I cannot imagine anything scarier as a mom, than having to send your child into surgery. Even with all C's breathing issues, we have been lucky enough to never need more than moderate medical intervention (and that is scary enough!) Let me start at the beginning...
On Mother's Day, I ate these delicious strawberries from Hubby...
Followed by a family trip to the playground...
Followed by a family trip to the ER...
Wait! What?!?! The ER? Yes, you read that correctly. C was being silly on the slide, and after numerous warnings from Hubby, he fell off. Hubby was pushing N on the swing, and I was supervising from the nearby picnic table. I saw C fall, but he jumped right up and ran over to me. Hubby and I thought that he dislocated his elbow, but since neither of us were comfortable trying to pop it back into place, we (very calmly) walked everyone to the car, and drove to our local ER.
I don't think I have ever been so scared. C's coloring kept getting paler and paler, and he was getting quieter and quieter. Hubby and I were doing our best to stay calm, but I'm not sure we would have been able to if we knew what was to come. Luckily, my mom and sister were able to meet us and grab N since we didn't know how long we would be there. And boy, did that end up being a LOOOOONG time!
Without boring you with all the details, let's just say that Hubby and I were less then impressed by the ER experience there. However, after an x-ray (don't get me started how unimpressed we were with that), we found out C had BROKEN his elbow! What?? Craziness. Also, because of his age and the type of break, we needed to go to Children's Hospital in DC. Eventually, C and I took a hospital transport into DC and met up with Hubby (he drove our car), where our hospital experience greatly improved.
In the ER at Children's...
Could this kid have any more Mario stuff!?!
A little Mario reenactment.
A little game play.
Notice how C is awake in all these pictures. I have no idea how he was awake so long. He was given so many pain meds, but he was not sleeping! He fell around 4pm, and we didn't get a room until around 2am, when he finally fell asleep...
He needed to get pins put in his elbow to help keep the fragment of bone that broke in place so it would heal correctly. He was scheduled for surgery first thing in the morning. During this whole time, the only thing C wanted was a popsicle, but he didn't get one until the surgery was all done, but boy did he enjoy that popsicle (and many after!)
Afterwards, we spent most of the day in the hospital bed just chillin' out...
But we finally got to go home! A little more than 24hours after he first fell...
He was in his soft cast for about a week before we took him back to get another round of x-rays (executed much better than in the original ER!) and he got to pick out the color of his new cast...
Orange of course!
And of course he got a special treat of Sweet Frog after...
He has since healed and is now out of the cast. Growing up, I remember friends being in casts for months! He was only in his hard cast for 4 weeks. He has healed amazingly, if you didn't know he had been in a cast, I don't think you would have been able to tell. He does have a scar since they had to cut in order to get the bone back in place, but that should fade with time.
And now when we go to the playground? Mommy and daddy are a little more nervous and stand a little closer....but C is as adventurous as ever.
