After a fun Saturday that included Baseball practice, JJ's birthday party, Montshire Museuming, we ended up at the park in front of our neighborhood for just a few minutes of playing per my kids insistence. I went to preface this story with a disclaimer that I have truly wild and crazy children. They are constantly climbing on the outside of the play equipment exactly the way they shouldn't. This day was no exception and Eli had climbing onto the outside tunnel part of the slide. Next thing I knew he slipped and fell 3-4 feet to the ground in a heap. The tears quickly followed and he cried out loudly when he tried to stand up and walk. I scooped him up and headed back home.
When we got home I gave him a once over. He kept pointing to the medial part of his foot stating that the "circle" hurt, aka his ankle. I put ice on his ankle immediately and let him rest on the couch. A litttle later I rechecked on him and he hadn't move AT ALL. At this point I examined his foot/ankle again. He seemed to be able to move his ankle around moderately and only jumped with extreme movements. He also would yell "owe" when I pushed on the bottom of foot. There wasn't really any visible swelling so I sent him to bed thinking it was probably be all better by morning. That night I woke up to hear him calling to me. He was sitting up in bed and needed to use the bathroom but wouldn't get up because of his ankle.
Again I figured by morning he would forget about the injury and walk just fine. When morning came he woke up but still wouldn't walk. We got ready for church and tried to bribe him to put weight on his foot. Chocolate, candy, ice cream, popcorn....nothing worked. As we were prepping to go out to the car, I looked out and saw him crawling on his hands and knees on the sidewalk leading to the car. At this point I started to worry that maybe something else was going on. I decided to give it until the afternoon and if he didn't improved markedly I would call one of the orthopedic residents that I work with. I spent the entire afternoon trying to trick my child into putting at least a little weight on his foot. Didn't work.
Of course he wasn't better around 6pm, so I gave Garrett a phone call and he nicely offered to check Mr E out at his house. My neighbor, Natalia, offered to watch Maddie during all of this and so off me and the boys headed. Garrett examined him and recommended outpatient xrays and casting for two weeks even if there wasn't any visible breaks. The next stop was my hospital where we met up in xray and had his pictures taken. Garrett had already called over and talked with the orthopedic resident that was on call and so Dana was already aware that we were there. After X-rays, we headed into the ortho office where Eli was able to pick out a red cast. Soon after we headed home, two exhausted boys and a tired Mommy. Eli crashed FAST and was asleep within minutes of laying down. What a whirlwind few days for him.
The next day while I was at work, I was in touch with orthopedics and they informed me that he had indeed fractured his Tibia. The official diagnosis is: Spiral Fracture of the Tibia aka "Toddler's fracture". Because it is broken he is now in a cast for FOUR long weeks.
I have been amazed at how quickly he has grown accustomed to a cast. Within a few days of casting, he finally walking again. As soon as he realized he could now walk without pain, he transitioned into running, jumping, climbing, you name it.
I have to say I have been extremely grateful for the connections I have at work. It was such a blessing to be able to call up a friend and get Eli evaluated on a Sunday without going through the ED. It was also a blessing to be able to get him casted on the side.
After 1.5 weeks in a plain red cast, Eli had nearly worn his way through the bottom and so they recasted him. He was a bit overwhelmed with all the choices they offered him. In the end he picked out a black sock, and red cast with a blue stripe. He is pretty pleased with himself. Robby is now jealous of Eli's cool cast and announced to me that he is going to try to also break his leg because he wants one?! Oh my goodness, got to love kids.
No comments:
Post a Comment