We've Had Better Days....

Yesterday, as I was in the middle of a haircut, Corbin walked in with sweat and tears pouring off of his face. He looked at me and said "Mom, I fell off my bike. I think my arm is broken." I was busy, but I looked it over real quick, and thinking it was fine, sent him upstairs to put some ice on it. I went back to work, joking with my client (who came all the way from West Virginia to get her hair done) about how every time there is any pain, something must be broken. About a half hour later, as I was finishing up with her, Averie walked in. She told me that she had just put Corbin's bike away and that it was a royal pain because the front tire wouldn't spin. She said that whatever Corbin had done ruined his bike. That was about the time the little alarm bell went off in my head.... If Corbin had crashed hard enough to destroy his bike, maybe he really had done some damage to himself as well. I hurried my client (Amber) out the door, and ran upstairs to assess the damages. Corbin sat calmly, quietly whimpering, on the couch with ice on his arm, patiently waiting for me. To put it mildly, he was a mess. His face was still red and beaded with sweat, his knees were hamburger and had been bleeding down his legs, blood puddling in his socks, the bottom two inches of his shorts were also soaked in blood, his shoe was ripped from the ankle to the sole, one of his hands was scrapped up, and his arm hurt to touch, twist, or move. I took one look at him and called the doctor to let them know we were on our way and that Corbin had a possible break. Vicki (Dr. Wynn's nurse) had a room ready for us and took us back to it as soon as we arrived. She and I began cleaning Corbin up while we waited for Dr. Wynn. We scrubbed the blood from his legs, took off his socks (they were pretty gross), wiped off his hands, and she flushed his knees with a saline solution (THAT WAS PAINFUL). Dr. Wynn came in and removed a rock or two from under the skin on his hand. He then started to poke and prod around on his arm. It didn't take long before Corbin was in a LOT of pain and NOT happy about being touched. Dr. Wynn said that he felt there was a GOOD chance that his arm was broken and that we needed to get X-rays and go from there. At that time his plan was to splint it and send us to the hospital, then have us wait a day to get into an orthopedic for casting if necessary. He got the splint out and started wrapping his arm, but something made him change his mind. I don't know what, or why, but he put the splint down and said he wanted to contact the orthopedic doctor right then. He placed the phone call and came back announcing that if we hurried the doctor would wait for us and fix Corbin up immediately. He drew me a pitiful map to the next doctor's office on the crinkle paper that covers their tables, and we flew out of there, in a rush to the ortho's. After minimal searching, (thanks to the map) we found the next office, where they were actually waiting for us. Corbin went with the nurse and had X-rays, while I waited for him filling out the paperwork. He said that the X-rays hurt quite a bit, since he had to twist his arm and put it in uncomfortable positions. Dr. Barker came right in, flipped on his screen and ...... couldn't find Corbin's X-ray. Somehow, it had gotten lost in cyberspace. He checked a few other computers and relocated it- YEAH!!! He looked at it for a split second and said the dreaded words: This arm is fractured up through the growth plate. UGH!!! Did you say growth plate?!? That puts a whole new spin on things. That is more serious- more concerning- more worrisome- more SUCKISH!!! I took a deep breath and said let's start over. What EXACTLY is the story with my son's arm? Apparently, Corbin fractured (broke) his radius bone from about an inch above his wrist, on a slant going up towards his hand, up through the growth plate and out the other side. The break is all the way through the bone and through the growth plate. When there is a break involving the infamous growth plate, the break gets a rating on a scale of 1-5, one being the best, five being the worst. Corbin's break scored a 2. Could be worse... Could be better.... As of right now, the break is okay. It is lined up nicely and didn't need to be set or manipulated at all. Because of the kind of break that it is, his bone could displace at any time during the next three weeks (that's how long it will take to set up and get sticky enough to stay put) even inside the cast (which is a lovely shade of blue). If that happens, he will probably require surgery to put things right. Also, because of the stupid growth plate involvement, we will have to monitor that closely to make certain it heals properly. Once all of those factors are taken into consideration, Corbin becomes the winner of weekly X-rays and doctor visits, for the next little while. Oh joy! The best part of all of this, is that we have a trip to Disneyland and the beach planned (and payed for) in 9 days. We tried to talk the Dr. Barker into a waterproof cast for the vacay, but it was a no go. The waterproof variety apparently does not offer enough support for our particular, special kind of break. Poor Corbin will get to watch while his brother and sister happily swim in the hotel pool. He will get to wrap his arm in plastic when we go to the beach, and he can kiss goodbye his plans of body surfing in the ocean. I think we (ESPECIALLY CORBIN) have had better days.....