Boo Boo

You might have guessed from the above that Lowell broke his first bone last weekend. Actually you can barely see the break in the X-ray (it's that faint white line in the bigger bone right below the wrist). It was so clean that the piece went back into place almost right away. When it happened, though, you could see it was broken. His little arm was all floppy and wrong. Just wrong. He was in pain and very upset but thankfully never went into shock or got hysterical. Well, maybe a little when we suggested that we'd need to go to the ER before he could have his hot dog.

It happened when he was on the monkey bars at a friend's house. Lowell's hand slipped mid-swing and he landed with his arm twisted under him. I was standing right there and knew immediately that he had hurt himself badly. Like I said, floppy and wrong. I've told the story a bunch of times now to friends and family and almost everyone has asked something along the lines of "and how are you doing?" My answer was always really, truly okay. Of course I hated seeing him in pain. And panic fluttered up into my chest when I saw that his arm was really hurt. Ugh. But I am finding that this part of parenting is not so bad comparatively. At least it's straightforward. If he breaks his arm I take him to the doctor. He gets a cast and some stickers. Not life-threatening, not a head injury or mysterious illness. Hell, not even a tick bite with all the waiting and worrying. It's a bummer for him and I am sad about that. But I am fine with this. The things that keep me up at night are the parts of parenting that are not so straightforward. The things that don't have first-aid steps or how-to manuals. Ask me how I'm doing when we're trying to figure out how to discipline or figure out schooling or deal with development issues and my answer would be very different. I wish everything could be as easy to fix as a broken wrist.

A week on and he's doing really well. The frustrations have meant a lot more tantrums than usual and a little regression but mostly he is coping amazingly. He's getting lots of love from his teachers and friends and, of course, grandparents. The hard cast may even be able to come off after only two weeks and be replaced with a removable splint. And we got this super-cool X-ray out of the deal. Tell me that his wee kid-bones are not the cutest thing in the world. Cutest bones ever.

Comments

I totally know what you mean when you say it's the judgment call things (how to discipline, how to deal with developmental issues, how to get them to do their homework!) that are a lot more difficult for me. In the grand scheme of things, broken bones are pretty straightforward! And, you're right. Cute bones!

Posted by: Pamela | April 20, 2010 at 02:15 PM