upTates

(Thanks for the title Heather!)

This is Big Boy today.


This is him week before last. He fell down and skinned his head- and we thought this was a bad injury.


Cut to Thursday night, St. Patrick's Day. So much for the luck of the Irish! He had had a great last day of school before Spring Break and had spent all afternoon outside. While waiting for Daddy to come home we went back outside and he got on the trampoline. 2 seconds later- he was lying down on it and not getting up.

I asked him what was wrong and he said that he couldn't get up. I hopped on and carried him off. At first I wasn't sure what was wrong- I felt his arm and one just felt like it had a bump on it. I carried him over to my chair and sat down and by then I could see the bump from the bone sticking up.

I called Pat in a PANIC. Thank you Jesus, he was already on his way home. I didn't really know what to do. Big Boy wasn't even crying. He was whining, but not in tears. When Pat got home he told me we needed to go to the ER immediately. By that time the pain starting kicking in and T was complaining that he was "tired" and he "wanted to sleep with mommy and daddy". I think he was a little delirious. I called our pediatrician's office and they said that their x-ray person was gone and to go to the ER. I gave that nurse and ear full, let me tell you.

So off we went. By the time we got there Big Boy was in good spirits again. Walked right in. They took x-rays and he didn't even flinch. Never complained the whole time. They put a temporary cast and sling on him. He walked out waving to everyone and smiling.

Relaxing when we got home...


The weather was too nice to hold this kid inside. We made several Target runs to let him look at toys and I looked for excuses to get him out of the house without having too much activity. On Saturday we just had to get him outside. He was totally unaffected by his disability.


Monday we headed to the orthopedist. This is him running around in circles in the office.

And thinking he was hilarious.


The doctor gave me some stern lectures- on trampolines and on keeping T still for 4 weeks. Really?!?! I was a bit irritated with the doctor. I thought Big Boy was an ideal patient. The doctor was pushing all over his broken arm and making him do all sorts of things and he never complained. However, when the nurse came in to get him for the cast the doctor said "he is a talker, not a listener." Thanks jackass! I suppose he would rather him be screaming crying than explaining all the cool things Buzz Lightyear can do.

The nurses, on the other hand, were very impressed. They thought he was so fun and there were 4 of them all in talking to him while he got his cast. They called him "the happiest broken arm they've ever seen".

Ice cream afterwards...





I am oh so very proud of Big Boy. In some cases it may be a bad thing that he does not complain or acknowledge his cast, but I think it is cool. He does everything as he normally would, sleeps perfect, and just generally deals with it!

DIAGNOSIS: Broke two bones in his forearm. The cast stays on for 4 weeks. In a normal child, the doctor said it would be 3 but Big Boy is "too active for 3 weeks". We go back in a month to take it off and have xrays. Potentially bad news: bones heal aggressively in kids this young and sometimes the two bones will grow back together as one bone instead of seperately. If that happens, he'll have to have surgery.

So that's his story! It is hard to keep him down but we're giving it our best shot! :)


Disclaimer: Everyone (especially at school) keeps asking how this happened. Long story short- yes, we have a net on our trampoline. He did not fall off. He was bouncing, by himself, jumped and just landed the wrong way. He was not being crazy, he was not misusing it. The trampoline is now for sale. After having 7 nurses tell me how bad they are and after seeing how easily this can happen...it will be gone asap.