Well, our family has officially experienced a broken bone. Two weeks ago, Little Buddy decided to attempt to jump down from a height of one-and-a-half feet. He is usually very sure-footed, but this time, his feet didn’t catch him. He fell right on his arm.
His initial crying stopped fairly quickly, and he said it was feeling a lot better. He slept great that night. Still, he had some limitations with the range of motion of his elbow, so we decided it would be best to get an X-ray. Our doctor recommended an urgent care facility.
The experience was less than great–neither urgent nor very caring–but I was thankful to have gotten an X-ray. According to the nurse practitioner, it looked completely fine and all Little Buddy needed to do was take Motrin and Tylenol while it healed. So we went home.
About six hours later, at 3:00 in the afternoon, I received a phone call from the same nurse practitioner. She had sent the X-ray to a radiologist, and he had determined that there was a sign of an elbow fracture. She referred us to an orthopedic doctor to have a full-arm cast put on.
I hung up feeling incredibly discouraged. Little Buddy was going to be so sad, especially after being told by the NP that his arm was fine. I called all the pediatric orthopedics in the area, and none of them could see us until the next day. Since the NP had been very confident that we would need a cast, I decided it would be best to have that taken care of quickly. I packed up both kids and headed to the Vanderbilt Children’s Emergency Room.
Expecting a long wait, I was shocked to find an empty waiting room. The entire process took less than four hours, which in my opinion isn’t bad for emergency care. We had a private room, so even Littlest Buddy was happy. Mr. Handsome came straight from work and brought us dinner and encouragement.
The staff took new X-rays, which revealed that Little Buddy had a very rare type of elbow fracture. The green circle in the photo below shows where the bone chipped off, and there is also a line going partway through the bone that shows the fracture. Even the medical student who stopped by our room to look at the X-ray was stumped and admitted that this was a situation that definitely called for the trained eye of an orthopedic doctor.
The ER doctor told that we would likely need a cast but that he wanted to consult with the orthopedic specialist. She came in, examined Little Buddy, and gave her diagnosis. Since the initial pain had disappeared and the only remaining issues were that he couldn’t do a full bicep curl or fully rotate his wrist (which is a function of the elbow, not the wrist), she didn’t do a cast. We were thrilled, and so was Little Buddy.
We were told to avoid any activities that could cause him to fall and to have him wear a sling when we went out so that other people wouldn’t bother his arm. Our follow-up appointment almost two weeks later showed that his body was beginning the process of growing new bone in the area. As long as he avoids high levels of activity for another four weeks, his arm should be fully healed. We are so grateful to the Lord.
Have you ever broken a bone? I broke my arm and leg (at different times) as a child. Mr. Handsome, surprisingly, hasn’t broken anything.
One of my boys broke their arm while running in the yard and falling down . His older brother was chasing him and he tripped over a landscape plastic piece . I could tell his arm didn’t look right and was crying and in pain . So To be safe we took him to the children’s er as well and they saw him right away . He has to be given pain medicine that night and had to wait till morning for his surgery ( because he ate dinner ) . He had two pins put in . After his surgery he wasn’t in any more pain and didn’t need anymore pain medication. I was also pregnant with my 3rd ( I had baby the next month )and he wanted me to stay in the hospital with him overnight . And this happened a few days after his 5th bday . It was so scary , but the staff at the hospital took good care of us .
That sounds very traumatic!
All the best to Little Buddy and a quick recovery.
I have not broken any bones, neither has my husband. Two of our three children have. Our son broke his leg in a bicycle accident when he was eight. Last year he broke his collarbone in an accident involving a dog, he was then 14. Our older daugther got a small fracture in her wrist when she fell while skating when she was 12 and this summer, only 1,5 years after the last fracture she was in a bicycle accident and got another fracture in the same wrist, although a different kind. Our son has also had stitches two or three times. Fortunately we live in Finland where we have a fairly good health care system so we have not had to spend lots of money because of these accidents. I have heard a bit about the health care system in the US and my impression is that it is not very good, unless you have a lot of money. On a side note aside from these accidents our children are rarely sick.
I have heard that collarbone injuries can be especially awful. How was your son’s healing process? It all depends on your providers (prices can vary at different providers, hospitals, etc) and your health coverage (that varies a lot between companies and plans). We are very happy with out current health coverage.
The collarbone healed surprisingly fast. He took pain medication for about a week and he had a sling for four weeks, but already after two weeks he felt fine and it was a struggle to keep him from biking. He went to a physiotherapist a few times because he practice weight lifting. The muscles weaken fast so he got some exercises to strengthen the muscles.
His broken leg, or ankle to be precise, was a whole other story. He had a long cast and we went several times to an orthopedist and x-ray for checkups.
I’m reading along and thinking OK, good for that radiologist, good for that ortho doctor, good for bone being able to heal on its own, and then I read that you’re “grateful to the Lord”??? What about all those trained medical people who helped along the way with the imaging and diagnostic skills? Or the medical student who is incurring tons of expense to become just as skilled, who made a point to take a look as part of his learning process? Let’s give credit where credit is due first, then thank your belief system later.
We are very grateful for the practitioners and the care they provided.
All good comes from the Lord. Those practitioners are good because of the graces God has bestowed upon them.
Here’s my take. The medical professionals are good because of their rigorous education, their hard-earned experience, their keen observation skills, and their work ethic, among other attributes. What about professionals in other countries, where there is no Christian “God”? Can’t the same be said about them and their good work? We can’t project our belief system onto others or really, any further than ourselves. We can’t state our religious opinions as fact, especially when we’re talking about someone else. Even though we do practice it in groups sometimes, religion is highly personal. I would never use mine when explaining the actions of others. It’s a mirror, not a window. It’s your reflection back upon yourself, not the rest of the world.
Nurse here! I personally see both sides. As a Christian myself, I PERSONALLY have no issue with people praising God for good outcomes, especially when it comes to health. For one thing, us healthcare workers truly can’t save or help everybody. We can do everything the best we know how, but I do often find myself thinking “now THAT is a miracle from God himself” at work. I work in the ER, and I’ve seen patients survive when all of the odds were against them. I always tell myself that God has bigger plans than I do, and his will will always prevail. If he sees that it is someone’s time to go “home,” then, despite our absolute greatest efforts, the patient will return to the Lord. In addition, my education, experience, and assessment skills HAVE taken a lot of work and sacrifice through the years. However, I do feel that (again, personally,) God gave me the will and strength to power through to ultimately do the work he put me on this Earth to do. At the end of the day, though, I realize that not everyone shares these same beliefs. I respect everyone’s feelings and point of view. This is just how I view things in terms of myself and my own career path.
Thank you for sharing your perspective, Emily. And thank you for your service as a nurse! I can imagine how stressful ER nursing must be.
Amen! I think some people seem to forget that Ellie and some of her followers are believers in Christ.
Just because you believe in Christ doesn’t mean it’s the answer to everything for everyone. If I did a hard job at work and then someone claimed it was God who did it, I’d be dejected and perhaps offended. Medicine is a stressful field and it’s nice when the professionals are properly recognized for their hard work. You can thank the Lord privately, but don’t forget to first thank the people in front of you who did the hands-on part. Realize that positive things happened because of them.
You are very rude and unkind. This is America and we have the right to serve our GOD. HE is the creator of ALL things and we will give praise to him ALWAYS. Go Troll another blog .
Hope Little Buddy is feeling better and his broken elbow heals quickly. I [Marilyn] broke two of my fingers when I was in Junior High. I used a heavier bowling ball and that did it. It was quite painful to use my two fingers. Sorry you did not have a good experience with the urgent care. I did not either a few years ago. God Bless you and your family.
Joan,Marion and Marilyn
Thank you, Joan, Marion, and Marilyn! Hope you ladies have had a good summer.
I have never broken a bone, but my son broke his arm during a high school basketball game. Luckily the EMT’s were already in the school attending another event. They hurried into the gym, and within a few minutes he had ice and a sling on his arm. We went to the hospital ER, and an orthopedic doctor put a huge cast on his arm from his fingers almost to his shoulder. Six weeks later the cast came off. It was the same day the braces on his teeth were removed too. He did not require any physical therapy, and was ready for baseball season a few weeks later.
Wow what a big day, to have a big cast removed and braces too!
Yes, it was a big day for him. The funny thing was that he got so accustomed to only using his left arm during the 6 weeks his right arm was in the cast. It took him a few days to remember he had 2 functioning arms again!
Haha! I remember a similar situation when I broke my arm as a kid.
I can’t imagine what a scare that must have been when it first happened and you had to take him in. I would be a stressed out wreck!! My oldest of 5 is eight years old and none of them have ever broken anything- thankfully lol. But we had a different occurrence that sent our second son, 3 at the time, to the emergency room when a rock shot up from a mower and got him in the face. So much blood and you just don’t know what to do. Thankfully my husband was there and together we all went to the emergency room. Turned out he was ok, it wasn’t a deep cut and the spot just needed to be glued.
I know it’s a totally unrelated story but it’s the only thing that’s sent us to the emergency room with a kid- yet haha.
You do such a wonderful job, Ellie!
That sounds like a traumatic experience. Amazing that you haven’t had any other trips to the ER. Your kids must be pretty careful 🙂 Thank you for your kind words!
I got a broken finger tip in 2020 when the walking foot on my sewing machine came loose because it wasn’t attached properly. When it came loose my eyes went straight to it as it had startled me and the needle went straight into my finger. I will spare the rest of the horrible details but I had to go to urgent care to have the remainder of the needle removed( the needle had broken) and have a tetanus shot. At least the sewing machine survived! 😆
According to the urgent care doctor,sewing machine injuries are fairly common.
I’m grateful to the Lord that it wasn’t more serious break and that I have an older sewing machine. I heard some of these fancy machines will keep going unless you hit the stop button since they don’t have foot pedals.
Yikes! That sounds terrible. Has that been your only sewing injury?
So far that has been my only one. I’ve had near mishaps with my rotary cutter.
So sorry he has this issue. Young bones heal quickly and isn’t it wonderful we have a God who knits our bones together even a second time! We haven’t had a lot of broken bones but when one son ran into another boy in the AWANA circle, he broke his collarbone. No cast but a sling for 8 weeks because he has 3 brothers. 😂
Thanks, Dawn! Yes we are really grateful he seems to be healing quickly! Was it hard for him to wear a sling for 8 weeks, or did he do pretty well with it?
I have never broken a bone before. But my nephew broke his arm he fell playing on a swing set at the neighbors my sister call her husband and they went to the ER. They put his arm in a cast he was 3 years. at the time. He was singing I Had A Bad Day to the guy who was putting the cast on his arm. When he going home he couldn’t figure out how to play with is Cars toys . So he put them on his cast arm and play with them that way. It was so cute. My sister never broke a bone neithervhas her husband/
Netta are Health card systems are fine her. I don’t know were here they were bad.. my insurance pay for me when I went to the hospital for a bad nosebleed a couple of weeks ago and
My youngest, age 10, broke his right arm the beginning of this summer. It’s the first break in our home, parents included. He had a cast for 3 weeks and then a brace for several weeks. He handled it well once we found new ways to keep busy since he’s a very hands-on boy.
I hope your son heals well!!
What a bummer right at the beginning of the summer. I’m glad to hear he handled it well! Was he sad to not be able to swim?
He swam with the brace after the cast came off! It was only 3 weeks of limited activity, thankfully. He was allowed to do everything with the brace on per the orthopedist.
I am sorry to hear about Little Buddy’s broken bone. I think it is just a traumatic for the parents. I am glad he is healing quickly.
I broke my foot this yr and had the same issues of professionals saying it is/ isn’t broken. Very frustrating! The worst event for our family when our children were growing up was our one daughter being hit by a car. Very traumatic, many repercussions for years. We were so thankful the ultimate outcome was favourable.
Was Little Buddy favoured with some special alternatives to activities that were preplanned to the break? That is very frustrating for children when plans have to change.
I wish you all well for the rest of summer time.
Hi Eileen. How traumatic for your daughter and your entire family! I’m glad she’s doing well. We’ve had a good summer still, and we’ve picked up a few extra indoor toys that he has loved. How is your foot doing? Is it fully healed? Thank you for your well wishes 🙂
I am calling this my “ no sandal summer” 😂. I have been wearing my hiking boots to give support to the whole foot. Thanks for asking Ellie. My daughter is very well now. She is married with four children, very very busy and very happy in her life. We are all blessed.
Did you and your family ever catch Covid?
I had it once. Mr. Handsome never has. He’s been tested several times at various points when he’s been sick over the past 3 years, and it’s always been negative.
How did the kids not get it if you had it
This was closer to the beginning of the pandemic, before we had Littlest Buddy. Little Buddy was very young and had a half a day of minor symptoms, but the health department recommended against testing him because of his age.
My oldest broke her foot in dance class in 2020. She hopped to my car and said she heard it crack. Played it off like it wasn’t a big deal. We got home and she fell out of the car. She ended up having to have surgery when it wasn’t healing and now has a screw in her foot.
She recently broke a toe when she stubbed it in our canal.
One of my other girls broke her knee cap and her pinky finger.
And another one broke her finger.
Poor think having to have a screw put in her foot. And a knee cap, wow, was that a difficult healing process?
My son had an elbow break, from a fall, when he was 2 yrs. It did not show up on the initial x ray but the ER nurse suggested we visit the Shriners orthopedic clinic because her son had received great care there. We took him there the following morning. After a second set of x rays they found the break. They were so caring and calm, my son actually fell asleep while they were casting his arm. 🙂
I’m glad to hear he got good care! How did he handle having the cast?