Day 1 with Cast

A pretty successful day of cast signing!

Ryan's Turn

This past Sunday evening Ashton was on the hunt for a missing blanket.  How he knows one is missing is beyond me.  He has HEAPS of blankets!!  Anyway in all the search madness, he threw all blankets, covers, comforters, pillows, stuffed animals, ect. onto the floor.  Ryan decided to climb the ladder up to the top bunk and JUMP into the pile of goodness below.  Round 1 was a success.  All was well.  Round 2 was not good.  He landed wrong and hurt his wrist.   His right wrist.  The one he writes with.   As any good parent would do, we yelled at him and sent him to bed.  After a little while and continous whining, Matt decided to aid the poor boy and he wrapped FOUR ace bandages around his arm with the hopes of quieting the little squirt.  It worked!  He went to bed.

Monday morning - arm still hurt.  We sent him to school with nothing on his arm.  We may have said to suck it up???  We may have told his teacher he was fine and it was all in his head??

Tuesday morning - arm still hurt.  We sent him to school with nothing on his arm.  I had pity at lunchtime and ran the brace that Brinley wore when she had a broken arm over to Ryan at school.  It is like a bowler freak/carpel tunnel type brace.  He seemed fine.  Was writing with his right hand.  Hmm, success.  All may be well!

Tuesday after school - arm still very swollen.  I asked my friend Veronica to look at it.  (She is Ashton's student teacher and was at school).  She advised to take him to get xrays.  That evening (5pm - ish) I took Ryan to Urgent Treatment.  Sure enough, it was broken.  His official diagnosis was Distal Radial Fracture.  Next step - orthopaedic office.  Earliest appointment - next day at 2:45pm.

Wednesday - sent him to school as normal.  We pulled 3 youngest from school early and went to doctor.  They confirmed it was broken and casted him up.

Swollen arm

Broken (left side of picture, just below growth plate)

Waiting to see Orthopaedic Doctor

The flashy orange cast!

Goodbye Cast!

Today was another appointment for Ashton.   They first removed the black cast.  After that, they took more xray pictures of his arm to make sure the bone still looked good.  Everything looked great!  Hooray!

Goodbye UK Blue Cast, Hello Boring Black Cast!

 

Today we took Ashton back to the Kentucky Clinic to have his arm re-xrayed and to get a new cast put on.  After the xrays they determined his arm was healing great and he could proceed to the new cast.  He chose black so no one could sign it.  He did not like the cast signing process.  He felt it made his cast look dirty!  The pictures show the nurse removing his old blue cast, the pins that kept the bone in place (which they removed today), and putting on a new black cast.

 

 

 

 

 Patiently waiting for his appointment

The process of getting his original cast cut off.

The nasty pins.  When they pulled them out they used vice grips and blood squirted out all over.  It was disgusting, but didn't hurt Ashton one bit.  We were surprised how long they were.  Approx 5".

The first step in getting cast #2 on.

This crazy contraption is used to help the patient keep his arm at a 90 degree angle as well as helping aid the patient not get too tired holding arm up.

Happy with his new, clean cast!

1st Post Surgery Follow Up

Today they cut the top layer of his "split" cast and added a UK blue hard cast.  They did not take off the entire first half-cast.  This made his already big and bulky cast, bigger and bulkier.

Ashton's Recovery at Home

Ashton stayed home Monday and Tuesday following surgery and then did half days the rest of the week.  He was lucky and his student teacher did all his writing for him (even though he is right handed and the broken arm was his left).  He had a hard time with the cast since it was very big and very heavy. 

Ashton's Broken Arm - Part 3

It is about 7am and he is off to surgery!  What a scary moment for a mom to see!

His wonderful nurse put "A Dog with a Blog" on the computer monitor for him to watch while waiting.  He was nervous, but a trooper!

AFTER SURGERY!  He had a very successful surgery where they placed 2 pins into his elbow to secure the bone.  The pins were about 5" long.

Time to go home!  It was Super Bowl Sunday and we were hoping to get home in time for the kickoff.  We were successful!!