An Unexpected Injury

There were a lot of kids at Aria's birthday party and towards the end of it all the boys were running back and forth across the living room. They were having so much fun together and it was so fun to hear all those giggles. Then the last few people and just Kyle and Emma were still here. I sat down on the floor and immediately all three kids started climbing on me. Like any other normal day I that I decide to sit down. My sister tried to get them all to look up at her so she could take a picture but Tyler walked away and went to his room. Carl went in there and he told him he wanted to rest because his leg was hurting him. A few minutes later he came back out and acted completely normally though. There was nothing that would have suggested there was anything wrong.

But in the middle of the night, around five he woke up really crying hard. He said his leg hurt, he couldn't move it and when we got him down from his bunk bed, he couldn't put any weight on it either. Of course it was a Sunday and our only choice was the emergency room, although it's probably where we would have been sent anyway.

You would never guess the tears that were flowing right before this picture - and not from the injured one!

When we got to the hospital we told Tyler that he would probably get to ride in a wheelchair. Of course Carsten thought that sounded pretty great and he wanted to ride in one too. Carl dropped the three of us off at the door and I told Carsten he could help me push. All the way into the building and the whole time I was trying to get checked in, Carsten was dramatically telling the whole world that he had an owie and he needed a wheelchair too. Finally Tyler, who was in extreme pain and could hardly move tried scooting over to make room for him in his wheelchair. And Carsten's world was right again.

He looked so little and helpless in that bed.

He looks miserable here, and he was. But he was also enjoying watching Frozen while he waited for x-rays to come back.

We ended up being there for about four hours - much longer than we were expecting, although I'm not sure why we thought it would be less. He did have x-rays and they did not show a fracture, which was great news. But he still couldn't bend his leg or put any weight on it. So they had him take some pain meds and said that if there was a fracture he still wouldn't be able to stand on it, but if it wasn't fractured, he should be able to walk at least a few steps. Unfortunately, he still couldn't bend it or put any weight on it. He tried so hard with tears in his eyes until he said he just couldn't.

So they had to treat it as a fracture. The worry was that it was fractured by the growth plate, which wouldn't show up on an x-ray and is obviously not something to mess with. Tyler thought the x-rays were cool but he was a little disappointed that they didn't show us and he didn't get to see his bones! They sent him home in a full leg splint and since he was too little for crutches that also meant we had to carry him everywhere and he couldn't go to school.

But he sure was cute!

He had such a good attitude about all of this. He was sad that he couldn't run and play. But as much as he loves preschool, he didn't even get upset that he couldn't go. He knew it would have been hard and he was happy to stay home and rest. On Monday morning when we were eating breakfast he said, "Mommy, this is such a special day! God is healing my leg and I got a strawberry in my jelly!" What a little sweetheart, rocking the positive attitude. :-)

For the first few days he hardly moved from the couch. Occasionally he would ask me to move him to a different couch or put him on the floor so he could try to play. But mostly he was uncomfortable and just wanted to read and rest. On Tuesday he felt better in the morning and he tried scooting around on the floor on his bottom a lot. But by noon he was sore and exhausted. Wednesday was similar. He would scoot around all over for a little while and then just crash. Finally on Thursday he was like a new kid. He was pulling himself up and down from couches with his arms, scooting everywhere, nonstop and even trying to pull himself to standing so he could slide around on one foot. 

On Friday he had an appointment with an orthopedic doctor and we knew he would probably either be getting the splint off or getting a less temporary cast on. Thankfully, we got the news we'd been praying for! He still couldn't put weight on his leg or walk on it when they took the splint off. But he was able to move it and it wasn't hurting him when they moved his leg around. So they took it off and let him go home without it, telling us to call on Monday if he was still in pain or not walking on it yet. They told us sometimes kids have mysterious injuries and you just never really find out what happened.

So we left and we celebrated! We went out for ice cream. We tried to go to Freeziac but when we got there it was not Freeziac anymore. It was a cell phone store. :-/ I was actually ok with that because I didn't really like it the one time I'd been there before. It was just the closest place. Now every time we talk about ice cream Carsten says, "Is something else there now?"

So we headed off for our first trip to Cherry Berry. They have been talking about that place ever since. New family favorite!

No one would look at the camera because there was a TV behind me. But they were loving their ice cream! It was an extra special and exciting day, so it was also the first time I ever let them know that toppings were an option at places like this. :-)

We were so proud of this guy and the way he handled such a hard week. He is the boy who never sits still so it was not fun. But he had a great attitude and we got to spend lots of fun time reading snuggling and watching movies that week. And we are so happy and thankful that the cast is off!!!