Sunday, July 24, 2011

The Arm, part 3.

Sorry for the delay. I was trying to get copies of the initial x-ray. I thought it was worth it. The gal in x-ray gasped when she pulled it up to print off. I said, "See? That's why I want a copy."

This all went pretty fast. From the time he got hurt (around 7pm, we got to the ER about 7:30 or so), things moved along steadily. George was wheeled into surgery at about 9:35. He was out and in recovery around 10:45, and then taken to his room for the night some time after 11:30.

My mom and sister-in-law managed to finish supper, got the kids packed (amazingly despite my scatterbrained directions) and brought them to my mother in law's house for the overnight. My mom brought some things up to the hospital (including CHOCOLATE, THANK YOU MOM!!!!) and after dropping off the kids, my SIL brought us supper. I was so thankful that my family was all there to help pick up the pieces, gather the kids, and get them taken care of. Every person was needed, and we felt so blessed by that. I don't know what I would have done, what I would have thought of to do, had I been alone with all the kids when this happened, as so often when stuff happens Hubs is at work. It's not a job you can just "come home" from, especially when you're 8-12 hours drive from home. The timing, the people present, the quick service, I believe that was all under God's watchful, caring hand.

While the boy was in surgery, I posted on FB (my non-Smarphone is wifi capable - yeehaw!), and the support and prayers that came in from family and friends and even people I don't know was awesome. I could feel those prayers lifting us up.

After surgery the doctor came in and explained that all was well. The orthoped said it a high velocity break, and that in 12 years, he's only seen 3 others that bad. Fortunately it was a clean break, and the wound was clean. (I had been amazed that George didn't have any gravel or scratches on him anywhere. I even asked him if maybe he broke it by holding on to the handlebars too tightly.) The doc did have to open the existing hole incision slightly to have enough room to work, and did put a pin in to keep the larger of the two bones in place. He explained about casting and appointments, and then we just waited for George to wake up.

Sorry. The copy of these xrays isn't as good of quality.

George was finally awake and brought up to a room just before midnight. We got him settled in, but I think he was still drugged up pretty good. The nurse tried explaining the pain chart to him but he kept landing on the smiley face (Zero pain), and when we asked him about where he got the name Ham Bones from, he gave us some really wild story about Arthur and a dog looking for bones for his sock collection... yeah. It unraveled and made no sense whatsoever, but it was amusing.

When the nurse was talking to him, out of the blue he said, "You know, God was with me taking care of me during my surgery." I think we were all a little shocked by that statement as none of us knew what to say. The nurse just brushed it off, I said wow that's great, and dad just sat there freaked that his son had possibly "seen the light." Later, when the nurse had left, Kong asked him how he knew God was with him. He said, "I prayed before I went in to surgery and God came and  protected me."

Wow. Just wow. The faith of a child.

As a parent, it's touching to know that your kids believe in God or are interested in that stuff. George has not always had the enthusiasm. For as much as you can talk to them about God, the rest is between them and Him. We don't have any control over it. This wasn't just some drugged up story he was telling. At church 5 days later, he told the same story to the Kids Church, and the teacher told me George expressed he was quite sure that God had taken care of him. He didn't remember I was there after surgery, but he remembered this. So to have your child seek out and then feel God's presence, and know He was there without a shadow of a doubt is amazing.Wow. Just wow.

Since George had slept in recovery, he had been bright eyed and bushy tailed when he was transferred to a room, and was all excited to watch cartoons on cable. Unfortunately, only Hannah Montana was on at midnight. He was bummed when mom called it quits, but we all needed sleep. Kong stayed at the hospital while I took the baby home, as there was no place to put him. I left the guys to have a "sleepover." Probably not as fun as you might normally want in a sleepover, with casts and iv's, and the codeine might be a little too much fun, but we don't normally hand that out at our sleepovers. :D



1 comment:

  1. saw your comment on pw about the lord of the rings & yes, i am the only female in a house of guys but i like my action/adventure/sci-fi all the same:) i jumped over here & saw the broken arm. my 11 year old broke both of his arms last year hanging upside down from our swing and flipping out, landing hands down. he saw that i had your post up & wanted to read it. i had him scroll down to the bloody photo & asked him if he was thankful - his were simple fractures. just wanted to say hi, hope your guy is doing well!

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