Ben had a great 6th birthday...
...for the most part!
He went from this......
......to this......
......in just a matter of an hour or so. Yes, he is lying in an emergency room bed. This is where the great birthday becomes not so great of a birthday.
Here's what happened. We had presents and cake and such. Then right after Ben finished his cake, he went downstairs to get in his pj's. He was down the stairs about halfway when McLain heard him start sliding down the stairs and when he got to the bottom he started screaming. Apparently he just slipped and fell down the stairs and when he got to the bottom, his arm broke. Pretty badly. When we saw his arm, there was no question that it was broken. It was not straight anymore.
I admit, I may have panicked a little for a moment. I didn't know what to do. I remember when my brother was little, he broke his arm in the same fashion (as in, it wasn't straight anymore) and my parents called an ambulance...yes, his was worse than Ben's, but still...
So I didn't know if we should take him to the ER or call 911 or what. It was almost 8 pm on a Sunday...nowhere was open. So I called my friend who works in the ER to see what she thought...she wasn't home. So I called my mom. She said to just take him in. As I was running around the house getting all the things I knew I would need (phone, insurance card, ID, etc.) I had McLain give Ben a blessing, which I know helped Ben so much. I called my sister and brother-in-law and had them meet us at the hospital so they could bring Brooklyn and Adilyn home and get them to bed. (Thanks Emily and Jaden!)
One of the worst parts was the car ride because every time we turned or hit a bump, it would hurt Ben's arm. It was hard to hold it still. He was sitting on my lap so I could help but it was still hard. He was such a trooper and didn't cry at all.
We got there, got checked in, and they took an x-ray. We only got a camera picture of the x-ray, which was awful, but with a little photo editing, I was able to get it so you could at least see the breaks. He broke both bones in his right forearm. You can't tell from the picture, but the bone on the left overlapped itself a little where it was broken.
So they had to put him out and reset the bone. Yuck. They were telling me and McLain that because of they type of break and where it was broken, that this was one of the hardest breaks to reset. Great. By this point, a couple hours into our stay, we decided McLain should go home so Emily and Jaden could go to bed...Jaden had to get up at 4 the next morning. My little brother Allen came and took McLain home so I would have a car for when we were done. (Thanks Allen!)
They put the IV in...this was the only time Ben actually cried other than when he actually fell...he didn't want them to poke him. Poor guy. They were telling me that the most common side effect in children from the sedation was that they would stop breathing. How completely NOT comforting!!! They sedated him and went to work on him arm. It was weird to watch. His arm was hanging there and they were just groping around. Weird. I had to sit down at this point before I got woozy. But they were able to get it straightened out quickly...they were almost surprised at how quickly and well it went. They were very pleased.
When Ben woke up, the first thing he did was look at his IV and said "But what about this??!!" He was so worried they wouldn't take it out. He didn't even notice his splint.
We got home about 4 hours later. Ben kept telling me he just wanted to go home and go to bed. He slept through the night. I didn't. I was so worried he would wake up hurting and not be able to get out of bed and I wouldn't hear him. So I didn't really sleep that night. The next day, I did all the things that I was supposed to do and then later when there was nothing to do, I finally had an emotional breakdown. I'm surprised it didn't happen earlier. Of course it happened while I was on the phone cancelling piano lessons for that day. But because of that, the Primary presidency in our ward brought us dinner that night, which I am so grateful for! (Thanks Primary presidency!) My mom also came by that day to see Ben, which Ben was so grateful for...he loves his grandma!
Two weeks later, he finally got his splint off and was able to get a cast.
He's been back to the orthopedic surgeon 3 times and has to go again next week. We are so blessed that Ben didn't have to have the bone reset again or operated on. We're told he'll have his cast for 8 weeks (5 more) and then have a splint for another 4 weeks after that! Holy cow!!! Hopefully he'll have his arm back by Christmas!
He's adjusting well. Using his left arm has been a challenge...a challenge that he is overcoming so so quickly! He's doing amazing. He can pretty much do everything that he could do before, with a few exceptions, like doing buttons, showering, doing his seat belt, and putting on socks and some shirts. He's trying to write with his right hand sometimes and is back to practicing the piano. Because he has a full cast, sometimes his arm is at a funny angle, but he's still doing great.
Poor guy, he's just learning to write, and now he has to learn to write left handed. For almost half of the school year, he'll have to write with his left hand. But he's doing awesome. This is one of the first things he wrote left handed after he broke his right arm (probably about 5 days after he broke it.)
And this is the paper he just wrote last week. I'd say pretty darn good improvement. His teacher told me that he writes better with his left hand than some of her students do with their right hands. Way to go Ben!
So there it is...Ben's birthday emergency. The first major thing that's happened in our family since we've been married. Ben's doing awesome and has a good attitude. We are thankful to all who have helped and prayed for Ben. Thank you so much!!!!!!
...for the most part!
He went from this......
......to this......
......in just a matter of an hour or so. Yes, he is lying in an emergency room bed. This is where the great birthday becomes not so great of a birthday.
Here's what happened. We had presents and cake and such. Then right after Ben finished his cake, he went downstairs to get in his pj's. He was down the stairs about halfway when McLain heard him start sliding down the stairs and when he got to the bottom he started screaming. Apparently he just slipped and fell down the stairs and when he got to the bottom, his arm broke. Pretty badly. When we saw his arm, there was no question that it was broken. It was not straight anymore.
I admit, I may have panicked a little for a moment. I didn't know what to do. I remember when my brother was little, he broke his arm in the same fashion (as in, it wasn't straight anymore) and my parents called an ambulance...yes, his was worse than Ben's, but still...
So I didn't know if we should take him to the ER or call 911 or what. It was almost 8 pm on a Sunday...nowhere was open. So I called my friend who works in the ER to see what she thought...she wasn't home. So I called my mom. She said to just take him in. As I was running around the house getting all the things I knew I would need (phone, insurance card, ID, etc.) I had McLain give Ben a blessing, which I know helped Ben so much. I called my sister and brother-in-law and had them meet us at the hospital so they could bring Brooklyn and Adilyn home and get them to bed. (Thanks Emily and Jaden!)
One of the worst parts was the car ride because every time we turned or hit a bump, it would hurt Ben's arm. It was hard to hold it still. He was sitting on my lap so I could help but it was still hard. He was such a trooper and didn't cry at all.
We got there, got checked in, and they took an x-ray. We only got a camera picture of the x-ray, which was awful, but with a little photo editing, I was able to get it so you could at least see the breaks. He broke both bones in his right forearm. You can't tell from the picture, but the bone on the left overlapped itself a little where it was broken.
So they had to put him out and reset the bone. Yuck. They were telling me and McLain that because of they type of break and where it was broken, that this was one of the hardest breaks to reset. Great. By this point, a couple hours into our stay, we decided McLain should go home so Emily and Jaden could go to bed...Jaden had to get up at 4 the next morning. My little brother Allen came and took McLain home so I would have a car for when we were done. (Thanks Allen!)
They put the IV in...this was the only time Ben actually cried other than when he actually fell...he didn't want them to poke him. Poor guy. They were telling me that the most common side effect in children from the sedation was that they would stop breathing. How completely NOT comforting!!! They sedated him and went to work on him arm. It was weird to watch. His arm was hanging there and they were just groping around. Weird. I had to sit down at this point before I got woozy. But they were able to get it straightened out quickly...they were almost surprised at how quickly and well it went. They were very pleased.
When Ben woke up, the first thing he did was look at his IV and said "But what about this??!!" He was so worried they wouldn't take it out. He didn't even notice his splint.
We got home about 4 hours later. Ben kept telling me he just wanted to go home and go to bed. He slept through the night. I didn't. I was so worried he would wake up hurting and not be able to get out of bed and I wouldn't hear him. So I didn't really sleep that night. The next day, I did all the things that I was supposed to do and then later when there was nothing to do, I finally had an emotional breakdown. I'm surprised it didn't happen earlier. Of course it happened while I was on the phone cancelling piano lessons for that day. But because of that, the Primary presidency in our ward brought us dinner that night, which I am so grateful for! (Thanks Primary presidency!) My mom also came by that day to see Ben, which Ben was so grateful for...he loves his grandma!
Two weeks later, he finally got his splint off and was able to get a cast.
He's been back to the orthopedic surgeon 3 times and has to go again next week. We are so blessed that Ben didn't have to have the bone reset again or operated on. We're told he'll have his cast for 8 weeks (5 more) and then have a splint for another 4 weeks after that! Holy cow!!! Hopefully he'll have his arm back by Christmas!
He's adjusting well. Using his left arm has been a challenge...a challenge that he is overcoming so so quickly! He's doing amazing. He can pretty much do everything that he could do before, with a few exceptions, like doing buttons, showering, doing his seat belt, and putting on socks and some shirts. He's trying to write with his right hand sometimes and is back to practicing the piano. Because he has a full cast, sometimes his arm is at a funny angle, but he's still doing great.
Poor guy, he's just learning to write, and now he has to learn to write left handed. For almost half of the school year, he'll have to write with his left hand. But he's doing awesome. This is one of the first things he wrote left handed after he broke his right arm (probably about 5 days after he broke it.)
And this is the paper he just wrote last week. I'd say pretty darn good improvement. His teacher told me that he writes better with his left hand than some of her students do with their right hands. Way to go Ben!
So there it is...Ben's birthday emergency. The first major thing that's happened in our family since we've been married. Ben's doing awesome and has a good attitude. We are thankful to all who have helped and prayed for Ben. Thank you so much!!!!!!
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