Friday, August 6, 2010

Not for the squimish

10 Years! Some how with 3 children, I have managed to make it a whole decade without having to go the emergency room. My lovely reign of peace ended on Wednesday afternoon.

Of course it would be my youngest that would catapult me into the world of hospitals, casts, and inevitable medical bills. It was what we now call, THE LETHAL SNACK.

Poor Camden was sitting on a stool at the counter eating his afternoon snack of grapes and cheese crackers. He decided he needed a bit more leverage to reach his juice cup. He started to stand up, but instead went tumbling down trying to catch his fall with his right arm.

You see what's coming here don't you. SNAP! followed by mom noticing a very distinct difference in the look of his arm, a rush to pile the kids into the van, and a nerve racking drive through rush hour traffic to the emergency room.

diagnosis: RIGHT SUPRACONDYLAR HUMERUS FRACTURE


essentially, he broke his elbow, which an ER worker kindly told me was one of the most painful breaks you can have. I guess when you break the tip of your humerus bone off and all the other bones below it follow that break to the opposite side of you arm, YES! that probably does hurt.

Camden needed a Pediatric Orthopedic Surgeon to fix him. So he was transported by ambulance from St.Vincents to Doernbecher Childrens hospital. There we spent the night in this lovely room.
He was brought in for surgery the following morning at 7:30 for his Closed reduction and Percutaneous pinning, followed by a long arm cast placement. In english, they twisted and pulled his bones back into place and then pinned them together, then put a cast on.

camden hasn't slept in a crib in a year, but he was content to stay in one now.


Post surgery snooze. We were released about 5 hours later and carefully made our way home. much to our surprise Camden was very much himself. Singing Thomas the train songs and pointing out every bridge and car. He wants to be out walking and playing and it has taken many snacks and movies and a great deal of convincing to get him to sit still for a while and just heal.








9 comments:

Jen said...

Wow Nancy! That is crazy! What a freak accident. I've never heard of a break like that. Holy Cow! Poor Camden - good luck with the healing process. It's so great he doesn't seem to notice that he is injured. He must not be in too much pain - or he has good meds! (o:

Kirsten said...

Poor little guy! We just had our 10 year anniversary yesterday and we haven't had to go into the ER for something like that yet! (knocking on wood!) Hope he heal quickly! I'll be in Portland next Friday. I'm photographing my friends' wedding. I'm not sure how much time I'll actually have but if I get any, I'll call you! Would love to see you!

runningfan said...

Aw....so sad! I hope this fills your ER quotient for all of motherhood!

Sonia said...

Ouch, just looking at the X-ray made me hurt. As the saying goes . . . "all good things must come to an end" though 10 years is a great run esp. with 3 little kids!!!!

Sonia said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Kristy E.B. said...

Poor guy!! That does not look like fun. Hopefully he gets back to normal soon.

Krista said...

Oooooh your poor baby! My arm aches just thinking about it :(

JulSH said...

Ouch!! That was a BIG snap!

Hope he is healing and feeling better.

Uncle Dennis said...

Ouch!!!! I have great sympathy for Camden. As I broke my arm when I was ten. It broke just above the elbow. I wore a cast for 8 very long weeks in the summer. Give the little tropper an extra hug for all of us. :)