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I am so ridiculously late writing this! But I’m also ridiculously stubborn and I really want to join in every week haha! So here’s my very late Living Arrows post this week, mostly about H’s broken tibia!
So half term was a complete non-starter really! I mentioned last week about H breaking his leg at the beginning of half term. And it’s all just been a bit of a mare to be quite honest!
So on the first Sunday of half term, H decided to jump off the arm of the sofa. He’s always jumping around on the furniture, despite my best efforts to stop him. But this time he landed awkwardly and twisted his leg – C actually said she heard a crack 🙁
From the way he screamed in pain, I could tell immediately that it wasn’t a normal injury. And within a few minutes we were pretty convinced his leg was broken from the way he was reacting. After a bit of time-wasting trying to contact 111 for advice, I just took him to A & E.
The journey there was horrific. He was screaming in excruciating pain all the way, and every bump in the road was like torture. We don’t have a buggy or anything anymore, so I had to carry him into the hospital and hold him on my lap. My arms were absolutely shot to pieces the next day as he’s so heavy!
A & E
Anyway we were seen really quickly and sent straight to X-ray. Unfortunately H became completely overwhelmed and went into meltdown. He wouldn’t straighten his leg so they couldn’t get a decent picture. So we were sent back to the paediatric waiting room where he actually fell asleep in my arms, bless him – he was so exhausted. After this, he was given a strong painkiller up the nose then we tried the X-ray again. It really wasn’t much better and I had to basically hold him in position screaming while they did it. It was so horrible – he was beside himself 🙁
Broken tibia
Anyway thankfully they got a decent picture and I was told H had broken his tibia. The doctor said it was quite a nasty break, as it was a spiral fracture 🙁 He had obviously really twisted his leg hard when he landed.
After this they put a plaster cast on him. What I didn’t realise at the time was that he really needed a full leg cast. Now I’m not quite sure what happened – I think maybe they were short-staffed and there was only a trainee orthopedic doctor available? But he only had a below-the-knee cast put on then we were eventually sent home.
The next day was awful. H was still in absolute agony and Nurofen and Calpol seemed to barely touch the pain. Every time we had to move him to take him to the toilet or anything he would scream blue murder. We kept thinking it wasn’t right but I don’t have any experience of broken bones at all so had no idea what was normal.
New cast
Anyway the next day I took him back to the hospital. And at the plaster room they said he needed a full leg cast and would be much more comfortable afterwards. Basically his knee shouldn’t have been able to bend because of where his break was, so it was super painful for him.
Getting the new cast on was traumatic. H was so traumatised and terrified that he again screamed the place down. Once he had the full cast on and we went home, he did start to improve quickly though. He was really anxious about being lifted and carried, but has gradually got better.
He’s still in some discomfort (the hot weather isn’t really helping!) but he’s definitely improved so much. We’ve hired a wheelchair so we can get him around more easily and he has a frame to hop with. Hopefully he will be able to go into school soon, probably part-time to begin with. And the consultant said even though it was quite a nasty break, the cast could come off in 4 weeks depending on how it heals.
Hope you all had a lovely half term 🙂
Til next time,
Hannah xx
4 Comments
Oh bless him! (And you!) It must be so hard – especially in this weather. Gabe broke his foot jumping off the sofa when he was two but we were lucky as toddler bones heal so quickly he was only in a cast for 10 days! Fingers crossed H’s leg heals as quickly as they’ve said and he’ll be out of his cast before the summer holidays x
What a week you all had I really hope that he’s coping better with the discomfort and you’ve got other the ordeal as well?!xx
Oh gosh your poor boy. I’m so sad reading this as it brings back all my memories of Athena breaking her leg when she was 15 months old. It was a horrendous experience. I hope you and him are both ok – that A&E trip sounds awful! x
Oh you poor things, it sounds like they didn’t really know what they were doing. Poor thing and you so difficult to see them in pain and not be able to do anything.