A Trip To The Children's Emergancy Department

After dinner the boys wanted to play outside so I told them to go ahead and to either play in the circle or in the back yard. The neighbor kids were outside so they ended up playing in their backyard on their swing set. I stayed inside with Marisa and Mike had left to go play basketball. I had gone out there once to check on them and to tell them to stay out of the dirt (they had just cleared out the weeds surrounding the pound and behind our neighbors house). I went back inside and was going to start the dishes but than I went out there again to check on them from the deck. I could only see Nicholas and I couldn't see Jon. Then I looked at the bottom of our stairs and there he was with a scared look on his face. It must had been only 10 minutes since the first time I checked on them, maybe not even 10. He said he had fallen from the monkey bars and now he couldn't move his arm. He must have not made a sound or cried when it happened because the 2 adults that were outside didn't even know he got hurt they were still chatting away by the pond. Once he saw me though he started crying really hard. We walked into the house and I sat him down. We tried to take off his jacket and gloves but he just screamed with pain. I called Lolo and Lola at Tita Li's house to see if the could come home right away so I could take Jon to the ER also known as the ED. They left right away and Jon had calmed down a little. I had told him to keep his arm close to his belly and to try not to move it and that seemed like it helped with the pain. Well, silly me tried to pull off his glove and he just screamed with pain again and he started to cry. I felt SO bad! I kept on saying sorry to him but he just kept on crying. I told him that most likely he broke his arm and that he might have to get a cast on his arm. I asked him to tell me what happened and this is what he said. "I tried to jump to the 3rd bar and I made it but than my feet went under me and I lost my grip and my feet got caught on the ladder that made me turn and I landed on my shoulder." I felt so bad for him.

When Lolo and Lola got home they asked him what happened and he said the same thing. They also tried to take off his jacket but he wouldn't let them. So off we went to the Children's Emergency Department. Lolo came with us too. Jon couldn't even get out of the chair, he didn't want to move his arm so Lolo carried him to the van. On the way there he had fallen asleep (he had been waking up really early lately). When we got there I carried him into the ED and put him in a chair. I was really surprised to see so many people there. I didn't think there would be as many people there as there was. I went to check him in and the nurse asked if my child had to be seen and I said yes. She asked me where he was and I showed her. I'm sure she had to take a look at him to see how bad he was. I signed him in and and we waited. I thought it was going to take long, but it didn't. They called his name and we went to talk to one of the nurses. She was very nice. She asked him what happened and some other questions and he answered them telling the story that he had fallen from the monkey bars. She told him that they had to take off his jacket and glove so they could take a better look at his arm. They started with his good arm which was all fine. Than they got to his bad arm and he got scared again and didn't want them to touch it. Another nurse was walking by and asked if the 1st nurse needed help. I felt so bad for him! He started to cry again while the second nurse was trying to take off his glove. He kept on saying, "It really hurts!" The 1st nurse held his arm in place while the 2nd nurse took off his glove and jacket. While all of this was going on, I totally started to cry! It was so hard to see him in so much pain. I don't think he saw me crying because he was so worried about his own pain which is good because I didn't want him to see me crying. I felt like a retard but it was so sad to watch. After they got off his glove and jacket they put a sling on him and it seemed to help with his pain. They took his temperature, blood pressure, and weight. I think they said he weighed 50 lbs.! They gave him some Ibuprofen for the pain and that really helped him. The 1st nurse showed him a face chart to see where his pain level was at. She said we know your pain level is this face when we move it (that would be a 10) but what about now when we don't move it. He picked the face that was like a 7 or 8. After they took our info they told us to wait again and that we would get called in to see a doctor. So the 3 of us went back into the waiting area. As soon as we sat down they had called his name again, but it was just for me so that I could get him registered. I updated our information into the system and went back to the waiting room.

A few more minutes passed and they called his name again and this time they brought us to the back into a room so a doctor could see him. Dr. Marte Baro came in to see him and asked him what happened. Jon told his story again and she said, "The classic falling off the monkey bar injury, bummer." She was very nice. She checked him out and the Ibuprofen must have been working good because she was able to touch his arm, fingers and move everything until she moved his whole arm upwards. She asked him where it hurt and he pointed to the upper arm area. She said kids can break their arm that high so we will take some x-rays. We waited in the room and someone came in the room a few minutes later to take us to x-rays. He was so brave. the technician put him where she wanted him to stand and told him to leave his arm this way for one picture and this way for a 2nd picture. When she was done she walked us back to our room. Of course I had to ask her if she saw anything and she said the doctor had to read it.

It didn't take very long when Dr. Baro came in again with another doctor and they started talking about what they were going to use to wrap his arm in. I whispered to Jon that he broke his arm. It was pretty cool because Dr. Baro was able to bring up the x-rays onto a computer screen for us to see. She said it looks worse than it really is. When she brought up the pictures, I just said Oh! It does look really bad! They explained to us what they were going to do. They didn't put a cast on him because since it just happened that day they wanted to allow for any swelling. So they just put a splint on. You look like a half mummy they told him! :-) Dr. Baro said we need to followup with an Orthopaedic Doctor, Dr. Teresa Capello, on Friday and that she was going to write him out a prescription for Tylenol with Codeine. When they left the room, I told Jon that this was his second broken bone he had. I told him when he was three he broke his wrist, now you're 6 and you broke your arm! When your 9 lets not break anything! He started to laugh. After awhile he started to think about all the stuff he wasn't going to be able to do for awhile. He was bummed that he wasn't going to be able to play Wall Ball at school because you need two hands for that, but that he would still be able to play Helicopter because you only need one hand for that game. He was sad that he wouldn't be able to play on anything on the playground and that he was going to miss the last day of swimming lessons. The last day of swimming lessons is the best because you get to go down the slide. Than on Friday his class is going on a field trip to the Children's Theater and they are going to watch Madeline and the Gypsies. He REALLY wants to go to that. I told him we would have to see what time his field trip was and that maybe we can go see the Orthopaedic Doctor after his field trip. He just looked so sad.

We got back home and Dad was waiting for us. When he saw Mike he started to cry again because of all the stuff that he was going to miss. He was telling his Dad that he didn't want to miss any of it. I told Mike that I was going to go to Walgreen's to get his prescription filled. Thank goodness for 24 hour Pharmacies! When I got to Walgreen's I handed in his prescription and they told me it would take about 15 minutes. I never realized how much stuff is in a Walgreen's store! They had everything! I walked down the toy isle thinking I could get something small for Jon for being so brave at the ED. They had Bagukan (I think that is how you spell it) but they were all out. Than I noticed they had Pokeman cards. He has been asking me to buy him some new Pokeman cards so I bought him two packs. He was so excited to see them when I got home. The Pharmacist told me to have him eat something with his medicine because it can cause an upset stomach. So he ate some goldfish crackers and some milk before we gave him his medicine. By the time he went to bed it was already 10:30pm. He woke up at 5:30am and came into our room saying that his arm hurt again so I gave him more medicine. He went back to sleep again and didn't get up until 8:20am. He seems to be doing pretty good this morning. He didn't want to go to school today so he staying home. Hopefully tomorrow he will feel better and want to go to school. I called the Orthopaedic Doctor's office and their computer wasn't working so the receptionist is going to call me back. Hopefully I can get him in on Friday afternoon so he doesn't miss the play. I checked what time his field trip is and it is from 9am - 1:30pm. So hopefully he can go. I don't know if we will drive him there or what but we will figure it out.

So below are a few pictures at the ED. I forgot to bring my Point & Shoot (I was getting it ready and I forgot it when we left for the ED) but I was able to get some good pictures with my phone.


Jon waiting for the Doctor to see him


The first X-ray Can you see the break?


A close up of the 1st X-ray


The second X-ray


A close up of the 2nd X-ray. This is the one that looks really bad!

I had forgotten to take an after picture of him after he was all wrapped up at the hospital but I took some this morning. Poor Guy....




He didn't look too happy in the 1st two pictures


There is the Jon I know!

So stay tuned for more updates on Jon's arm! I hope to remember to bring my camera when we see the Orthopaedic Doctor. I am still waiting for their call back....

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UPDATE

We are going to see the Orthopaedic Doctor on Monday at 10:45am. So Jon gets to go on his field trip! Now Mike and I have to talk to his teacher about transportation to the theatre....Don't know if we should drive him or if he should take the bus with all the other kids. I'm sure Mike and I will talk about it tonight.