One of the hardest decisions to make as a parent, is whether to call an Ambulance or not.
So when Isaac fell off the back of the couch last night and was still screaming in pain 30 minutes later, I decided to call. He landed awkwardly and was clutching his right arm and screaming every time it moved. The swelling came up shortly later and was relatively minor. Being an EDSy child, he doesn’t swell very much.
The ambos were lovely, they arrived and took a look at his arm, declared it broken and splinted it for us. Mum arrived at the same time as the ambos, because regardless of who went where, someone needed to stay home with Amy. The ambos were reluctant to take us down in the ambulance, because, like they explained, it wouldn’t be a comfortable trip for me, or Isaac and so, a few moments of discussion later, they gave him some panadol and left.
We headed to the hospital shortly after, Mum and I, leaving Nathan at home with Amy to stress alone.
There are things I’d rather be doing on a Sunday night. Things that AREN’T sitting in Emergency for hours and hours.
Like a bikini wax. That sounds more fun. Or cleaning out everyone’s closets. Yeah. We’ll do that.
The hospital was packed and it looked like breaks were the accident of the day. Arms, collarbones, ankles, everyone seemed to be sporting splints or slings, or icepacks.
The nurses at the Royal are always lovely and eventually, we were seen. Isaac was, by this stage, 4 hours past his bedtime (it was 10.30pm), tired, in pain and incredibly grumpy. Admittedly, he did really well, being stuck in the hospital for so long.
A little while later, we got x-rays.
THAT was fun. The x-ray tech’s were lovely and kitted me up in a lead gown, so that I could cuddle him/hold his arm still for the x-rays. He did much better sitting on my lap that he would have sitting or laying on the bed alone. I even got to see my fingertips in the x-ray later.
Luckily, the fracture was obvious pretty much immediately.
A slight digression:
I knew Isaac’s arm was fractured/broken. I KNEW. However, I’ve spent so much time on the end of medical testing, only to be told ‘we can’t see any problems, go home’ that I was having a minor panic attack that nothing would show up. I’ve never felt so relieved in my life to be told that something was broken.
We tucked Isaac back into my lap, sans sexy lead suit and headed back to see the doctors.
It was 11pm by this point and we were all exhausted.
A little while later, because the doctor we were seeing was one of the high ups, not one of the registrars (which is unusual. I wonder if it’s because we’re already under the care of the Paediatrics team?) and he kept getting called away to more urgent things, Isaac was kitted up with a half cast to keep his arm still, bandaged, and we were set free at midnight, exhausted and happy to be out of the hospital, with nothing worse than a greenstick fracture.
Isaac fell asleep as soon as we drove, thank goodness, and stayed mostly asleep once he was home and I transferred him to his cot with a bottle.
He’s okay. He’s in pain and tired and is completely pissed off that his right arm (preferred arm) is out of action, but he’s fine.
It’s going to take a few days for his arm to stop aching badly, so I predict a lot of clinging and general miserableness. I’m not looking forward to that bit.
We’ll be seen by an Othopaedic Surgeon in a week or so to assess how it’s healing and whether or not Isaac needs a full cast.
I keep telling him – he’s got to work on his landing. We’ll give him points for the tumble, but the landing? fucked everything up.
{ 37 comments }
Oh bless his little heart. I’m glad he’s okay, all things considered. I hope you all get some rest and yes, next time dear, tuck and roll.
*whew*
I was reading this, afraid they’d accuse you of abuse because of all the dislocations etc. SO RELIEVED he’s going to be ok and they found the problem.
Far as I know, we don’t have Panadol here.
He certainly does need to work on his landing. I hope he heals smoothly.
Mrs C, I think it’s called Tylanol there?
And because we’re under the care of the Paeds team for EDS, they don’t bat an eyelid at the kids bruises, thank goodness!
Poor baby. Fortunately greensticks usually heal well and quite quickly, especially in little people. Fingers crossed the EDS doesn’t complicate things. Plenty of cuddles and distractions will get you both through this. I prescribe chocolate, cake, books and DVDs.
Poor Isaac and poor you! It’s horrible seeing your little one in pain. I hope the fracture heals well, and that next time he gets away with just a bump.
Oh no… you poor things (both of you!). I hope the arm heals quickly and easily.
As an aside… it’s a poor indication of ‘the system’ when a parent is relieved that there is actually something wrong with their child when they take them to hospital. I HATE that I umm and ahh about taking my kids to the Er mostly because I don’t like to be treated like an idiot (or worse) if they are not sick enough to be there. Surely it would be better for us to err on the side of caution with our kids? But the way I’ve been treated really makes me think twice.. it’s sad…
OMG WTF?
Boo is right arm too.
This boy falling over and breaking arms (or elbows in our case) must be contagious.
Big hugs babe cause I KNOW what hell you are going through right now.
Oh and BTW I bought some stripey footless tights today to cover the bandage so Boo would stop picking at it. Give that a try.
MWAH.
You poor buggers, all of you. Having had Charlie (age 4) having done a crap fall and broken all sorts of bits of himself, I can totally empathise. Little boys and their falls and their ensuing miserableness is tedious…….
Oh no, sounds awful
Sorry to hear 
OH no! Poor little guy! Hope he heals quickly!!!
Buggery, hope he’s not too uncomfortable and heals quickly xxx
Thanks guys!
Kate – it is indeed, a VERY poor indicator when we’re relived to have been right about the injury. Would have much preferred it didn’t have to work like that.
As for Isaac, he’s doing better after a sleep in the car and some more panadol.
Oh Veronica, how awful for you and poor Isaac. I hope the pain is manageable and he figures out how to get by with that arm in plaster. Poor little guy!
Oh your poor little man. I hope that Isaac isn’t in too much pain. I hope he heals quickly!
Oh that poor little kid. After all the pain and hassles he’s already having with the EDS/bowel thing. A kid that little shouldn’t even know what pain is.
And I feel for you, Veronica. There is nothing worse than watching your own child in pain (and waiting hours in hospital late at night)
(
Oh noes. Poor Isaac. Poor Veronica! Hoping for quick healing for him and some rest for you.
After Kelley, now you….
Are broken arms contagious?
Oh poor Isaac. And all that waiting time in hospital. i remember spending hours in a waiting room once….for two stitches!
Hope he heals really quickly, he’ll be used to the cast in no time.
Put an old cot mattress by the back of the couch and cover it with soft blankets and pillows. Even if it’s not needed again as a landing pad, it can be a play area or reading nest for Isaac and Amy. I remember you have your Nan’s pillows and blankets.
Sounds like a terrible night. I’m glad you didn’t get harassed during the process (though having done summer child care in the past I totally understand why they ask a lot of questions when a child breaks a bone or comes up in bruises). I hope that Nathan also managed some relief during those hours.
Best
Poor poppet! It’s always a tough call as to whether to seek medical assistance with kids, but your gut is usually right ( as you know!). Takes alot to keep a toddler down so I’m guessing he’ll be up and around in no time. Hugs!
Oh, poor little guy
Fiona – Kelley and I were saying the exact same thing earlier.
River – all the pillows are, strangely enough, behind the OTHER couch to prevent injury. Obviously I was worrying about the wrong area!
Rachael – it REALLY helps that we have an EDS diagnosis too, so they know dislocations/bruises are part of the condition. Knowing Isaac, it’s likely the hospital will see us in the future again.
Everyone else – thanks so much. We made it through the first miserable 24 hours okay and he went to bed okay. We’re all stocked up on panadol and nurofen, so he’ll be okay pain wise (I hope).
Poor Isaac & poor you having so much extra physical stuff to cope with. Glad to hear the hospital were so good though, even if there was a long wait. Isaac needs to work on his ‘turn into a bowl of EDS jelly’ landing skills. Fingers crossed for a quick, uncomplicated recovery. Love to all, BG Xx
I hope he is doing better now. Although I dont have any suggestions to make to help you make it easier for Issac I have heard kids heal very well and quickly too. I hope Issac does too.
Bendy – Yes, lots of work on that! Somehow I’m not sure that a break was better than the dislocation I first suspected!
OMG ! Such a boy thing to do.
Wishing Isaac a quick/easy recovery & hoping its not too hard on you xxxx
Oh my god! So distressing for Isaac, for you, for everyone. God, I so completely understand your thought of panic at potentially being told, “nope, there’s nothing”. Totally. If I had a million dollars for every time that has happened and then not been true……
Hugs my love.
So sorry, sounds like a terrible evening. Hope he bounces back quickly.
I’ve never broken an arm in my life, but I would hate to think of how painful it can be. Especially at that age! Thank goodness he isn’t in High School or University, yet as that could be very disruptive indeed. Typical boys
, no sweat! Lots of ways to break an arm. It can be hard to deal with though, when it happens, especially at the beginning. Keeping calm is the best thing one can do in this kind of situation. I had a friend once who had a scheduled piano recital in a couple days time. He was 17 and he broke his wrist by standing on the top a 0.5 metre wall and falling backwards while socialising. It took him a WHOLE DAY at school the next day to realise something was wrong! He got an x-ray the following afternoon and there was a discovered breakage in his wrist! He could not perform for his recital after that, but managed to postpone it ’til later, which was good 
I do hope Isaac does start to feel better soon. It must be annoying, as you say, to be told there are no problems when it’s quite evident that there are! I’ve had that so many times in my life, between food issues, tooth pains, various infections, etc. It is FRUSTRATING!!!!! Damn!
Thanks for sharing!
Am catching up. Hope he’s okay now, V.xxx
Oh, what a night. I hope he’s feeling better today.
I was going to moan at you for titling ‘the one where…’ but the poor fella.
That’s not good, not at all.
Right, you and Kelley must make sure to NOT let your boys’ breakie-armie-vibes get over to Scotland… I don’t think I could cope with Max in a cast (can you imagine the black eyes *I* will get from that??) or Zack’s constant whining even MORE than normal about it being sore and itchy. K? K.
Also… (((((huge hugs)))))) I hope the meeting with the surgeon goes really well and the panadol helps to curb the pain. xxx
When it rains it pours.
Hugs.
Hugs for ALL of you.
Oh crikey, poor both of you. There’s nothing quite like waiting for hours in an A&E department with a miserable child to make you feel really crap.
I can identify with that “what if they don’t find anything?” feeling. I felt exactly the same when we took the boy in with his many bouts of asthma last year. I even felt like that when we took him in with anaphylaxis! Also, that awful relief that there is something wrong. That’s a hard one to deal with.
Oh, no!
Poor little guy… big hugs to all of you.
Comments on this entry are closed.
{ 1 trackback }