Okay this is a long one....
Tuesday was a rough day for the Mueller family to say the least. I took Cooper to the Dr because he had thrown up and then broke out in crazy hives all over his face and ears. Luckily, Benadryl helped the break out and he didn't throw up in anymore. The Dr. said there was a lot of stomach stuff going around so we were probably just another virus victim. We do need to watch him and make sure that the hives weren't a food allergy so we will see. (Luckily, after a few doses of Benadryl and some rest, he was fine by that afternoon.)
So as I am pulling out of the doctor's office, I get a call from Colton's school nurse. She says he fell from the monkey bars at recess(around 12:15) and landed on his wrist. She tells me, "I don't need an xray to see that there is a fracture." Luckily my mom had Carter and my in laws met me to get Cooper so I could take Colton to get checked out. (What would we do without grandparents?) I should mention that the school nurse is wonderful and Colton's sweet teacher got coverage for her class so she could wait in the nurse's office with him. Amazing people watching over my boy!! Anyway, Cody met us at the Imaging center where my pediatrician had faxed an x-ray request. We waited there a for a while, finally got x-rays and then headed back to her office to get results. Meanwhile, Colton is being so tough. No tears. He had no pain meds because everyone said we should avoid it in case he had to be sedated so he wouldn't throw up. Here are the x-rays:
We went to our Dr. and found out that yes both bones in his wrist were broken and out of place. But there were no orthopedic doctors that could see us until the next morning. Since it was only 3:30 pm, that sounded crazy to leave him in pain and his wrist in the wrong place all night. So we headed to the ER. They saw us pretty quick and the Dr. all commented on how they were so surprised that he was not crying, especially since he hadn't had anything for pain yet.(it was about 5:00) Then Colton was given a large shot in the muscle in his hip area to sedate him so they could put the bones back in place. Getting the shot was the only real time he cried. It hurt him so bad and it was very hard to watch. Then he went to "sleep" with the occasional eye opening and they manipulated his bones back to where they should be.
He took a while to wake up and he was ready to go home and "rest". It was about 7:00pm. Long, painful, exhausting day for him. He was such a trooper though. We were so proud of him.
We had an appointment the next morning(Wed) with a pediatric orthopedic Dr to get the wrist checked and casted. After they took our x-rays to the back to the Dr., the nurse came out and tells us that he won't see us due to "liabilty" because another Dr. had the set bones. She also freaked me out by saying, "we may have done surgery on this" and "not too sure the alignment is okay." I was in a panic thinking that we had messed up his right hand. Needless to say, we were not happy and had to find someone who would take him. We called back to the er and they gave us the name of the Dr they would have sent us to, if we didn't have the other appt. That Dr thought the "after" x-rays looked good but they wouldn't see him til next Thursday. Really, 8 days with only a soft cast. That sounds silly for a 7 year old, very active boy. I was also really concerned about swelling and circulation so a week seemed like an eternity to wait to get that checked.
So here is the amazing part where God intervened. I had posted the x-rays pics on Facebook and an old high school friend(Chris Phelps) who just happened to be an orthopedic surgeon sends me a message. He says he would be happy to help if we needed it. I couldn't believe it. I was so excited. So I called his office and they worked us in at 7:45 the next morning. By 8:30 we were leaving with a brand new blue cast. Colton did have some bruising on his wrist from the first procedure and some pain while they were putting on the cast but he did great! Hopefully, in the next few days the soreness and swelling in his fingers will go down and he will be ready to go again. What a blessing Dr. Phelps was to our little man's wrist and our sanity!!
