Montanutah, Part 5: Skinja's Broken Arm
So, as the title of this post clearly explains, Skinja broke his arm while we were in Utah. We went up to Ogden to visit a really good friend of ours whom we hadn't seen since we moved to Texas (4 1/2 years ago!). We all decided to go to a park to let the kids play at the Splash Pad there. After about 10-15 minutes at the splash pad, all the kids decided they had had enough and wanted to go play on the playground. So, we let them play. Daddy was helping Tink and Skinja go across some very high monkey bars. Skinja went first. Daddy helped him get all the way across and put Skinja safely on the platform. Then he turned around to help Tink go across. The best we can figure is that Skinja decided he wanted to try to go back across the monkey bars by himself and ended up falling. Daddy had just started Tink on the bars when he heard Skinja screaming. He turned around and looked down at Skinja and knew right away that his arm was broken.
So, we rushed to the hospital in Ogden. We stayed in the ER there for a little bit while they took x-rays and gave Skinj some pain medicine. The x-rays showed that he had broken his arm in two places: just above his elbow and also just above his wrist. The break at his wrist was a compression fracture and stayed in place, but the break at his elbow was a supracondylar fracture which was going to require surgery to repair. Apparently, that type of fracture is quite common in young children and happens quite frequently when children fall off the monkey bars. Go figure! Because of this, the doctor transferred us to Primary Children's Medical Center in SLC. Skinja and I were transported in an ambulance while Daddy and the girls drove down in the van.
Once we were at Primary's, we stayed in the ER/Urgent Care for a couple hours waiting for x-rays to get transferred from Ogden, getting more x-rays and the orthopedics to review the x-rays. Skinja did really well most of the time. The hardest part for him was getting the IV. He had one IV in Ogden in his left arm, but it went bad and they had to take it out before we left. Then when we got Primary's, they tried to give him one in his left foot but couldn't get it and had to put it in his right foot. Skinja absolutely does NOT like shots or needles and screamed the entire time they were doing the IV. It was horrible and I started to cry, too, which I'm sure didn't help matters any. It is so hard to see one of your children in so much pain!
Because it was so late by the time everything was figured out, they doctors decided to do the surgery the next morning. So, Papa and Gamma took the girls back to the house, and Daddy and I stayed at the hospital with Skinja. They next morning, Skinja went in to surgery and about 45 minutes later, the doctor came and told us they were finished and that our little man was getting ready to be moved to post-op. We were given a prescription for some pain medicine for Skinj to take whenever he felt like he needed it. I think he took if for about a day and a half. He did not like taking it and would only take it when he couldn't handle the pain. He was in a splint until about 2 weeks after we got home. Then we found a pediatric orthopedist down here, and she put him in a cast for about a week and a half. After that, the cast came off and everything has been great since then.
What an experience! We are very grateful, however, that it happened in Utah because we knew the quality of the hospitals there and had a wonderful experience with all the staff involved.
So, we rushed to the hospital in Ogden. We stayed in the ER there for a little bit while they took x-rays and gave Skinj some pain medicine. The x-rays showed that he had broken his arm in two places: just above his elbow and also just above his wrist. The break at his wrist was a compression fracture and stayed in place, but the break at his elbow was a supracondylar fracture which was going to require surgery to repair. Apparently, that type of fracture is quite common in young children and happens quite frequently when children fall off the monkey bars. Go figure! Because of this, the doctor transferred us to Primary Children's Medical Center in SLC. Skinja and I were transported in an ambulance while Daddy and the girls drove down in the van.
Once we were at Primary's, we stayed in the ER/Urgent Care for a couple hours waiting for x-rays to get transferred from Ogden, getting more x-rays and the orthopedics to review the x-rays. Skinja did really well most of the time. The hardest part for him was getting the IV. He had one IV in Ogden in his left arm, but it went bad and they had to take it out before we left. Then when we got Primary's, they tried to give him one in his left foot but couldn't get it and had to put it in his right foot. Skinja absolutely does NOT like shots or needles and screamed the entire time they were doing the IV. It was horrible and I started to cry, too, which I'm sure didn't help matters any. It is so hard to see one of your children in so much pain!
Because it was so late by the time everything was figured out, they doctors decided to do the surgery the next morning. So, Papa and Gamma took the girls back to the house, and Daddy and I stayed at the hospital with Skinja. They next morning, Skinja went in to surgery and about 45 minutes later, the doctor came and told us they were finished and that our little man was getting ready to be moved to post-op. We were given a prescription for some pain medicine for Skinj to take whenever he felt like he needed it. I think he took if for about a day and a half. He did not like taking it and would only take it when he couldn't handle the pain. He was in a splint until about 2 weeks after we got home. Then we found a pediatric orthopedist down here, and she put him in a cast for about a week and a half. After that, the cast came off and everything has been great since then.
What an experience! We are very grateful, however, that it happened in Utah because we knew the quality of the hospitals there and had a wonderful experience with all the staff involved.
Waiting at Primary Children's
After surgery in post-op: He's still loopy from the anesthesia and is having a blast playing with the buttons on his bed. I love how happy he looks, though.
Skinja playing on the iPad with Gamma after coming home from the hospital
Skinja's Spiderman cast
Daddy's artwork (Skinja LOVED his Spiderman cast!)
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