So here is how it all went down. I was in the middle of teaching my lesson to my 3rd period class when the data clerk, Leti, came to my door. For those of you who don't know, Mommy Carmen only speaks Spanish. Leti is my go between. My translator and her translator. So Leti comes to my door and pulls me out and tells me what happened. Vince was sitting on the couch watching a T.V. show and instead of climbing down backwards like he normally does, he fell off the couch. She said he was favoring his arm but he wasn't really crying so she didn't know if it was bad or not but she said I should probably come get him and have him checked out just in case if I wanted. So of course I wanted to. Leti went and told the administrators so I could get out of class. I went and picked him up and when I got there he was crying a little but not that much. He cried quite a bit when I put him in his car seat and strapped him in but as soon as I put Nemo on the DVD player, he stopped. He wasn't moving his right arm at all though and I was pretty worried about it.
We get to the ER at Cooks Children's hospital. Well the parking lot. I NEVER wear heels to school. Or very rarely do I wear heels. But of course Wednesday I was. And I had asked Keith to put the stroller in the car and I was praying the whole way there that he did. He didn't. So I had to carry this 27 pound child ALL the way to the ER which was pretty far away. Up stairs and everything. I was trying not to curse Keith the whole way there but I was. :) All the while trying not to touch his right arm. Almost impossible. So I get to waiting room and I am breathing like I had just run a marathon. I could barely get out why we were there. So embarrassing. Seriously need to start working out more. Anywho, I tell them what happened, and then the waiting begins. I've been to this ER before and know that I am in for a long wait. I'm pretty sure it's like this at any ER across the country. So I was surprised when we got called back within 15 minutes. I was like alright, here we go. Well, they got us back, asked again how it happened. Answered the same questions that I would be asked 800 times that night. I know it's procedure but damn! We are shuttled back to another waiting area and we are the only ones there. Except for the person that mans the place. He turned the T.V. to Sponge Bob Square Pants and then looks at me and says, "Is this ok? In know a lot of parents don't allow their children to watch this show". I seriously don't like Sponge Bob but I'm pretty sure it's not going to make my kid stupid if we watch it for a bit. So whatever. He breathes a sigh of relief as I'm pretty sure he's gotten yelled at for just this thing before. And I brought our DVD player in with Nemo on it just in case. It's almost dead but I figure a little Nemo is better than no Nemo.
While we are waiting, Vince needs a serious diaper change and I'm about to pee my pants. So I ask where the nearest bathroom is and he tells me. I get there and there is no changing table. Seriously??? We are in a freaking CHILDREN'S hospital!! I don't get it. Here I am, diaper stuff in hand, about to pee on myself, and I can't even change my kid. So back we go to the waiting room because I'm going to freak out on someone. I get back in and tell the man in charge what I think of a children's hospital not having a changing area. He said there was one there before so they must have taken it out. So he shows me where one is across the way. So we go and I change him. I look at the toilet that I HAVE to use and can't because there is some seriously disgusting poop substance all over it. Really??? So off we go back to the waiting room. Right when we get there the most amazing guy with a wheel chair comes in for us. It was for Vince but since he's not even 2 yet, he asked if I wanted to sit in it while he wheels me to get x-rays for Vince or I could just carry him. Are you kidding me??? Of course I want you to wheel me. Do you know how much this child weighs?? You are an angel and I don't care how stupid I look with you pushing us around when I clearly am not hurt. We get to the x-ray room and Vince gets x-rays. I had to stand outside while my baby was screaming bloody murder. I'm sure it hurt him pretty bad since both his bones were completely broken. :( It was very quick though so that was good. I know I'm bitching but everyone was super nice the whole time we were there. The guy wheels us back to the waiting room and we wait for a couple more minutes. A lady comes to take us to our room but I still haven't gone to the bathroom yet. I asked if I could go really quick before they take us but she was adamant about showing us where it was as I'm sure she was super busy. After we found it I hightailed it to the restroom. There is nothing like peeing while holding your toddler in your arms. I was afraid to let him go because of his arm. Finally that's over with and we are in our room.
Now you are probably wondering, "Why isn't Keith in the picture yet"? Well, he had a test flight to go on so he couldn't come be with us yet. But his mother, who is a saint, came and stayed with us for a while. On her birthday. She is the best. The doctor's came in and told us about his arm and that he would need an IV so they could give him pain medicine and because they were going to have to do a reduction on his arm to get the bones back in place. I was actually doing pretty well. I usually freak out when things like this happen but I was pretty strong. No tears or anything. Keith gets there just in time for the IV thank goodness. Vince has done really well through this process. He must have a high pain tolerance and he is strong boy! Once he gets the pain meds in I breathe a sigh of relief. It is awful when your child is in pain and you can't do anything about it.
About 15 minutes later they took us upstairs to the actual hospital part and we got into the room where they would be doing the procedure and putting on the cast. They didn't put him to sleep but they sedated him pretty well. They proceeded to bombard us with all this information about how to take care of the cast, they pain meds he would be getting, how to take care of him when we got home, side effects, etc, etc... Overload but that's how it has to be. So he gets drugged up, they shoo us out and not 15 minutes later they are done and he is in recovery asking for daddy. Daddy??? I'm the one who's been with you this whole time and you only care about daddy. :) So we get into recovery, and my baby is one drugged little boy with a green cast on one arm. We get a popsicle, and are told that if he keeps that down, we can be on our way home. Vince was so funny eating his popsicle. He would take a bite, and then lick Daddy's arm. Take a bite and lick Daddy's arm. It was the funniest thing. Mom told me later that since the popsicle was cold, he was trying to warm his mouth by licking Daddy. She could be right. So he keeps it down and off we go. We were out of there by 7 pm. We got there about 1:20. All in all, this was a pretty fast trip to the ER considering his poor arm.
It has been a stressful couple of days but mom came up on Thursday morning and helped out so it wasn't so bad. It's really hard trying to keep a rambunctious little boy seated with his arm propped up as much as possible. Pretty much impossible. Although Rio, Nemo, and Veggie Tales were all a big help. :) Things are much more normal now minus the green cast and crazy bath times that require vigilance in the not getting the cast wet department. We go to the orthopedics office Tuesday so we will know more then. Thanks for all the prayers and love during a scary and stressful time. I hope this isn't a big indicator of what's to come with this little dare devil. :) Here is a picture of him today acting like he didn't even break his arm 3 days ago.
Jen
And here are some pics bba (before broken arm). :)
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