*****WARNING*****
Some of the pictures of Wyatt's arm are a
little hard to look at (maybe they affect me more as his mother) so if you don't
want to see them you can read the story here then choose not to pass the
second warning sign to the pictures.
As mentioned in the previous post, Rick's parents were in town visiting. It was Friday October 12th, Rick's Dad's back had been bothering him all week and they were set to leave on a cruise the next day so he decided to go to the ER to have it looked at. I dropped them off at the ER and went home to give Owen and Clara naps and pick up Wyatt from school. It was a beautiful day so we walked to school to pick up Wyatt. Whenever the weather is nice we stay for awhile to play on the playground. Wyatt was playing on the monkey bars (which he has mad skills on) and I was helping Owen and Clara go down the slides when I heard Wyatt start screaming, the I'm really hurt scream. I grabbed Clara and ran over to him, there were already a couple moms around him. Wyatt had been playing on the rings and was swinging his body back and forth. While he was swinging back he let go and landed on his hands, Rick keeps saying how grateful he is that it happened while he was swinging back and not forward so he didn't come down on his back and head.
Wyatt was hysterical and in SOOOOO much pain, but was surprisingly with it at the same time. He was lying on the ground and would not move an inch he just kept asking if his arm was broken over and over again. When I first saw his arm I went into panic mode myself, it was obviously broken, it was bent 90 degrees backward above the wrist. Thankfully there were lots of moms around that play with us everyday that quickly grabbed Owen and Clara so I could stay by Wyatt. I was worried about nerve damage to his hand and I just had my stroller and was a good ten minute walk from my house, Wyatt was definitely not moving anywhere so my friend Gina called an ambulance. It took 20 minutes for the ambulance to arrive, it seemed like forever, there was a hold up with them entering the school and not coming around back immediately then having to move the other kids out of the way so they could drive back. While we were waiting for the ambulance I was trying to keep it together, fortunately my friend Kate was there talking to Wyatt while I called Rick and told him to meet us at the children's hospital and my neighbor to come pick up Owen and Clara. I remember I took pictures with my phone too thinking he may want to see his arm eventually. We kept his arm covered with a jacket most of the time, Wyatt caught a glimpse once, went really white and started freaking out more. Someone had told Wyatt's teacher what had happened and she came out and was talking with him too, she kept helping him with some calming techniques they had been working on in class. Also during our long wait, my sweet Wyatt wanted to say a prayer but said he was too hurt to say it so he asked me to say it for him.
When the ambulance got there Wyatt really started to freak out that they were going to move his arm. They cut off his jacket and he started screaming "Please, don't move my arm" "Please tell me what you are doing." They kept commenting on his pleases. He got to ride in the ambulance on the back board with the neck brace and everything. He was calmer during the rider, still no pain meds though. This is when I started to freak out a little so we called Grandma Cannon to tell her we were in an ambulance and to help calm me down. Wyatt was disappointed that all he could see was the ceiling. I kept over thinking if I should have called the ambulance since it took so long to get there, but traffic was so bad and there was no way for me to get a car, or really move Wyatt, so we had what was hopefully our first and last ambulance ride.
Rick and Grandma and Grandpa Shamo (remember they were already at the ED) met us at CCMC. Wyatt was still in a lot of pain so they had to place an IV, plus they didn't know if he would need surgery or at the least he would need to be sedated for the reduction. I think Wyatt freaked our more about the IV than even breaking his arms, maybe it was just his breaking point (pun intended). Once the drugs were on board Wyatt got pretty goofy. They set his arm and set up a follow up for a few days later.
A few days later at the follow up Wyatt's left arm was still hurting him. They had not X-rayed it in the ED because he said it hurt so much less than the other arm. They mainly evaluated his wrist, thinking it was just sprained. They X-rayed the left arm on his follow up visit and found it almost completely broken through in the same spot as the right arm, I could even see the break clearly on the X-ray. It was decided to treat that arm with a removable cast since the right arm cast was above the elbow limiting movement, and so he could still maintain some independence by removing the cast temporarily.
Through all of this Wyatt has been a total trooper, not really complaining at all. It has been a struggle as he needs help with so many things he could do alone before, but he does't seem to mind, he is totally milking all the attention he can. He has become ambidextrous switching between writing hands without a real difference in handwriting. The only thing that has made me sad for Wyatt is he is restricted from recess and gym and one day he came home in tears saying "Why do I have to be the kid with two broken arms and glasses?" More than anything it made me sad that he sees his glasses as a disadvantage, but he hasn't said anything other than that. Mainly it is cool to have everyone sign his cast, he has even had friends tell him they wish they had broken arms.
This last week they removed the above the elbow cast on the right arm and changed it to a below the elbow waterproof cast, keeping the removable brace on the left arm for 3 more weeks then they will evaluate again. It has been quite the adventure.
*****WARNING*****
The picture are coming up right after this so stop now if you don't want to see picture of his arm in the ED. Grandma and Grandpa Shamo had their ipad with them so we were able to snag a few pics.
All drugged up and feeling much better.
4 comments:
Wow those are awesome pictures. Poor kid, sounds like he did pretty well though. He maintained his politeness during pressure, nice work mom and dad!
I thought I would handle that better than I did ha. POOR WYATT!
(Heather)
Such amazing pictures that left me a little squeamish, even with seeing the x-rays on fb. We've been waiting for the whole story, so now Wes and Kate can see and read it. So glad he's doing well. He really is a trooper and such a good boy!
Oh my...what a crazy adventure for all of you. First, I must say that Mr. Wyatt is a champ. What a polite and amazing kid to still be using his manners when he was in such pain! Next, nice work mom. You handled this situation like a pro...I think I would have passed out and needed a second ambulance! By the way, I think Wyatt looks super cool in his glasses. But you know me, I like boys in glasses! (I once broke both of my arms at the same time...it was the day before Junior Prom, so I wore my two casts with my prom dress--good think the wrist corsage was elastic!)
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