Zach's Fractured Arm

It has been quite an exiting week around here. We are finished redoing our downstairs, which included a garage sale, had Noah's 4 year check up along with his 2nd week of school, and saw our friend Kim in Bremerton. I also have lost my battery charger for my camera so for now I will have to made due with my phone.

So the story goes as follows: We venture out to Aunt Kims house for a day cation at her place. She has a nifty play set for the boys to climb and romp in. Everyone was doing great. We were all outside talking and playing with the little ones. Zach was busy doing his own thing, and seemed fine. He loves these play sets and many of our friends have them so I wasnt concerned at all when he started climbing up and down the ladder. It was like they say, one minute they are fine and you look away, the next minute you hear crying. I practically threw Sadie onto Kim and ran over to Zach. He was crying pretty good, but he always bounces back. He has had many other concerning falls and has been fine. But he cried and I held him for most of the day.
Every once in a while he would tell me his arm hurt but other than that he was good. We ventured on home and put all the tired kids to bed with no problem. Through out the night Zach woke up like 6 times. Each time crying and saying "ouch" and lifting his arm. He couldn't tell me where it hurt or if it hurt only when he moved it..so that was very hard for me. He has such a high tolerance for pain so sometimes Im not sure how severe it is. So he slept with us that night but didnt want to eat (typical) so I couldn't give him any pain medication.

The next day was Noahs check up and we have a wonderful pediatrician and he took a look at it. Checking his clavicle and touching his arm up and down. Nothing obvious. No bruising or swelling. Until he felt above his elbow. That's when Zach looked at me with huge puppy eyes and said "ouch mama, ouch". Such a sweet boy. So he ordered an xray to double check all was ok. Thankfully the nurses a the urgent care were amazing and got us right in. I hear it can take a while, but they had us in an out in a matter of 15 minutes. Took the xray back and all looked well. We talked about a sling for his arm, but little guys can fall more often when they have those on. So we went home. Relieved. He and Noah played. He fell on it a few times and complained, but the kept playing. He was always holding his arm folded in like a little hurt wing. But I assumed it was because it was sore.

The following day (2 days later) I received a call around 11:30 from the doctor's office asking if anyone had called me about the xray. I was a bit confused since I was there yesterday and saw the film myself, but he proceeded to tell me all was not ok. That there was a fracture and he needed a sling and cast asap. That if the ped's doc couldnt get us in, we needed to go to the emergency room. YIKES! My adrenaline went crazy and I was in mama bear mode. He said it was vital to get a sling on him and make sure the fracture didnt get out of place. I called Tony and he was home in 20 minutes and we were off.

Once the sling was on the Bellevue Children's Hospital took us at 2:10. It is a new facility and just beautiful. Clean. Orderly. Wonderful care. Once there, they had us back in a room in minutes and taking a final xray. These are tricky breaks and they need to make sure it didnt need surgery. So I was worried they would take us back soon and start that. But only moments later they reassured us he just needed a cast.

We chose husky purple. :)

Dr. Alvin was so great. It only took a few minutes. He first placed a gauze wrap around his arm and thumb.

The he added a wet molding all over the gauze. Zach just starred at him the whole time with this questionable look.

Then he added the purple fiberglass mold on the outside and we waited for it to dry.

All done! Im so amazed that Zach didnt question or fight the process. I wish I took life in like that. It does feel heavy and we may need to use the sling with it. He only woke up once last night with it and came into our bed. Again, he wouldn't eat so no pain meds. This morning he seemed tired and worn out. Probably because he was in pain. Once he ate a bit I gave him some Tylenol and at lunch some Ibuprofen and now he seems like himself again. In fact, he is refusing his nap right now and running up and down the hall. Which he isnt supposed to do...

He went right over to Sadie to show his arm off. So sweet.

So he has this on for 3 weeks now. Then another xray, then 4 weeks of hyper careful-ness (yeah right..how is that supposed to work?) then back for a final xray. The bone should fill back in and he should have no long term effects. So amazing! I guess we are at a count down now...2 weeks 6 days. man this feels like it will be a long few weeks!