The First Broken Bone

Joel has just earned the distinction of being the first person in our family to break a bone. Although with three boys, I'm guessing this won't be our last break. I made sure to introduce all three boys to the orthopedic doctor so that he would recognize us when we make a return visit! haha

Here's the part of the story where I win the "Mother of the Year" award...Joel broke his arm a WEEK ago and I just took him to the doctor today. Yes, I feel awful! (Once again, my dear sister Mindy who works for Children's Services, please don't report me for this!)

Last week I took the boys to a local playground and Joel fell off a large climbing rock landing on his side with his arm taking the brunt of the fall. After Ben and I both looked at his arm and had him move it in all directions, we were both convinced there was no break. Joel didn't complain much about his arm except occassionally he said it was sore, but after giving him ibuprofen the pain would subside. However, yesterday I noticed he was holding his bent arm against his body and protecting it with his other hand. But for Joel to have his left arm slightly bent is not really abnormal (due to the affects of his extreme prematurity at birth). I started asking him to move it all around and he could do everything until I had him lift his arm like a chicken flapping its wing -- he couldn't do that at all (or maybe he just didn't want to look like a fool!). That really concerned me, but not enough to lose any sleep. :-) This morning after Joel took a shower, he couldn't even raise his arm high enough to get his deodorant on (yes, he's 7 and needs deodorant!). Now this is when I was really concerned -- a stinky boy in this warm weather with NO deodorant?! Off to the doctor we went.

The break is a simple "buckle" fracture at the very top of his left arm, close to the shoulder, so they couldn't cast it. The only "fix" is to have Joel wear a sling for the next two weeks. The part that concerned me the most was when the ortho doctor told me it could affect his growth in that arm (meaning it might make his left arm slightly shorter). My dad recommended a solution: Joel could wear a super-heavy watch on his left arm for the next 10 years in hopes the weight of the watch would stretch his arm! haha

In closing, I would like to say two things:

1. Thank you to my brother Mark. Just this morning I was in three different doctors' offices (radiologist, pediatrician and orthopedic) with all three boys. Let me tell you, my faithful blog reader, there is not much for boys to do in a doctor's office. We were entertained for a while with a matchbox car and two laser lights (sorry, Dr. Radiologist, I hope your sight is back to normal now) that the kids happened to have in the car with them, but when those toys became boring, I resorted to tracing kids' hands on the paper exam table covers. Then...as a last resort...I began to tell stories of my brother Mark's adventures at the hospital as a child. All three boys had their eyes glued on me and listened to every single word of each hospital visit Mark had. And believe me, this took up quite a lot of our waiting room time. So, thank you, Mark!

2. Ben, my dear doctor husband who said Joel's arm was fine, please stick to examing pregnant women!