us leave.  We didn't end up leaving the hospital until about 11:00 the next day.  Since I didn't have a car, my dear, wonderful grandma Doris came and picked us up. Then she went and picked up my other kids from my brother's house and brought them to me.  That night she also brought us KFC so I wouldn't have to cook.  Isn't she the coolest grandma ever?  The next few days we had to be very careful and at one point I guess I was fussing over him a little too much and he politely asked me if I would leave him alone. He's just like me.  When I'm sick I just want to be left alone. Because of the swelling he only had a splint on.  For 3 days he was doped up on Lortab, which knocked him out cold, then I took him back to Primary Children's to get his permanent cast on.  On the way there he barfed 3 times.  I had to keep pulling over to clean it up and let me tell you that was fun.  Needless to say I showed up over 30 minutes late for the appointment and then had to tell them he was sick.  They went ahead and took him and got him all taken care of.  He choose a green cast and had it on for 5 weeks.  The next couple of days were awful.  I got sick too and so did Landon and I had my sister's two kids.  At least neither of them got sick.  After the 5-week wait we went and had the pins removed along with the cast here in Vernal.  Thank heavens I didn't have to go all the way back to Salt Lake for that.  His arm was quite stiff and sore for a couple weeks, but we had his last appointment yesterday and he's got all movement back and it all looks healed up.  It kind of put a damper on the rest of our summer since we were under strict instruction not to get it wet at all.  He couldn't have a bath or shower or anything, not even with a plastic bag on it, all because of the pins.  The doctor said the biggest concern was infection of the open wounds where the pins were, and a wet cast would certainly breed nasty little bugs.  Once the cast was on he acted like his normal self running, jumping, climbing.  I had to constantly remind him that he couldn't do those things.  I think the biggest problem with the cast was it constantly itched him.  He wasn't allowed to put anything down the cast to scratch it because of the pins so he would just scream like he was going to go crazy.  I had to tap on the cast with a spoon to help him fall asleep each night because the vibration helped it not to itch so bad.  I also gave him Benadryl which helped with the itch and knocked him out pretty good.  Poor kid went through quite the ordeal for a broken arm.  A huge thanks to all those who helped me with my other kids while all this took place.  You were a huge blessing and saved my life. Did I mention I did all this solo because Dan was on a scouting campout in the high Uintas and he couldn't be reached?  Yeah, loads of fun.  But all those who stepped up deserve a medal.  I really needed some help, and believe me I got it.   Glad it's all over now.

He wouldn't let anyone sign his cast because he didn't want them ruin it.  After they took off the cast he just couldn't stop scratching it.  His skin was all flaky and he just kept scratching.