The One About The Broken Arm

Edited by Cathy and Justin,

Dave sez,

I feel like a bad Dad.

No, not Billy Bob Thornton, in the 2003 Dimension Films, Buena Vista Pictures film Bad Santa - can you believe that film's getting a sequel!

I feel like a bad Dad.

"I'm a bad father."

Justin's a pretty tough kid. He plays soccer hard. He plays basketball hard. He was into karate for the sparring. He trampolines hard. Like any kid, he's ten feet tall and bulletproof. Indestructible. Any surprise that his favorite character is-

Along with Aang, Avatar: The Last Airbender and the characters from DragonballZ.

 

So, he was riding his bike home a few days ago, weaving and zig-zagging around, and he took a spill. He braced himself with his right hand when he went down. scraped up his shoulder and his knee. At first, his arm looked like a sprain. He could wiggle his fingers, but his forearm was a little swollen. Since he's a pretty tough kid, we gave him some aspirin and we kept an eye on the swelling and pain.

A tough kid, still complaining about his arm hurting, I took him to the Emergency Room for x-rays.

The x-rays showed a hairline fracture just above his right wrist. My heart sank. Sure enough, Justin had a broken arm.

The medical team did assure me that we did the right thing not to rush in right away; and it was a good thing we came in when we did. I still tend to angst over pert near everything... 

I'm not sure who took it harder. Our medical team walked Justin through the step of how he was going to get a cast on his broken wing. "We're going to give you a local anesthesia. Then we're going to numb the area of your arm."

"Is this gonna hurt?" Justin asked.

"We're going to give you a local anesthesia. Then we're going to numb the area of your arm. And then we'll put on a cast."

"Is this gonna hurt?"

No, buddy. Not a bit. They're going to give you an anesthetic, so you'll be all relaxed and you won't feel a thing. Then, they're going to numb the area of your arm so you won't even feel anything then. Then, they're going to put a cast on your arm so it mends and heals. What color do you want? Black? Blue? Hot Pink?

"Hot pink to impress the girls."

I was sitting next to his bed during the whole process. They gave him laughing gas. His has an unusually shaped face so it took some doing to get the mask right. I thought for sure they would get a helmet, so they could cover his whole head! Ha!

He finally relaxed and was floating on cloud nine. They numbed the area of his arm, and went to work.

While they were manipulating my son's forearm and snugging it inside the cast, I started to feel a little sweaty, cold and clammy, dizzy, light-headed and a little disoriented. That was probably the best time for me to look away, concentrate on my breathing and maybe put my head between my legs.

I asked for some water, and then some apple juice, too. Here's a picture: me in a bed, right next to my boy with the broken arm! Ha!

The good news is, we both pulled through with flying colors. Well, at least I did. Justin still has a broken arm in a hot pink cast. He can't play basketball, flag football, soccer, ride his bike or bounce on the trampoline for a while. It's not easy being grounded like this. Plus, he has to deal with me. I'd be more than happy to swaddle him in bubble wrap...just at least until he turns twenty-one.

We can't always do that, though, can we?

Our little "Boy of Steel" is finding some very simple tasks are a little more challenging now. Life is just a little more frustrating now.

We're all learning a little bit of patience.

  

Justin: My arm's broken!

Dad: Well, at least they didn't have to amputate... Psych!