Jack broke his arm this week. Considering the diagnosis we got over a year ago, I count it a huge blessing that he hasn’t had a fracture until now, particularly after some of the spills he’s been taking since becoming mobile. After all, he doesn’t know he has fragile bones. It was rather uneventful. In fact, some of the spills he’s taken up to this point elicited louder gasps and subsequent examination of limbs. He cried, I held him until he settled, then sent him on his merry way to get into more trouble, as all toddlers should.
Then he tried to use his arm to stand up. It buckled. He cried out. Darn. The next few hours made it clear that, though he could use his arm for non-weight-bearing movements, it was definitely broken. Called the pediatric orthopedist under whose care Jack is, made an appointment to see him the next day, confirmed fracture and bam! Blue cast for three weeks.
Kids are resilient humans. Within 24 hours, Jack was toddling around like any 15 month old, even trying to climb the ladder to the trampoline. Yikes. We have had a lucky 14 months since his last break but it is clear that it will take a few years for Jack’s recognition of his fragility to catch up with his desire for mobility. Pretty typical of any kid, really. It makes bubble wrap sounds like a pretty great option, in fact.
Nevertheless, I’m pretty grateful, for a number of reasons:
- I got to see the xrays, which displayed lines across the bones in his wrist, much like tree rings, indicative of the bone growth that each of Jack’s infusions has stimulated. So thankful for modern medicine.
- Jack’s femoral fracture at one month old was such a traumatic experience for me(not to mention, for Jack) that I admit I had residual fear of future breaks lest they resemble the last. It’s nice to know that some fractures don’t require a frantic rush to the ER and hours of uninterrupted pain and screaming on the part of my sweet baby boy.
- Three weeks in a cast is totally doable.
- Knowing that a simple fall while trying to climb on my lap resulted in a fracture confirmed to me that our trampoline is going, going, gone as soon as Jack figures out how to climb on it. I think Tim especially had a false sense of security after 14 months without a fracture and toyed with the idea of keeping it and just strictly enforcing safety rules. Nope. There are simply some pleasures in life of which we will have to be deliberate in steering Jack clear.
- Before his break, Jack was mostly walking but falling back on his trusty bear crawl if he wanted a little speed. Now that his arm is forced into a right angle for three weeks, he’s been relegated to walking at all times. He’s a sturdy little fella on his feet now, presumably building bone strength in those short little legs of his.