Kyle.Kris.KJ.Kolt.: KJ's Broken Arm

Just this past week I was thinking that nothing really big has happened lately; wrong thing to do! This last Wednesday KJ broke both of the bones in his left forearm. I have never broken a bone so I have no idea the pain he is going through. He somewhat understands what happened and has adjusted pretty well, but still tells us he wants his cast off multiple times a day. It is hard to see your child in pain and know there is nothing you can do about it except love him and try and comfort him. Poor kid.

Although the day ended on a sour note, our Wednesday was completely normal to start. Kyle left for school early (7 a.m. - yuck!) and I was trying to think of what me and the boys could do that day so that we didn't go stir crazy waiting for dad to get home (usually around 7 p.m. he makes it home - needless to say we all hate Wednesdays at our house). My friend Nellena text us and asked if we wanted to join her and her baby girl at the park for a picnic and to play. I figured it was probably one of the last nice days of the fall so we should get out and enjoy it. (Turns out I was right, because it was 80 degrees that day and upper 40s today!) Lunch went great and the kids loved the swings and going down the slides. Nellena and I decided to take the babies back to the blanket so they could move around and play with the toys while KJ continued to play on the playground. He was only about 15-20 feet from the blanket so I let him stay over there and try and get all his energy out before nap time. Of course, I got distracted with Kolt for a few seconds, and the next thing I hear is a horrible scream/cry from KJ. He had fallen and I knew it was going to be bad. I feel bad that I don't even know exactly how he broke it, but even if I had seen him I wouldn't have been able to stop it from happening. I think what happened is that he was walking on a little bridge with safety bars and simply fell between the bar and the bridge. Nellena and I jumped up and quickly ran over to help him up and make sure he was ok, and while Nellena was brushing him off I went straight to his hands and arms to make sure everything was intact. Immediately I could tell his left arm didn't feel right and then when I saw it I knew there was a problem. I showed Nellena and asked her if it looked right, and she said that it looked broken. His arm was bowed between his wrist and mid forearm, enough to make me a little sick to look at it. Nellena took Kolt for me and I rushed KJ to the ER where Kyle met us shortly thereafter. The doctor confirmed it was broken in two places, but he wasn't positive whether KJ would need to have the bone re-set or not. He ended up putting KJ in a temporary splint with a shoulder sling and set up an appointment for us for the next day with an orthopedic surgeon.

On Thursday we met with the Orthopedic surgeon and took new x-rays. The inside bone took the brunt of the force and was broken completely in half, whereas the outside bone was not as severe, yet still broken. The doctor said that we are lucky that KJ is still so young, because over all the damage was severe enough that had he been much more than 11 years old it would have required surgery. Because KJ is not even 3 yet, we are all hoping that he will heal correctly and without the need for any additional corrections. Luckily the doctor did not have to sedate KJ and re-set the bone, too! There is still a chance that we will have to do that when we go back in for another follow up on Thursday, but for now he put some pressure on the arm prior to putting the final cast on.