"I have to go! John just fell out of the tree!" I said to Stephanie.
"Oh my gosh!" She said.
I hung up and took one look at John holding his right arm with his left hand. It looked contorted because his humerus bone was sticking out above the crook of his elbow. He was saying, "Ow ow ow ow ow! It hurts! It hurts!"
I said, "Oh my goodness. OK. (breathe) We have to go to the hospital." As I'm dialing 911 with my iPhone. I calmly tell the operator that my son broke his arm. Our address. Within one minute we could hear the sirens in the distance.
John was in tremendous pain. "I want to watch a movie." He said as he tried to walk inside the house. He was confused. Maybe in shock. I held him on my lap and we listened to the sirens get closer and closer. Within 4 minutes from my 911 call the Fire Truck and Ambulance pulled up. There were about 6 men looking at John's arm.
One EMT said, "Ooh. Which hospital, Mom?"
"I don't know."
"We recommend Legacy Emmanuel Children's Hospital. They have the best surgeons."
I'm thinking, surgery??? Oh dear lord.
One of the Fire Fighters went in the house to find my purse to get my keys to open my car to get the car seat out for Jake. Our neighbor Pam came over to help.
They hooked up that car seat inside the ambulance in 5 seconds flat. Impressive. By this time John has an air cast on his arm, a Cat and the Hat stuffed animal that he chose out of 10 other animals, and he's on a gurney headed into the ambulance.
Getting his IV in his hand was sad to see. His right arm hurt so badly while he's crying out about the pain of the needle too. The pain medicine worked well and fast and in no time he was closing his eyes and feeling OK.
"Is it feeling a little better?" EMT asked.
"No." John replies.
"Does it still hurt?" EMT asked.
"No." John replies.
We chuckle.
Jake was chit-chatting the whole 27 minute ride. He was having an exciting ambulance ride! At one point John asked if the truck was driving by itself. He was confused that the EMT was with him. Who was driving us? The other guy, we told him. He closed his eyes again.
The EMTs told me to start recording the ride because this was "serious scrap booking material." So I did. I called Mike and Stephanie and Megan. Mike was going to meet us in the ER.
In the ER, he was given Morphine which helped him sleep a little. He would close his eyes for a few minutes and wake up to cry or puke. We were waiting for a surgeon to look at his X-rays and then get the OR ready for him. We were in the ER for a couple hours.
His Surgeon, Dr. Barmata, was great. He said if he couldn't place it perfectly he would go in make it perfect. He was able to position his bone perfect and place 3 pins in his bone to hold it in place. By 9:30pm John was out of surgery but it took him til 12:30am to wake up.
John's nurse was super sweet and she loved John. She gave him goldfish and Popsicles and at 1am he watched Toy Story and Toy Story 2. We shared a room with an extremely sick little boy. The boy cried and wheezed and coughed and choked on his own flem the whole night. They were sad and very disgusting noises. I couldn't sleep through it. John slept OK but he did wake up now and then because of the boy's horrendous noises. John said, "Mom call the nurse, he's creeping me out." It was creepy. But I felt so sorry for him and his parents. They were non-English speaking and were unable to spend the night with their child. Whatever disease he lived with was obviously a huge strain on their family. It put things in perspective for me. John's ordeal was stressful but his broken arm would heal soon and he would be as good as new. The other little boy seemed to be in misery for his entire life. So sad.
The next day Grammy came to stay with Jake while Mike came to pick us up from the Hospital. John had 4 weeks with a cast for the first month of summer. No swimming, no sprinklers, no playgrounds, no bikes, no scooters. We made a calendar to count down the days. He X'd the days until his appointment for cast removal on July 5th, 2011. He was a good sport about it most of the time. He had some mental breakdowns throughout the 4 weeks-"I'm SOOOOOO bored! I want this cast off!" But he used his left hand and arm like it was no big deal at all. He never asked for help getting dressed or going to the bathroom or writing his name or anything at all. He was an instant expert at using his left arm only.
July 5th, 2011. Cast comes off, pins are removed. That's a whole other story...
Before the pain medication. He's in tremendous pain.
Jake's ride in the Ambulance. He was talkative the whole ride. "You know, I've never been in this truck before...I have a friend Noah..." and on an on.
"It hurts, it hurts!"
Johnny telling me he's scared. :( He just got his IV and it hurt a lot.
John wearing the EMTs sunglasses on his head
This pain medication made him close his eyes and he was loopy.
John getting his pain medication through his IV in the Ambulance.
Poor kid. He would wake up every 5 minutes and get sick or cry from pain.
John in the ER with his broken bone in an aircast. Waiting for the his Operating Room. He is in and out of sleep at this point from the morphine drip. He's holding onto his beloved Cat in the Hat that the Fire Fighters gave him.
Jake waiting in the ER next to John's bed. The Fire Fighters gave Jake a Cheetah to keep. He loves it. Jake was a brave boy too. He saw his brother in a lot of pain, watched John poked with needles in his hand, throwing up from the morphine, and being at the hospital for 5 hours...and never once did he act out or misbehave or whine or complain in any way whatsoever.
He was a perfect angel.
John's X-ray. Ouch
He doesn't know he has a cast yet
John sleeping after his surgery
Our Brave Boy
John's X-ray. Ouch
He doesn't know he has a cast yet
John sleeping after his surgery
Our Brave Boy
May I just say: "You were pretty brave too"...and the best SAHM EVER!
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