Clara's Broken Arm

Well, I suppose we are pretty lucky that in the past 9 years that we have had kids, this is our first broken bone!  Clara was riding her bike Friday evening (the 17th) while we were out talking with our neighbors.  I saw her look up and point to the sky when her bike started to wobble.  She lost her balance and fell over.  She had two good scrapes on her left elbow and left knee.  When asked if she could bend her right arm, she said she couldn't.  Her elbow looked a little swollen, so we went over to urgent care to get it checked out.  The x-rays confirmed a fractured arm near the elbow.  They put her in a temporary cast and sling and sent her home with some pain meds.  We all camped out in the family room together that night so she could sleep upright with an ice pack in the reclining chair.  Thankfully, the orthopedic surgeon had Saturday morning hours, so we got up and headed over there.  The surgeon explained that she fractured the bone right above the elbow on the interior side of the arm.  So, if you hold your arm out as if you were going to give blood, it's right above the middle bend of the arm.  She did this by hyper-extending it, likely falling on it.  Unfortunately, she needed to have surgery to put temporary pins in to hold the bones in place while it healed.  If we didn't do this, she may have an arm that always hyper-extended and never allowed for the full range of motion when bending it up.  Surgery was planned for Monday afternoon, the soonest we could get in.  She handled it with flying colors.  When we got her all checked in and changed into a gown, she fell asleep on the bed.  The anesthesiologist didn't even have to give her calming meds beforehand (woohoo for one less drug in her system!).  She came out of anesthesia pretty quickly afterward and was so excited to finally be able to eat something!  No food all day is hard for kids!  She kept saying all afternoon (in a whining/crying voice), "Bad, bad, bad, bad doctor! I just want something to eat!"  They gave her two popsicles, to which she didn't leave a single drop of juice in the wrappers, and some applesauce and kept it all down.  We arrived for surgery at 2:15 and were home by 5:30.  She complained of pain for the next couple days, mainly in the morning, but by the third day, that began to ease.  We went back to see the surgeon today to see how the healing was progressing and to get a new cast put on.  He said everything looks great and that new bone is already starting to form.  She'll have this cast on for another two weeks and then he'll take that off, pull the pins out, and she'll be good to go!  She'll have to avoid swimming for a week until the pin sites heal up, but thankfully she'll then have the rest of the summer to play in the water!  Now, let's pray this is the only time we experience a broken bone from here on.  I will say, though, that God really paved a clear path for us in this.  So many other things could have gone wrong (broken leg, happening the day before we left for vacation, infection, etc.).  We were able to get everything taken care of and have her almost pain free before we boarded our airplane on Thursday for vacation.  God blessed us for sure and we definitely felt everyone's prayers!

We took this a couple weeks before she broke her arm.  Hailey outgrew this bike, so we got her a new one, and Clara then took over this one.

Waiting at urgent care to get some x-rays taken.

In pain and tired (by the time we finished at urgent care, it was 10 pm).

Fezzi gave her some snuggles after getting her settled in the reclining chair. It's amazing how pets can sense when someone is hurting.

Our friends drew this for Clara to cheer her up (it worked!) since she fell on the sidewalk right in front of their house.

Hailey then came up with her own drawing, which she said was "Inspired by Mrs. Stefanie" (written in blue).

Falling asleep before surgery.

Riding home after surgery with an ice pack on her arm.

Sleeping with a broken arm can be a little challenging!

New cast!  Her first choice was light blue, but they were out of it, so she chose green instead!