Not Your Average Broken Arm

This story is proving hard to write. It's hard to write about the hard things, but I have learned that, for me, writing the story allows me to let it go and stop going over it in my mind. I'm trusting that will prove true with this one. 

We were having supper with friends and were planning on an evening together. The children ate outside while the adults ate inside. Isaiah had finished eating first and was playing around while the other kids finished. He was siting like this (picture below). The other kids had suggested that he jump off, but Isaiah thought it was too high. So he sat down and was going to slide off. When he did, his foot caught on the first rung and that flipped him forward. He landed on his right arm.

Somehow he managed to walk in to me. As soon as I saw his arm I knew it was severely broken. Jeremy took one look at it and we were headed to ER. It wasn't far to the hospital, but it felt like a long ride. Jeremy carried him in and got him settled in a wheelchair. Slouched down a little and with his legs up, he could support his arm. He kept his left hand under his chin the whole time. Somehow he never cried. His breaking was heavy and he face was a picture of pain. He didn't want me to touch him so I stood right beside him for several hours.

Thankfully, Jeremy and I were both allowed to be in ER with him and I was able to go to X-ray with him. Isaiah was SO BRAVE. It had to have been excruciating to put his arm on the plate and position it just right.  The breaks were very obvious. At this point, we were told that they would have to set the bones (a procedure called reduction) under sedation.

Meanwhile, the other three children stayed at our friends' house and were enjoying their evening. I'm so thankful for these friends who were willing to keep the children as long as necessary and sent us off quickly with ice and a bowl...just in case.

Eventually we moved out of the ER hallway into a triage room where Isaiah got an IV. That was a bit of an ordeal, but Isaiah did great. It was the only time that he cried out. He was in a bed and got comfortable enough that he watched a some videos with Jeremy while we waited for a room for the procedure. 

It was getting late by this time. We had already had a busy day and I was getting pretty tired. My heart rate was still high and when I had a moment when Jeremy was occupying Isaiah I started shivering. When the doctor checked on Isaiah, he saw me sitting there, and decided that I needed a warm blanket. He was right. That warm blanket felt really good and by the time it had cooled off, there was a room ready for Isaiah.

While we were there with the team getting Isaiah prepped, we were told that these kinds of breaks almost always require orthopedic surgery. Not exactly what I was prepared to hear! Somehow Isaiah was able to remain calm while they got him ready. He didn't like the oxygen on his nose. I held his face until the medicine took affect and Jeremy and I waited in the hallway. As I'm sitting there crying a staff member pushes a wheelchair in and yells for nurses. Apparently the guy was coding...there were all shouts of "find a pulse", "get a bag," and "he's turning blue." That didn't help my level of anxiety. lol I'm pretty sure the guy was in the room beside Isaiah and he was sitting up and alert by the time we left.

The reduction was a quick procedure. It took much longer for Isaiah to wake up enough to go home. The doctors showed up the post reduction x-rays. One bone lined up very well. The other was not perfect. And so we were told that we would be scheduled for surgery on Tuesday. (This was on Friday.)

As the evening got later, I decided that Mom should pick up the older children and take them home. She graciously agreed after she had worked all day. Jeremy, Isaiah and I got home at midnight. Isaiah was beyond exhausted and he fell asleep right away. I, on the other hand, could not fall asleep. I did not sleep much at all. Isaiah woke up several times. It was very early in the morning when he and I moved downstairs and still much too early when I allowed him to start watching YouTube. That day Isaiah still had his hand under his chin. That hand kinda broke my heart.