World Traveling Military Family

It Was a One Armed, Red Armed, Football Playing Panther Player

Sorry I counldn't help myself with the title I have the "Purple People Eater" song stuck in my head ;)

Today I took Boo back to see the Orthopedic Surgeon to have his arm re-xrayed and his cast put on.

Today's xrays look great, and we got to see the xray from the hospital.
If you look at a normal wrist (this site is helpful: http://www.davidlnelson.md/Fracture_Physeal_Fx.htm ) you can see the radius, the growth plate space (Physis) and the upper bone (Epiphysis).  Boo's fracture broke across the growth plate and the Epiphysis slipped off and over the side...hence the ice cream slipping off a cone reference.  Today's xray showed that it is still in place, they will check again next week.

He has a HUGE cast on all the way over his elbow and up his arm, he chose to get red but refused to take a marker with him to let his friends sign it...we'll see if he comes home with is still unwritten on.

Boo with his bright red cast

 On a side note the office visit ended up being 'interesting' for me.  While the tech was wrapping Boo's arm in the cast material I started to notice that I was feeling 'off'...you know THAT feeling...the one that means this is not gonna be good!  So I try to rationally talk myself out of it, and I found that it's quite hard to rationally talk yourself out of an irrational response!  I don't know if it was the sound or what because Boo was in ZERO pain but I started to feel the beginning of the "I'm gonna pass out" feeling!  Of course there was NO chair in the cast room so I was standing next to the bed by him during the process.  So I lean against the wall and bed, turn away from the process, and try to talk myself out of the feeling.  I soon realize that it's NOT working and I need to get outta there...my head then starts tingling and I know if I don't get out I'm gonna hit the floor.  I ask the tech if I could go use the restroom, and flee as quickly as I can without looking like I'm panicking.  After a break in the bathroom and so slow deep breathing all is well, and Boo is waiting on the cast to dry when I return.

I have NO idea why that happened, I mean I watched him get an IV in the ER and was fine...that actually was a huge milestone for me!  I've never even had a cast so it's not like I have anything to compare the experience too, and normally I only 'freak out' when my kids are hurting...he was totally fine.  The only thing I can think of is my mind flashed back to Iceland and the trip via ambulance to the local Icelandic hospital in 2004 when Boo badly broke his arm falling off the monkey bars.  This was what his injury looked like....creepy arm and all!  http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=a00039
They were trying to put him in a temporary cast until they could sedate him the next morning and set it, while doing so they were moving his arm and hurting him...not on purpose...it was just a bad break.  I started to feel like I was going to pass out and told Boo I was going to get Mr. B and be back, I bolted from the room and sent Mr. B in.  So really could that 'tramatic' experience from years ago cause me to feel this way now?!  Ugh, I guess we'll find out in a few weeks when he gets a new cast to see if I still try and pass out.  And just for the record it's been a good while since I felt like that...the last time was about a year ago when Bill was deployed and I had to take Bubby to get stitches out of his face.  Watching them dig around in his face because they couldn't get the stitches out about did me in ;p  And I only get that feeling when it's my own kids or hubby, everyone else needs to find someone else to pass out for them :D

2004 after getting home from the Icelandic hospital where he was sedated to have the bones set and cast

On another interesting note, I was talking to my Dad yesterday and he told me that the whole time we (me + 3 siblings) were growing up they only had to go to the ER once, for me!  Not sure how they survived 4 kids and 1 ER visit....makes me wonder if we're 'odd' since we're up to so many visits I've now lost count???

Speaking of that visit...maybe it was then that I was traumatized and carry it still with me today?  I was outside playing...probably 8 or 9, and our dog Taffy (well really my brother's dog) ran under me and knocked my feet from underneath me!  I flew back and smacked my head onto the concrete step.  In addition to the horribly painful headache I also produced a goose egg sized lump on my head, so we headed off to the ER.  They did a head scan and said all was well.  As we were getting ready to be discharged a nurse walked in and asked me if I wanted her to cut 'it' off!  I immediately started panicking and stated that I did NOT want anything cut off, that bump was staying on my head!  After seeing my panic she stated that she wanted to cut off my ER bracelet, not the lump and had a good chuckle!  To this day I still remember that incident.

Here's to hoping that next weeks visit yields good results and his arm continues to heal fast!

posted by Mrs. B @ 10:28 AM