Broken Leg

Not the best video in the world, but thought you could hear about the leg from The Boy himself! :-) Now I can tell you the more involved version.

Friday afternoon, David and a couple of older kids (who will remain nameless) were jumping on the trampoline. The older kids weren't being quite as careful as they should have been, they all jumped at the same time and David came down on the trampoline right after the big kids had landed. Sort of like landing on concrete, I'm guessing. He started crying and wouldn't move. One of the older kids came to get me. I got to the trampoline and asked if he could walk to me. As soon as I saw he couldn't put ANY weight on his leg, and hearing how he was crying, I knew. I just knew he had a broken leg. We got him inside on the bed, took off his pants to see how bad it was. (Let me just tell you how much I did NOT want to deal with this. I am so stinking afraid of seeing blood or broken bodies. Terrified. I actually stayed out of the room for a minute, gathering my courage. Melissa, YOU ROCK. I could never do your job.) Thank God, there was no blood, nothing to see, actually! But, still, I KNEW. He wouldn't straighten his leg and his cries were gut wrenching. We quickly got him to an acute care clinic around the corner.

Let me pause in the storytelling for a minute to tell you how much God was in this whole incident. First, it's Friday at 1:00 - Old Man and my sister were here - never are they both here on a Friday at 1:00. Second, there is an acute care clinic 5 minutes from my house, they have an x-ray machine, they had NO other patients. Third, he only broke his leg - it could have been so much worse.

Back to the story. WE were able to take him to the clinic - Old Man and I. My sister stayed back to take care of my other 4 kids (yep, including the baby) and her kids. Oh, and she folded my laundry, cleaned up the kitchen, cleaned off the table, swept...and that has nothing to do with my story, but I just had to share! David was so funny when we got there. (Remember he cried the entire time, so all he said was while screaming and crying.) The nurse put a pulse "ox" (ocsimeter????) on his finger and David yells, "It's not my finger!!!" Then she goes to take his temperature in his ear and he yells, "It's my LEG!" (He was thinking - you stupid adults, get it right, will ya?)

After much cajoling, begging and pleading we managed to convince him to straighten his leg and let them take pictures of it with the x-ray. This is also evidence God was working! David is not known for his cooperation. :-) We were able to explain to him that he had to cooperate, had to obey, had to so his leg would stop hurting. He did. He laid on the x-ray table, straightened his leg and cooperated. Amazing. Of course, when they were done with the x-rays and Old Man said, "All done!" David yells, "But my leg still hurts!" Poor kid.

The specifics? I think they called it a "non-displaced, cracked tibia". Someone with medical knowledge can probably laugh and then correct me. Basically, his tibia (shin bone) has about a 3/4" crack in it about an inch below his knee. It really isn't a bad break! (God again.) They put a temporary cast on it and he is on his way to see an orthopedic doctor right now to get his "real" cast. He's terrified of all this, so pray for the kid. He doesn't want anyone to touch it or get near his leg at all. I did give him some codeine before the appointment, in hopes this eases his pain and fear.

All in all, he's doing very very well. He has been in good spirits most of the time. He hasn't even needed much meds. Of course, after Joseph tried to pick him up last night, and dropped him, he had to have some pain meds. I am surprised at how this is affecting everyone in the family. The girls have been sick to their stomachs, tired, more emotional than normal. Poor Joseph has lost his best buddy to play with too. We're all exhausted emotionally.

Oh, another funny thing happened. Friday night, Joseph said something about David breaking his bone. David said, "My bums not broken!"

Old Man leaves for DC tomorrow (go figure), so I called a girl from church to help with bedtime tomorrow night (he's only gone one night). This girl is going to stay the night and help all day Wednesday too! WOW! Another lady from church is bringing us supper tonight. Ahhh, nice.

Here are a couple more picture of David. You can tell he's really suffering. :-)

Eating brownies and ice cream last night.


He asked for a bandaid to help the pain. :-) Aunt Dawn happily complied.