So Oma and Opa arrive Wed. evening after dinner. Gerrit was soo excited for them to come; he couldn't wait! Luckily we had enough time to squeeze in a haircut before they arrived. We were sitting around the living room talking and having dessert while Gerrit was playing. He was laying over my legs (which were propped up on the coffee table). After too many times of doing this, (it was starting to hurt), I let my legs down while Gerrit was laying on them and he fell to the floor (maybe 18" drop?). He cried and I said I was sorry and we gave him some Tylonol and left it at that. The only odd thing was Opa, Adam and I heard a 'snap' and deep down I was secretly hoping it was his hand hitting his arm when he fell. We decided to go to bed and see how he felt in the morning.
Thursday, Adam decided to stay home (2nd day off) due to his nasty cold which was given to him by me! (He lucked out and the worst is over, I'm still dealing with it after 2 weeks - but have meds waiting for me at the pharmacy tomorrow thanks to Dr. Pott!) Anyways, Gerrit woke up and was baby-ing his arm which was not like him. Adam asked him to rotate his arm and he couldn't do it. It was not really swollen either which made us hesitate to bring him in. But, for peace of mind, we decided to make a trip to the cities and find out. Adam stayed home due to his cold, Emmit went to daycare, and the rest of us headed north thinking that after the dr. we would have lunch and hit a few favorite stores and be back for dinner.
11am we had an apt at a different office than our usual place but still connected to the same system. He saw the oldest practicing pediatrician I've ever met with terrible bed side manors. To top it off, the x-ray machine was 'locked' and wouldn't take the pictures and the women didn't know how to unlock it. So I sat with Gerrit crying in the x-ray room for almost a 1/2 hour watching 4 nurses figure this thing out. Luckily they got it to work and after the 1st photo it was obvious he fractured his arm about an 1.5" from his elbow. After 2 pictures and a few phone calls, we had an apt. with an orthopedic surgeon (who specializes in kids) at 3 pm at one of the children's hospitals in St. Paul. No big deal, we would go to lunch and go shopping - Gerrit earned a toy for surviving the visit. The kicker - he couldn't eat or drink until the apt. in case they had to put him under to put the cast on! So that meant no lunch for the rest of us either. Yikes!
We headed out to the sports store to get Gerrit his football helmets he has been asking for for over a year now (he chose that over a Playmobil toy!). We were able to stop at the grocery store to get a snack for him for after the apt. as well as sandwiches for the rest of us to try and eat when Gerrit wasn't looking. And Gerrit took a nap while we were at the grocery store so he knew nothing of the food that we bought. I secretly ate my sandwich driving and Oma and Opa had to wait till we were called back at the hospital before they could eat - what troopers!
We hit a few more stores and then headed to the hospital. I am always nervous going to hospitals and luckily everything went smoothly with finding where we needed to be etc. We had to wait over a half hour before we were called in but passed the time by quizzing Gerrit on the names of the Big 10 team helmets he just got. It was also humbling to look around and see all the kids in wheel chairs and made me thankful we just had a broken arm to deal with - a minor inconvenience compared to what we saw.
The ortho Dr. was great. She knew how to deal with kids and came up with a game plan that worked for me.
We tried doing the cast w/o Gerrit sedated and it worked! He cried because he was scared and was distracted a bit by Phineas and Ferb on TV. The casting ladies were able to put enough pressure on it to get it back in place and aligned properly too! Luckily it was a fracture so it didn't need to be set. Gerrit had his choice of colors and was going to go with a blue/green combo but then last minute changed his mind to just green - Opa had been prepping him all day to go with green for MSU!
We then headed for another x-ray to make sure it was set properly and I ran into a former basketball player I had coached. She was working the x-ray machine for us. It made both of us feel old but was nice to see her none the less. This x-ray was much faster than earlier so even though Gerrit cried, he did great and we were back in with the Dr. looking at his x-rays on the computer in no time.
At this point I gave Gerrit a cookie without clearing it with the Dr. - oops! Luckily things looked good and Gerrit eating was not an issue. We go back in a week for another x-ray to confirm it is healing properly and it doesn't need to be re-set again. We also have to plan for "Plan B" as I call it - sedation so fasting again! At least this time we know about it and can plan accordingly.
We were planning on pizza for lunch so we had pizza for dinner instead due to the fasting all day. Gerrit ate his whole kids pizza and Oma and Opa just had a snack seeing they had eaten lunch not that long ago! Finally, we were home at 7pm after leaving at 10am!
Here's the brave kid sportin' his new cast:
A silly face - you can see he is busy playing with his new football helmets:
Dad signing the cast (mom signed it first):
Of all the times for this to happen (as flukey as it was) this week was a good one with Oma and Opa around. They were a big help and support seeing Adam was sick with his cold during the whole ordeal and Gerrit was going to preschool only a little bit this next week so he could spend time with Oma and Opa and now with the cast - it will be easier for him to be home rather than at school. He can't play on the playground due to the gravel so for the next 6 weeks is the grass or inside for him. No biking or golfing, both of which he was going to do and he was so excited to show Opa his golf swing! Bummer.
Another bonus for Oma and Opa here - they can bring Gerrit up to meet me for the next apt so I don't have to take a full day off! So handy.
He is adjusting quite well to having to wear it - he stayed inside all day and didn't really try to get outside and play rough with it. He has started to use his left hand a little and realize it is good for some things. He keeps asking if it can come off tomorrow so the whole idea of 6 weeks doesn't quite register with him. We are hoping by Thanksgiving he will not need to have his cast as an accessory any longer! Until then, we will all adjust to his 1 arm capabilities and keep an extra eye on him so he doesn't use it as a weapon on his brother!
