About this third broken Arm

 Two days before Dylan’s 7^th birthday, he broke his arm.  AGAIN!  I was just thinking we were going to make it through “six” without an ER visit.  Almost.  Yes, all three broken arms were Dylan, his left arm when he was 23 months, his right arm when he was 4 and the right arm again.  Almost the same spot, exact same type of break.  Supercondylar fracture.  Or what I may begin to call, a SuperDylan fracture. 

So how did he break his arm, AGAIN?  At recess, Dylan and Carter were seeing how far they can jump out of the swings and I guess Dylan didn’t quite land – what he is calling a 12’ high jump.  Probably not that high, but he does swing high, so I’m guessing he came down hard.  The kicker, he didn’t tell anyone at school and went the rest of the day with a broken arm, which totally breaks my heart.  I’m sure he didn’t say anything because he was afraid he was going to get in trouble for jumping out of the swings.  So I asked him if it hurt, and he said it did hurt.  I asked if he cried, he said he didn’t but some water came out of his eyes.  So then I asked if anyone noticed, but he said he went and sat in a tube on the play set so nobody saw him.  He had a sub that afternoon, so I guess they didn’t notice until he went to get on the bus it was quite swollen and he was holding it funny.  So as soon as they got to daycare they called us assuming maybe it was hurt because it was swollen.  So we didn’t even get him to the ER until 6.  Right away when I saw him I thought it was probably broken. 

The break was exactly the same as last time, except it was not displaced, so we didn’t have to set it or have pins.  Last time was much more traumatic having to do surgery.  This time has gone fairly well, except they continue to check weekly since it can still displace in the cast.  The hardest thing this time is he is right-handed and in school, but he’s getting much better with writing.  We are about 2 weeks in and will have the cast for 4-6 weeks.  I did ask the doctor if he had any concern with multiple breaks and he said, he’s doing it right – jumping out of swings and monkey bars!  So he didn’t have any concerns from that perspective. 

This is her writing an "O" - her favorite letter.  In her defense, it is hard to write on the cast.

And just for a little flashback / comparison pics - here's our first broken arm HERE

And our second broken arm HERE

At least we didn't have to have pins this time!!!  

Looking back at this, I can't believe how young he looks:(

Blue, YELLOW, green, red and we are cast free!

(now what the heck are we going to do with these?)

Just under six weeks and we are back to full speed (almost).  Initially, we thought he would probably have a cast on for another week or two after they removed the pins.  Surprisingly, even after I kindly reminded the doctor that he's not the sit-around-and-color kind of kid, he did not need another cast.  He did say the bone where the break was is actually stronger now than it was before.  However, the arm is weaker, so if he fell on that arm he would be at higher risk of breaking it.


I missed the first three cast removals, so I was happy Keith took a video.






LAST DAY!!!  It's only natural that his favorite gorilla shirt is there for moral support on pin-removal day.  Carter came with, he thought it was pretty cool seeing the cast come off.

Carter has been a pretty awesome brother helping Dylan out with his broken arm.  He would help him with his seat belt and one night they told me that Carter color's pictures for him at school:) (that totally melts a mom's heart)

And this looked about as bad as it sounded!  WOW, didn't really expect them to be sticking out like hangers.  EEEK!  He was totally fine with them walking around.  I was a bit stressed the 20 minutes those were exposed as he about ran into about a dozen things.  

We weren't sure what to expect with pulling these guys out.  Went great.  The first didn't hurt at all, the second he moved a bit, but no fuss!  Then they wrapped it up for a couple days.  I didn't think Dylan thought much about it being wrapped up.  But the doctor said two days and on Saturday morning I woke up to him with his arm in my face telling me to take off the wrap!  

Afterwards, Dylan knew he had a special treat waiting for him.  He really wanted to go to Casey's.  I offered to take them to Des Moines to Scratch Bakery (amazing cupcakes) - and he said no- CASEY'S!  We couldn't argue with him, it was his pick! 

Outside of the flow of hospital bills I have been receiving weekly, these six weeks could not have gone better.  He did so well with the cast.  Didn't complain a bit!  A few nights before he got it off he was telling me at night - that cast arm gets really hot!  OBVIOUSLY, it's been 100 degree temps here!  I was surprised he hadn't said it was itchy or hot.  And sure enough there was a bit of a heat rash on his arm when they took the cast off.  He doesn't seem to have full motion yet, but is doing pretty well.  I think he forgets to use his right arm sometimes, I've been seeing him doing some things left-handed still.  I sure hope we are done with broken bones here!  

Tomorrow is the big day!

Dylan is scheduled to get his cast off tomorrow!  YAY!  Keith is pretty excited, I'm a little nervous he will fall without the cast and injure it again. 
Here is the xray from 2 weeks ago.  Initially, the bone stuck out a little bit and the hope was that it would straighten out on its own.  Then when they took these xrays it looks like it shifted out even further after the swelling went down.  The doctor was still against doing surgery and said it should straighten out within a year.  So we'll see what tomorrow brings.  Hopefully all goes well.  And if he still needs a cast, hopefully they will give us a fresh one!  This one hasn't been smelling so hot.

Broken Arm Update....

When I dropped the boys off at daycare, I found out that Dylan did not break his arm from jumping off a toy, but he was pushed off by a friend!  Of course, I couldn't say a lot since they both push as well and we could be in the opposite situation with anther child. 

This boy is doing just AMAZING with his cast.  He must be right handed because he has adjusted so well to using the one arm.  He doesn't really try to use the other much, but does not fuss about the cast at all.  I do feel bad sometimes because he can get frustrated when trying to pick up too many things with just the one.  I will have to post a video of him crawling, it was a little sad, but we couldn't help but laugh at the poor kid!  Of course it didn't bother him a bit. 

I do think the incident put a little fear in him because he was a little nervous going down the slide tonight and he hasn't been attempting to jump off as much since he broke his arm.

Bath time is the biggest challenge, we are trying to just do every other day instead of daily baths.  Tonight was the first time we got him back in the bathtub.  Keith may have overdone it wrapping up his cast!  Carter really wanted a bag too! 

Our first broken arm....

and I say first being realistic since they are only 23 months, I'm thinking we have a couple more of these ahead of us!  (Hopefully NOT!)

Dylan is the lucky man to be sporting a cool new blue cast! About two minutes after arriving to work this morning I received a call from my daycare.  They said Dylan had landed on his arm jumping off, I'm guessing, a climbing toy.  They said he didn't want to get up and was shaking his arm, saying "arm". 
He was so sad when I got to daycare, I instantly knew there was something wrong because I had never seen him like this.  Literally no emotion in his face at all, almost lethargic and really sad.  In the two minutes I talked to the teachers he fell asleep and from the looks of his arm and the way he was holding it, I thought it was probably broken as well. 
Next stop, Metro Peds!  I decided it would probably be a much smoother process than the ER.  Our doctor came out and looked at his arm and sent us for xrays.  This was really the worst part of the entire procedure.  He seemed to do OK as long as his arm wasn't being moved and was slowly pepping up, but the xrays were definitely uncomfortable for him.  And you would thing they would be a little more gentle knowing they are xraying a broken arm! 

We looked at the xrays the minute we got in the elevator and could clearly see a break.  Then they sent us down for one more xray!  And then we could see that both bones were broken!  Poor little guy!  Dr. Stealy put a splint on him and sent us to an orthopedic specialist.  We couldn't get in until this afternoon, so I went to work for a while and Keith stayed with Dylan. I sure couldn't focus much not knowing how things would go with the orthopedic specialist.

I broke my arm when I was 9 and to this day I still remember the pain of the doctor pushing my arm back together, so I was hoping Dylan wouldn't have to go through that or they would at least knock him out. 

The appointment couldn't have gone better!  Unfortunately, we had to get more xrays:(   He confirmed both bones were broken, but the breaks were not near the growth plates and he thought it would heal nicely in a cast and he did not think it would be necessary to manipulate it back into place!!!  He is anticipating that he will be out of the cast in 3 weeks!  That is GREAT!  I expected at least four.  So we go back in one week for an xray to ensure everything is healing properly and then we will just have to wait it out. 

We had those stinky helmets for a couple months, so three weeks will be a breeze in comparison.

They had to put the cast all the way up his arm, otherwise it could easily be pulled off and knowing these two, it would!  He is adjusting pretty well to the cast, it doesn't seem to bother him too much. We bought a couple sippy cups that have handles because he won't be able to drink with his other one.  He's gotten frustrated a couple times trying to pick up too much stuff with one hand and not being able to do it.  I'm sure he will be back to his normal self within a few days! 

Carter was such a great little brother for him today.  They told us that he sat with him and rubbed his back and kept giving him all kinds of kisses when he was crying! 
Look at that, we already got him back to work!!