Saturday, April 20, 2013

Gimpy

So you'll never believe the newest addition to craziness in our life... Luke broke his leg last Saturday!
SO... about gimpy.  

The whole thing pretty much breaks my heart. As a mother of boys you prepare yourself for things like broken bones, blood, ER visits... but not already! And not for something so stupid! We were at an auction last Saturday in Chetek and we were walking through a big field with lots of different equipment and other random things for sale. Caleb, Max and Grandpa Joe were in front and Luke was walking behind me (I had Jack in the baby carrier). Luke was walking slower, just taking his time admiring EVERY piece of equipment. I turned around to take his hand again and hurry him up and as I did I watched a skid steer attachment fall on him, just a couple feet from me! 

So above is a picture of what fell on Luke, but the problem is that it didn't have the big forks on it (the long pieces that are sticking out) and it was set up like that on a pallet. So when Luke walked by and started to look at it the attachment started to tip towards him and he tried to sneak away but the top of it pinched his leg right above his little snow boot. It was horrible to watch! I was so close but not close enough to catch the attachment from falling. I ran over to him and ripped it off as fast as I could and Caleb came running over and scooped him up. Luke was crying, of course but calmed down quite quickly. Another man was standing close by and saw it all happen and was appalled at the fact that the attachment was stood up like that and said it could have fallen on anyone... too bad it fell on probably the smallest person at the auction!

We decided to wait to take him in to the doctor until Monday from the advice of one of our doctors since they couldn't do really anything for him until then anyway. Meanwhile, all weekend he was still unable to bear any weight on his leg/foot and seemed to be in quite a bit of pain. He did quickly figure out how to get around... by crawling! Monday morning he had an X-ray and it confirmed what we thought .. a fracture. But just a tiny green stick fracture on his fibula. So it didn't break all the way through. We were sent home from our visit and told to just let him heal, that there was nothing else they could do. Then just an hour later I got a call back from the doctor saying that they needed us to come back for casting! They sent his X-ray up to Duluth and they spotted something that they were suspicious about. Basically there was speculated damage to the growth plate, nothing they could confirm, but at this young of an age they always cast an injury if there is even doubtful damage to the growth plate... so BACK to the clinic!


Cast # 1 ... yup you read that right!


Because of his young age, again, his cast needed to be mid thigh to the toes because little ones have a tendency to wiggle out of their casts. Even though his injury only needed a short cast.


Luke got an orange cast the first round and then we went back a day later and got him a new black cast because the first one he was unable to walk in. He fought the doctor and ended up with a pointed toe instead of having his ankle at a 90 degree angle. As they tried to push his foot towards him he just pushed back and in turn, made his foot point. 

Cast #2
New cast! To any mom out there that ends up with a kid in a walking cast... check out Walmart's "Rubberoos" or Target's "Skidders" for a shoe/sole for their cast! Works great! SO nice to have him in a walking cast now! I was not okay with him being unable to walk for three weeks! And the cast would have left damage to his leg/foot if left the way it was originally.

I would say... so far so good with the cast! I was very nervous for Luke when we had to go in just a day later to get his cast removed and another put on... seemed so traumatic... but YouTube saved  us! We watched multiple videos of casting on and removal to prepare him. It worked great! I found videos with little ones ... but the key is... pre-watch! It could have really added to the anxiety if I wouldn't have done this! Some of the videos started out fine and then the kid would freak! 

Going for a snowmobile ride with his cast on... it can't get wet, hence the plastic Walmart bag on his foot!! 

It's amazing to me how he's getting around. You would have NO idea that he had a cast on his leg! I no longer have belly updates to put on my pantry door chalkboard so this is what I decided to do now... put up scripture every week or so... and this one reminded me of Luke this week!
I thought it would be a good way to help me memorize scripture since it takes me a while to do... I reread the verse over and over as I draw! And I see it many times a day!


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