Monday seemed like it was going to be an ordinary day. I was getting over a cold and counting down the minutes till I could go to bed and then Morgan comes running from her room in tears saying that Jack had broken his arm. A few seconds later, Jack comes out and there was no doubt he fractured his forearm. It's not as obvious from the photo below, but when his arm was by his side, it was nearly shaped in an S. Being that I have such a recent memory of this injury and the fact that Jack was as calm as could be, we took a few minutes to gather a few things and then headed off to the ER.
Despite a lot of people at the ER, the triage nurse came to get Jack's vitals, took one look at his arm and said they would get him a be right away. Jack was given an IV so medicine could be administered. This was probably the moment that was most difficult for him. Later he had a blood pressure cuff, heart monitor and a cannula for oxygen.
I went with him as he was wheeled to x-ray. I saw his x-rays on the monitor so I knew exactly what they would tell us.
They had to set it before they put him in a splint. This was the worst part of the night for me. They had already given him morphine, but they also gave him versed which put him in a twilight sleep. The doctor manipulated the bones and I could hear the pop of the bones from the other side of the room. Jack woke up and moaned at this part. But he does not remember this at all.
Here is the x-ray of the after. The next day the orthopedist commented that the ER doctor did an excellent job, they usually don't get them so straight.
Jack was sent home in a sugar tong splint. He slept pretty well that night, but needed pain meds in the morning. We followed up with the orthopedist and they put him in the long arm cast. Healing time is 4-6 weeks, most of it in this length of a cast.
He is doing remarkably well. He doesn't complain about it hurting and he's already pretty active. It's definitely not going to slow him down.
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