Starting Easter Break in the E.R.

Thursday night I was loading the dishwasher right before we were heading out to dinner when Brandon came running in with Kai saying he broke his arm. Kai had been jumping on the trampoline with B and Jace when he fell through the net door (that was not zipped) and landed on his arm.

When we got to the E.R. they told me that there were six people ahead of us. After waiting about half and hour I told the lady that his bone was sticking out and if they were going to make him wait they needed to give him some pain med. A nurse came out saw his arm and thankfully rushed him back. She told me an I.V. for pain meds. would be started and then his arm would be X-rayed but, even without an X-ray, it was definitely broken.

I really try to keep my cool in life but, this was not the night to let things go. The X-ray lady came in and said, "Oh, where's his I.V.??" I told her they hadn't given him one yet and she refused to wait. As I stepped out into the hallway with Scarlet you could hear Kai screaming throughout the E.R. I asked the nurse kindly to get the Dr. to authorize an I.V. when only a couple of minutes later I turned around to see him drinking some juice. I asked, "Did you talk to the Dr.?" His reply was, "Oh, I'm sorry I forgot." Are you kidding me you seriously could hear Kai screaming throughout the E.R. Needless to say after some yelling on my part and after the X-Rays were finished they gave him some Codeine.

Then, someone came in to give him a temporary cast and Kai continued to scream and cry even on Codeine. I asked the guy once he was finished if he was sure that was the right way to wrap his arm. He said, "Yep, you see he's crying out of anger if he was in pain there would be tears rolling down his face." Well, the rest of the night was horrible. Even on Tylenol with Codeine Kai didn't fall asleep until 3:00am and woke up about every twenty minutes after that. At one point (and this totally broke my heart) he said, "Mommy, I can't do this anymore".

Well, by 9:00am I had picked up the X-rays from the hospital and had him in the Orthopedics surgeons office. The surgeon came in and said, "Good news, no surgery but, because of all of the swelling we can't put the permanent cast on for five days." I told him that we couldn't have another night like the one we just had and he said that Kai should have no pain at all. As he unwrapped Kai's cast while Kai was screaming and sweating in pain he realized his arm had been wrapped completely wrong. The E.R. did not wrap his elbow (the break is right below the elbow) so he could move his arm around all night causing the horrible pain. AND, they wrapped his fingers so tight there were blisters between all of the fingers. Thankfully they created a second temporary cast. Not too tight around the fingers and he now has his cast well above the elbow.

With all of that said we do feel good and trust this orthopedic surgeon so we are now waiting for the swelling to go down and to finally get the permanent cast. And, I cannot wait to get that customer service survey in the mail from the hospital. It never gets easier seeing your kids in pain...it's a horrible feeling but, I am so happy to see that he is starting to do better. I love you little Kai. :)