Friday was a busy day for us. It's unusual for Nate to have an unexpected surgery come up at the same time I have something planned. But every now and then it happens. Friday was one of those days. I had 3 things on the calendar for after he got home on Friday (he has half days on Friday). He informed me of a potential surgery or consult and we were going to make it work between the two of us.
After my first meeting (aka: scraping wood at a barn), I realized I was 5 minutes away from where my 2nd and 3rd meeting would be and 30 minutes away from home. Regardless, I headed home so I could watch the kids while Nate ran to the hospital. I called him on my way there. He suggested that I see if our neighbors could watch the kids and I stay where I was. I called one family for the boys and another for Marley. And since we have wonderful neighbors they agreed to watch our kids for the 30 minutes to an hour that it would take Nate.
Thirty minutes later Nate was pulling into the drive way as both husband and wife neighbor were walking Shepherd up. Shepherd was not crying, but upset and holding his arm. He was more upset that he had to leave his friend's house. The story was that he was trying to do a flip on the monkey bars at the park and fell. Nate checked him out and sent him back to play, hoping that it would just be a sprain. Friday night he went to bed, protecting his arm and not letting anyone touch it, but not in horrible pain.
Saturday when he woke up he still wouldn't move it, but no pain, unless it was touched. We called our pediatrician friend and got her opinion. Then we headed to the Pediatric Urgent Care. Nate stayed with Shepherd while I took the other two kids to nearby stores. I wanted to be close just in case Shep needed me. 4 hours later after the x-rays they determined that the radius and ulna were both broken and at an 18% angulation. Not good. They put him in a splint and gave him a note to stay out of PE.
Today we met with the orthopedic surgeon and he had to set the arm. Basically this means that he hold the arm in place while the cast dries. Shepherd was in tons of pain. At one point Nate and I were talking to the doctor and I look over and Shep had crawled to the floor and was hugging the trash can. He looked awful. Thankfully he didn't get sick or pass out, which apparently isn't unusual. Then the worst part was when they cut it...both sides. They do this so that if his arm does swell we won't have to rush him to the ER. Instead we can pry the cast apart a bit to give it room. Interesting. The loud noise combined with the pizza blade cutting his arm sent him over the edge. I was fighting back tears. It's so hard to watch your kids in pain.
So it looks like 4 weeks will be our sentence. Hopefully no more. Shepherd is brave and a happy kid. I'm proud of how he's handled this. I'm thankful that there was no blood or guts. I'm thankful that it wasn't a true emergency. I'm thankful it didn't happen on my watch. I'm thankful that he's so cute. More pictures to come.