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!!



Ashton's Broken Arm - Part 2

We arrived at the hospital at about 2ish in the afternoon.  After they did the 2nd xray session it was determined he needed surgery to straighten out his bone.  We were in a holding pattern as to if the surgery would be tonight, or tomorrow.  By 7:30ish in the evening it was decided that surgery would wait til the morning, first thing.  There were several surgeries ahead of Ashton that were more serious.  So they wheeled him to his new room for the night. 

I (Amy) stayed with Ashton that night while Matt went home to be with the kids.  Matt did bring us back some overnight supplies and he brought the kids up to the lobby.  Because of the flu outbreak, they were not allowed in any of the hospital rooms.  It was nice being able to see them before bed.  This was new territory for us - to be separated. 

Ashton's Broken Arm - Part 1

Today started as a nice day.  It was snowing.  It was pretty.  We had Frank's donuts.  All was well!

About noon time, the kids went outside to play in the freshly falling snow.  They were out 30 minutes when Ethan came in and said "Trey's dad needs us, Ashton is hurt."  So we went outside and "Trey's Dad" informs us that Ashton is on the other side of the neighbor's fence and he has a hurt arm.  Our first reaction is drama, drama, drama.  Ashton is often overly dramatic.  Matt goes and gets him and brings him inside.  Ashton was FREAKING OUT!  He was hysterical, almost going into shock-like behavior.  It was a little bit funny to me how he was acting.  Matt was getting impatient with Ashton's behavior.  He kept telling Ashton he needed to settle down.  Ashton would say, "I am calming down, I am calming down . . . . I CAN'T CALM DOWN!!" 

Supposedly there was a loose dog roaming the neighborhood and Ashton (who like all my kids is SUPER SCARED of dogs) decided to jump the fence behind our house to escape the dog.  His arm came down on the top side of the fence, right above his elbow.

After about 15 minutes of this out of control behavior, Matt decided to drive Ashton to Urgent Treatment.  One of the UTCs in town has an xray machine. 

So off they went!  About 20 minutes later I get a call from Matt telling me to get the kids ready, Ashton's arm is broken and we needed to head to UK Children's Hospital.  The UTC office didn't even x-ray his arm.  They knew right away it was broken.  They instructed Matt to NOT go to Georgetown Hospital and go directly to Children's Hospital in Lexington.

The other 3 kids had wandered to the Robinson's house to get warm.  I called over there and asked Gwen to send the kids home so we could get ready to leave.  Gwen demanded the kids stay with them until we are done at the hospital.  (This family has seriously come to the rescue more than once!!!)

So Matt, Ashton and I drive down to Children's Hospital.  We check in and immediately get put into a room.  The staff were quick, efficient and very friendly.  After asking a million questions, they take him back to radiology and take a few x-ray pictures.  They determine his arm is indeed broken, but it is a nice clean break and they decide to cast him up in a half cast/split contraption.  There is too much swelling to put a regular cast on at this point.

Here are pictures of our first moments in Children's Hospital and Dr. Carpio who is examining his arm and later putting the half cast on. 

After the cast is put on they re-xray his arm to make sure nothing got shifted during the casting process. Unfortunately, the new xray (thru the splint) shows the bone has shifted. Surgery is next! They cannot confirm if the bone shifted while the cast was put on or if the original xray didn't show the break properly from the angle they were taken. Either way, we are stuck here for a while!