Just a Matter of Time

Well we almost made it 3 whole years without stepping foot into Children's Mercy Hospital. I still can't believe we made it this long with our little daredevil! But that all changed on Friday when Ben rolled off the bed at Grandma Carols house. Luckily Grandma & Aunt Carrie were right there and took great care of him until Vince & I got there. They had called 911 so Ben also got to have his first ride in an ambulance. He was such a trooper. I really think I cried more than he did. It was obvious that his arm was broken. His arm looked like a teradactyl wing. He did great in the ambulance. They strapped us to the stretcher and he actually fell asleep for much of the 20 minute ride. The worst part of the whole day was when they were trying to start an IV they blew a vein in his left hand and then left arm it was awful. Ben was so upset. A different nurse tried the top of his foot and got it. I think it was probably best it was in long run so that way he at least had one arm he could use. They finally gave him some pain meds and then took him for x-rays. When the doctor came in to show us his films the first one looked like 2 clean breaks but the second film showed a much different story. The break was the worst kind of fracture you could get. Luckily the protective coating over kids bones is a lot thicker than us adults so that prevented the broken bones from breaking through his skin. That coating also helped the broken ends of the bone not rip any muscles, nerves or veins. So the plan was made to put him under and have his arm set and put into a cast. We had to wait a few hours since Ben had ate a decent amount for lunch. So we killed time on the iPad  watching a few of his favorite shows. We got to stay with Ben until he was asleep and then we had to leave. The whole procedure took less than 20 minutes and we were back with Ben before he even was awake. He had to wait until the medicine wore off before we got released. We left about 8:30pm so we were there a good 5 1/2 hours. When we got home we gave Ben a few oyster crackers and some water and then we all went to bed! I got up about 4am to check on him and he seemed to be in pain so we gave him some pain medicine. Saturday morning was spent on the couch until Grandma Carol, Aunt Angela & Taylor came by to visit and then Ben jumped off the couch to play with Taylor! Since then he has been his normal self with a few extra stumbles or falls as he gets use to the weight of the plaster cast. His hand is still swollen so we have been making sure to give him motrin to help control it but no other pain meds since Saturday! Hopefully the next 4-6 weeks will go fast and he gets his cast off I time for Halloween and his birthday!