An Unfortunate Break

Monday morning I was sitting at the table eating breakfast when I heard "Thump, thump... thump, thump... WHAAAAAAAAAAA!"  As I bolted out of my chair headed for Nathan's room, I thought there were a few more thumps then normal.  As I rounded the corner into the kitchen and saw the open door to the basement, my heart sank and I knew why I heard so many thumps: Nathan fell down the stairs.  I flew down into the basement and snatched Nathan up from where he was lying on the floor, knowing the thin layer of carpet would have provided little padding considering the concrete slab underneath.  

As I picked him up, I was thinking to myself, "What if his neck or back is broken?  Could I have made things worse by picking him up?"  But I don't think there was any way I could have prevented myself from grabbing him.  I sat with him on the floor and rocked him as I tried to calm him down some.  Finally he started to get quieter, only to to start right back up again with the screaming.  I picked him up and headed upstairs, grabbing my phone before sitting down with him on the rocking chair in his room. 

The most obvious injury was on his forehead, which was all scraped up in one area.  But he was moving his arms and legs, a great sign!  I finally got him calmed down, so I paged Brian with a "911" page to see if I should take him to the emergency room or not.  Then I called the pediatrician in case Brian couldn't return my call immediately.  Unfortunately the office wasn't open yet, so I had to leave a message for the on-call nurse who would call me back.  Thankfully as I was getting off that call, Brian beeped in.  I told him what had happened and we agreed that I should bring him to the ER to get examined.

I was still in my pjs, so I took Nathan into my room and sat him down on the floor and handed him my phone to hopefully entertain him.  As I was getting dressed, he tried to scoot and just collapsed in a heap on the floor, crying loudly.  That made me even more worried because clumsiness was a sign of head trauma.  I grabbed our coats, his bag, a sippy cup, snacks and my purse and flew out the door.  As I was pulling in to the ER parking lot, Brian called - he was there to meet us.  Thank you God!

At the ER, they took us straight back, and after a few frustrating minutes of trying to weigh Nathan ("of course he's not going to sit still on the scale for you to weigh him and was this really necessary?!" I was thinking to myself!!) we were taken back to a bed.  The resident came over and talked to us about what happened, then looked Nathan over top to bottom.  She said it looked like he was ok, she would talk to the attending physician and we would stay so they could keep an eye on Nathan for a while.  We were there for about two hours before we were given the all-clear to take Nathan home.  I would need to keep a close eye on him for the next 24 hours, but it was ok if he napped.

Nathan was exhausted by this point, so as soon as we got home I put him to bed and I took a nap myself.  I heard him fussing after only half an hour and then he was up at an hour.  I could tell he didn't feel very good because he just wanted to cuddle with me and would just cry when I set him down.  After watching him for a while, I could tell that his left wrist was really hurting him. I called Brian back again and we agreed that I would call the pediatrician and see what they said.  I called and again had to leave a message for the nurse.  Meanwhile Nathan fell asleep on my lap on the couch.

Around 2:30 I got a call from the nurse.  After I explained everything that had happened, she consulted with out pediatrician and they sent us straight for an x-ray of Nathan's wrist.  Depending on what the x-ray showed, we would determine what to do next.  I bundled us back up and headed to the doctors office.

The x-ray was horrible!  They had to strap Nathan to a board, with his right hand wedged up by his head.  Then they took his left hand and taped it to a piece of plastic to keep it straight.  I stood by his head and tried to comfort him, with no luck.  Thankfully the x-rays didn't take too long and Nathan and I headed back to the waiting room while the x-ray was read.

Nathan's arm was broken.  Both the radius and ulna were fractured near the wrist.  They squeezed us in for an appointment with an orthopedic PA, who told me that Nathan would have to be in a cast for 3 weeks.  Though Nathan only needed a forearm cast, he recommended a long arm cast (past the elbow) because it was less likely Nathan would pull his arm out of it.  So we were sent to the cast room.

Unfortunately there was a long line for the cast room that afternoon, but thankfully Nathan was feeling ok at this point.  We made friends with the family of three little boys in front of us, and then Nathan started waving at everyone who passed us in the hallway.  Brian was able to get off work and meet us just before it was Nathan's turn to get the cast applied.  That process went better then I had anticipated.

 As we were finally leaving the medical center, Brian offered to take my car and Nathan and pick us up some food for dinner.  I thankfully took him up on his offer so that I could go home and finally take a shower and brush my teeth for the first time that day. After Brian got home and we had dinner, Brian installed an automatic door closer on the door to the basement (like what's usually installed on screen doors).  Before, the basement door didn't always latch when it closed, and Oreo the cat had become a pro at getting the unlatched door open.  But the door closer makes the door latch about 90% of the time and even when it doesn't, it provides enough resistance that neither a cat nor a little boy could open the door themselves (in fact, I have to yank pretty hard on the door to get it open myself!)

In the two days since the fall, Nathan has done very well.  He doesn't seem bothered by the cast specifically, though it does present quite a few problems for his mobility.  Thankfully he can walk well now, though the cast threw his balance off a little.  It also prevents him from scooting and makes standing up difficult without the full use of that arm.  But for the most part, we're both taking this all in stride.  And we are VERY thankful that Nathan escaped from this disaster with only a cast and a few scrapes on his head to show for it!