On November 2, I was making desserts for the annual scout auction dinner that night. I ran to the 99cent store to get some plates to put the goodies on, and then I got a call from Carson's PE teacher at Smith, saying that Carson had broken his wrist. The teacher asked if I would be OK with him calling 911. That totally freaked me out. I asked if he had a bone sticking out or if he was unconscious, and the teacher said, "No, but I'm afraid to move it. It looks bad." I told him to hold on and that I would drive there as quickly as possible and then we could decide what to do. On the drive, I called Chuck and he said just to take Carson to the hospital myself. He called around urgent care centers to see if they could treat the broken arm, and he decided it would be best to take him to the ER. So I got to Carson, and he had been playing Capture the Flag in PE, so he was on the PE field, and the school nurse had gotten there and wrapped his arm in a splint so we could get him to the ER. So I couldn't see his arm, but the nurses and the PE teacher all assured me that it was definitely broken. Carson was eerily calm even though I could tell he was in a lot of pain. I gave him some ibuprofen right away, and then drove him to Mountain Vista Medical Center. It is only a few miles, but every bump and turn in the car was excruciating for him. I stopped by our house to drop off the plates and unlock the door for the other kids that would soon be getting home from school. When we got to the ER, Carson walked in very slowly and carefully, but his face was white and he had little beads of sweat over his whole face, and he felt sick to his stomach. He looked like he was either going to pass out or throw up. We had to wait 45 min to see the triage nurse, and then when she asked him his level of pain from 1-10 he said 6. I corrected him, and told him it was probably a lot higher actually. He's such a tough kid, and can handle pain unbelievably well. His arm was still wrapped up, so the triage nurse couldn't see it, and probably just thought it was a little sprain and I was exaggerating. So we waited and waited until a nurse took us back. She unwrapped his arm, and as soon as she saw it, she snapped into action, and they finally started taking us seriously. Here's a picture (above). You can clearly tell that the bones are displaced just by looking at it. The nurse gave him some more powerful pain meds, and sent him for x-rays. Once the x-rays came back, the doctor said they would sedate Carson and try to line the bones up without cutting him open. They started an IV (which was the only part Carson was unhappy about), and gave him some meds to put him to sleep. The doctor called his name several times, and got no response, so he started pulling Carson's arm, trying to line the bones up correctly. As soon as he started pulling, Carson cried out, "Oww!" and the doctor ordered more sedatives into his IV line. When he was sure Carson was really out, he pulled on the arm and tried to line up the bones. Then they did another series of x-rays. The bones were in a slightly better position, but were still off, so the doctor said Carson would probably need surgery. He said to go to an orthopedic surgeon on Monday and see what they had to say. So we went home with pain meds for Carson, and his arm in a splint. It was sill soooo painful for him, and he really couldn't do anything with that arm or hand at all. So he had a hard time getting dressed, going to the bathroom, and doing every basic thing you can think of. It's hard for a 13 year old boy to feel so totally helpless. He also had a really hard time getting comfortable enough to sleep. We propped up his arm on pillos, and also tried having him sleep with the sling on, but either way, he was awake every couple of hours in pain for several days. Monday at the orthopedic, they decided that he still had enough growth ahead of him that they could just stabilize his arm, and allow the bones to grow back together on their own without surgery. We were relieved to avoid surgery. His arm was so swollen that they didn't want to put a traditional cast on it, so they gave him an exso cast, which is adjustable and removable. Carson didn't remove the cast for a couple of weeks because his arm was in so much pain. The first time we removed the brace was in the orthopedist's office, and Carson almost passed out. Things gradually got easier, until he was eventually able to remove the brace by himself to shower every day, and finally able to sleep through the night without pain meds. Carson HATED missing school, but had to miss a few days as we had appointments, and he was still on heavy duty pain meds. A broken arm doesn't sound like that big of a deal, but it really was a big trial for Carson, and was a really hard thing to handle. The kid who pushed Carson down apologized multiple times (Carson was running full speed and another kid pushed him and he fell hard to break his arm.) Things like this make you appreciate normal life and uneventful days!
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| Carson in the ER, waiting for the reduction |
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| Carson with his Exsos brace |
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| two broken bones--both displaced |
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| This is what his arm looked like the first time they took the brace off. |
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| Carson almost passed out in the doctor's office... |
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| ...but it looks much straighter already |
