The Laundry Basket Drama

It was Wednesday night. Mondo was working late and the kids and I had just finished eating dinner. I was cleaning the kitchen and the kids were happily playing with an empty laundry basket. It was turned upside down and they were standing on it and running and jumping over it. Seemed harmless enough. I did not see Ethan fall. He started crying a normal "I just bonked my head" cry and I walked over to check on him. When he sat up the lower part of arm was dangling and his elbow was pushed over to the side. He then started screaming and rolling on it. I ran all over the house to find the phone...it was in the kitchen right where I had been. I called Mondo and told him I thought Ethan had dislocated his arm and he needed to come home NOW. Then I called my mom and told her to come get Caleb. She was there within 3 minutes. I threw some shorts and shoes on Ethan and grabbed his favorite blanket and stuffed animal. Mondo got home, took one look at him, and scooped him up and ran to the car.

We went to Cook Children's...in the POURING rain. It felt like an eternity before we got there. We parked right in front of the ER. Mondo got Ethan out of the car and told the guy at the front to park it anywhere. When we got inside we never even sat down. The nurse at the front desk took one look at his arm and said "Oh my gosh! Get a room now!" That's when I really started to panic. His elbow was getting purple and swollen. When we got to the room he was totally covered with nurses. Before I knew it his arm was in a splint and he had an IV (which was WAY less traumatic than when they tried to do it at Children's last year). They rolled in a computer so I could answer questions about insurance, etc without having to leave him. He got morphine and toradol about 20 minutes after we got there. That really helped. A few minutes after he got those he looked down at his hospital gown and said, "These are not my pj's." It gave us a much needed laugh.

High on morphine. :-)

He had xrays which confirmed their suspicions: supracondylar fracture of the humerus. Or in regular words: he broke the ball part off of the long bone in his upper right arm. Like, completely off. They weren't even touching. So the next thing I know they are talking about sending him to surgery to pin it all back together and he'd have to stay overnight. My mind was spinning. I came in thinking it was a simple dislocation and we'd be home in an hour.

We went upstairs for surgery about 2 hours after we got to the ER. My emotions hit me hard when the anesthesiologist was explaining how he would have to put in a breathing tube and all the complications that could go along with that. I started bawling. Mondo had to sign the consents. They gave Ethan something to help him relax right before they wheeled him off. His eyes started closing and he gave me a big, dopey smile. It was so hard to watch them wheel him away but at least he wasn't screaming. He was probably asleep before he even got the the OR. The surgery took about 30 minutes but we didn't get to see him until he was completely awake which was about 2 hours total from when he went to the OR. The surgeon said it was really bad. He had a hematoma and ripped muscle. I'm thinking this was from when he was rolling around on the floor at home.

Those three lines are the pins now permanantly in his arm.

He came out of recovery smiling and holding a rainbow popscicle. He also had a bat beany baby that they gave him in recovery. The nurses said how cute and sweet he was. That was good to hear. We got him settled in his room and he went to sleep. The nurse came in every 2 hours to check his fingers to make sure he could move them, had good blood flow, and to make sure they weren't too swollen. His cast has a cut from top to bottom on the front and back to allow for swelling. Mondo slept on the twin size couch/bed and I slept with Ethan. There really wasn't much sleeping going on. The nurse had to open the cut on his cast twice because his fingers were swelling and tingling.

This was right when we got to his room after surgery. He was still knocked out.

Practicing web shooting even with the IV in his hand!

We watched a lot of movies, toured the activity room on his floor, played Chutes and Ladders, and enjoyed a visit from Brandon, Levi, and Will Morris. We were discharged around 11am. Ethan was bummed that he didn't get to stay and eat the lunch he had ordered: red spaghetti, salad, a breadstick, chocolate pudding, and a Dr. Pepper. Of course, Nana saved the day. She made him exactly what he had ordered at the hospital. We stopped by her house on the way home to grab some lunch...and grab poor Caleb since we abandoned him the night before. He sad a great time with Nana and Papa. She went from no babysitting since her surgery to an all nighter!

This was a small shot of the activity room. See the big screen in the back with the recliners? (All of the hospital pics were taken with my phone.)

At Nana's straight from the hospital. Not feeling too hot.

That's all for this post...I think it's long enough. I'll post some updates on another post.