On Wednesday evening, after school, the kids were all playing outside in the backyard as I was making dinner. They had been out there for a while, when all of a sudden, PJ & Tessa came in, saying that Jonah hurt his arm. I asked what happened & they said he was on the monkey bars & jumped down & landed funny. Jonah came in holding his arm & crying a little (but trying hard to be tough). I looked at it & had him move it & open & close his hand, etc. He said it hurt the most right at his elbow. It looked fine & I figured he had probably sprained it or something. I reminded all the kids that that is why I tell them not to be crazy on the monkey bars & stuff, because they can get hurt (I probably was not the most sympathetic right then), because I tell them this all the time.
So, I fed the kids dinner & told Jonah I would help him shower because his arm still hurt pretty bad. He was starting to look kind of pale & started shaking like he was cold. I was a little concerned, and looked up symptoms of shock online, but figured he was just cold. He didn't have any other symptoms like dizzyness, nausea, etc., and he could still move his arm, other than it hurt & he couldn't straighten it out all the way, and it was starting to swell just a little. I got him in a warm shower & helped him get into his pajamas & then snuggled him up on our bed with the electric blanket on, an ice pack on his elbow, and gave him some Advil. He rested there while PJ read to him & I helped Clay get ready for bed.
By the time it was Jonah's bedtime, he was feeling & looking a little better, so I figured we could wait until morning to see how he was doing. He slept kind of restless, since his arm hurt, but was fine other than that. In the morning he said he felt a lot better, but he wouldn't use his left arm. I asked him if he could still move it, and he could, but it was looking a lot more swollen. I asked him if he could lift something with that arm, and he could, but winced and couldn't straighten his arm out all the way. I figured I better take him into the doctor, just to be sure that it wasn't broken. I broke 2 bones when I was in college & didn't go to the doctor for a few days afterwards both times, because I thought it was just a sprain. I didn't want Jonah to be in a lot of pain for days, only to realize later that it was actually broken.
So, I dropped Tessa off at her school, then took Clay to his school (and called to excuse Jonah from class), then ran PJ to the Jr. High. I called the pediatrician and they said they could fit him in at 8:40. So we ran home for a few minutes & then headed to the doctor's office. The doctor looked at his arm & his range of motion, sent us to radiology to get some X-rays & then said that it was broken. Boy, I'm glad I took him in! He said that the break was right by his elbow, near the growth plate, and he thought that it would only require a cast (not surgery), but wanted us to go see an orthopedic specialist to make sure that he got the proper treatment. I'm glad. I'd rather be safe than sorry! They were able to set up an appointment later that day at 4:00 with the other doctor. So Jonah & I spent the day together, just hanging out & having fun.
Thank goodness for a great friend who was able to pick up PJ for me after school & drop him off at home, while I took Jonah (and Tessa & Clay) to the 2nd doctor, and Neil met me there. The doctor had reviewed Jonah's X-rays and looked at his arm & movement, etc., and said that the break was such that it should heal well on it's own with just a cast. We were very relieved! So, his nurses came in & put the cast on & we headed home. He will have the cast for 3 weeks (he gets it off just 2 days before his Baptism...Whew!). After the remove the cast, they will take some more X-rays to make sure it's healing correctly, and then another set of X-rays in December. Where it's so close to the growth plate, they want to be sure his arm heals the way it should & there are no problems. (The funny thing is, both doctors asked me if I wanted a stronger pain medication for Jonah, like Tylenol with Codeine or something, because they were surprised that Advil was enough to take care of the pain for him. He's such a tough little guy & rarely complains when he's sick or hurt. He must have a really high pain tolerance.)
Once we got home, we decided to go to dinner, since we didn't have anything ready by then. We headed to a restaurant, but poor Jonah was getting pretty tired & worn out and the cast was starting to bother him. It was heavy & awkward & he was tired & emotional. Poor little guy. It makes me sad when my kids are sad. I just sat & hugged him through dinner. He wasn't very hungry (which is VERY unusal for our kid who is ALWAYS hungry!).
When we got back home, I figured we should probably have him sleep on an air mattress on the floor instead of the top bunk where he usually sleeps. Not really the best idea for a little guy with a broken arm that hurts, if he needs to get down to go to the bathroom or something. Neil got the mattress blown up as I helped Jonah change into his pajamas, then we got him settled as best we could. He woke up several times during the night, trying to get comfortable, and Clay was coughing a lot (I think it was allergies from being at a pumpkin patch the entire day for a school field trip), which also kept him up.
But then this morning, Jonah was up bright & early as usual (at 5:50 a.m.) with a smile on his face & lots of energy like always. He is an amazing little kid! He was excited to get ready for school and was looking forward to his book talk that he gets to present to his class (and dress up like a character from the book), and they were having their class fall party today too (I'm going to help in both Jonah & Clay's parties in a little while). I asked him if his arm hurt & he said "only a little, and I'm starting to get used to the cast." So I gave him some Advil & took him to school. I walked him to class to talk with his teacher about calling me if Jonah started to not feel good or his arm started hurting or anything, and all the kids were excited to see Jonah & swarmed around to check out his new cast. He thought that was pretty cool.
So, anyway, we have our first broken bone in our family (and hopefully the last!) I'm glad Jonah was doing so much better this morning & I hope he heals quickly & easily. He's a tough little guy! :)
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