1st Broken Bone

I really thought with how active my youngest is that Ezra would be the first with a broken bone.  However, Asher gets that achievement.  Sunday, before supper, Al took the kids on a bike ride to the park to play.  Asher got adventurous and jumped off the top of a slide.  It went well the first time, but he fell before he was ready the second time.  His right forearm broke his fall when his feet slipped out from under him.  After they returned home and I examined him, I knew we needed a doctor to take a closer look.  Urgent care took x-rays and determined he had a forearm fracture (of the ulna bone).  He went home with a plaster splint and sling.  Asher was upset because he worried it was broken, but he handled it all very well.  I thought he'd be more interested in the process of wrapping his arm, but he was more interested in the Dukes of Hazard episode on the hospital television.  He was very happy to get copies of his x-rays to show everyone though.

Apparently, Asher was paying closer attention than I thought to how to splint an arm.  After seeing the Orthopedic Doctors on Tuesday and getting a long arm cast, he returned home to play doctor with his brother.  I was the patient.  Nurse Ezra was great, listening to my heart and checking my nose and throat.  He even gave me medicine for the pain.  Asher got the cotton wrap and elastic bandage out of our first aid kit and, after showing me my x-ray, wrapped my arm in a splint (just like his minus the plaster wrap in between).

After lunch, I had to return for my follow up appointment.  Again, the service was excellent.  Nurse Ezra cut off the bandages.  Doctor Asher let me pick out the color I wanted and then (using yellow construction paper and pipe cleaners) made my cast.  They were so wonderful that they even signed my cast.  Asher let me know, when I get it off, that I can keep it as a special memento.

The boys have been very creative this summer.  Here is a picture of them playing doctor last month:

Thankfully, while Asher was upset about the splint, he has adjusted well to the cast.  He only had to wait two days to see the Orthopedics doctors, and they were excellent.  After setting his arm in the cast, they did an x-ray to be sure the bones were set just as they needed to be and it looked great. He has gotten a little more comfortable with the attention.  I'm not sure he's ever going to enjoy strangers asking him "What happened?" but he likes people signing his neon yellow cast.