Broken Arm Story

On January 25th we were doing a family bike ride to the park. Unfortunately the neighborhood we were in did not have inclines on the corner curbs where you would cross the street. I was already in the bike lane, and Lee (with Jane on the back) and Zac were just going to jump the curb, and join me. Lee pretty much came to a stop going off because of Jane on the back, and Zac riding behind him (he likes to be like a train) slowed/swerved to miss him and only made it half way off the curb. He ended up falling down while still holding the handle bars. He jumped up and was holding his arm saying, "that hurt! That hurt! I'm ok, but that hurt!" Lee looked over at me and said, "I think he broke it." I went over and he did have some swelling on his forearm by his elbow, but we were not sure if it was broken. The amazing part was he did not have another scrape on him! Not even on his arm! He just fell straight down on his arm.
Lee rushed home on the bike (we were about a mile from home) to get the truck and I sat with Zac on the curb. He was so good the entire time. Never cried and was sad that we never made it to the park. I was so glad that Lee was on the bike ride with us! It was nice that we had someone did stop and ask if we needed help, but Lee was close to coming. I just felt so bad sitting there with Zac because he really is SO good at riding his bike. He has been doing it for 8 months now, so it was not like he was just learning. It just was one of those sad accidents.
Lee showed up a little later with some ice and we drove to San Ramon hospital to get it checked out.

We got to the ER and were the only ones there, but still it took FOREVER. We finally got in and they did xrays and indeed it was broken. The doctor that helped us was really not friendly. Kind of a weird experience. We had to wait an extra hour for the orthopedic doctor to show up to either cast it, or tell us what we were going to do. Thankfully he was SUPER nice. And wanted us to come to his office in a few days after the swelling had gone down to get a hard cast put on. He ended up putting a soft cast on Zac that was huge! But it made it so his arm stayed really well in the sling that he also had to wear.  Four hours later we were leaving. We stopped at Jamba Juice (the treat of choice) before picking up Jane who had been picked up by Grandma and Grandpa Cooper (thank you!).

What a LONG day. He was so good about it all.

 On January 29th we went in to the doctors and Zac got x-rayed again. Looking at the bone it was at a 20 degree break. Anything over 15 degrees they have to set the bone. So we set up an appointment to have it set on the 31st. Sleeping at night with the soft cast was a little tricky. He would yell to have us help move it to a new position. He was very careful with it. He was super cute about always having an arm under it if the sling was not on. He also loved to wear the sling and we were very happy about that!

He wanted to draw his cast. How cute is that?

The morning of the 31st Zac could not have anything to eat. We had a 10 o'clock appointment. We dropped Jane off with Grandma for the morning. After doing paper work and getting Zachary all ready it was after 10:30. The hospital was great at having some toys, a Thomas book, stickers, and coloring book for Zac to use and take home. He actually was doing really well. They had given him some medication to relax him. And he was getting really silly. His speech was all slurred and he was having a hard time communicating, but was coming up with the funniest things. After a while the nurses came and said the doctor would be another half hour. By this point he was getting about done. He all the sudden started to cry and say "this is not fun." He just really wanted to go to Super Franks (one of his favorite play places) and I had a hard time talking him out of it. This was probably one of the hardest moments of being his mom that I have had. He was just so sad. He had been SO good about his arm for an entire week. Never complain and never even crying. It was hard seeing him be so sad about wanting to just do something fun! The medication was making it really hard for him to control his emotions I think. Thankfully the doctor showed up and they quickly took him. They put him completely out for the procedure.

Our doctor came and showed us xrays of the set bone when it was done. Everything seemed to have lined up well and we waited about 10 minutes for them to call us back in when Zac started to wake up. He was so cute waking up. He had picked out an "electric" green color for his cast. Just like his bike. (There are no hard feelings toward his bike!)

Afterwards we went to pick up Jane from Grandmas and he wanted to play. While he was trying to play trains he feel over from still being on the medication. So we had to watch him closely. We also tired to get some liquids and a little food in him. It was one of those days where he pretty much could have/get what he wanted.

For about a week he wore a sling with his cast. Then one day he decided that he was done with it. We saw the doctor the following week to make sure everything was still in place. Everything looked good and we made another appointment for a few weeks later.

On February 19th we had another appointment and things were still looking good. We thought he might get a new cast, but the doctor kept him in the same one. We were surprised when the doctor looked at his hand the cast was on and saw it was rubbing. Zac had never said anything about it hurting! So thankfully he put on some moleskin and it's doing much better. It is crazy to see how the skin on his hand has been peeling from not using it. So, as of right now he will get it off on March 5th!! It will have been 5 1/2 weeks of a broken arm.           

I do have to say it has been super nice that he is left handed. He can still pretty much do anything. Playing with cars, eating, writing, and just physical activities are still easy for him. He has been SO good. Like I said, never has cried (other then at the hospital). He did ask Lee one night "when is this going to come off?" But he has been so positive. Wanting to do everything by himself. And not complaining when he cant do something. It has been such an eye opener at how positive he can be in a hard situation and how I can do better many times. We are excited for long baths (with bubbles!), bike rides, being able to play on everything at the park, and to jump on the tramp again. Even if we will still have to keep it slow for about 2 weeks after getting it off, it will be nice to have it back! :)