Our First Broken Bone

It's been a busy last month. One that started out with a crack. Bad, pun, I know... Ethan was out on the trampoline with Owen and Chris jumping before dinner. A nightly routine  weather permitting. I heard Ethan start crying and saw Chris carry him inside. Ethan was crying, "My leg is broken!!" Anyone that knows my Sweet E, knows that he sometimes can be a tad dramatic, so we weren't too concerned at first. There was no swelling, and he was fine laying on the couch watching tv. He wouldn't walk on it and wouldn't stretch it out, but he went to bed fine and fell asleep quickly. Till about 10 that evening. Then he was up in pain almost every hour. We would get ready to take him to the ER and then he'd fall asleep. Then he'd wake up crying. It was a long night, and Chris and I were starting to feel like "parents of the year" for not taking him more seriously. The next morning we headed straight to the doctor for x-rays. The initial round didn't show much, but thankfully with more exploring we saw a slight crack in the tibia. That's when we REALLY felt like awesome parents. Armed with pain meds and an appointment the next day to see an orthopedic specialist, I drove straight to Braums for some serious comfort food. For Ethan, of course. 

The next morning we headed to the "bone doc" to get a cast. Ethan was a little leery at first, but once they started putting it on he was totally fascinated. They didn't make crutches for someone his age/size, so we tracked down a children's wheel chair for him to move around in. The whole time we were realizing how our life was going to be different for the next month, I kept feeling so grateful that it was ONLY a month. Some families deal with a handicap for a lifetime. 

Ironically, two days before Ethan's broken bone, his buddy down the street broke his tibia falling off a bar stool. The "Broken Buddies" now at least had each other to sit on the couch with and share the whole experience with. It was crazy seeing their two little bodies roll next to each other down the sidewalk in little wheel chairs! I had several moments seeing them together not knowing if I should laugh or cry!

Overall the month flew by. The hardest part was not being able to do a whole lot. Having my big kid not be able to get around was like having another baby. A big baby. So we opted to stay home most of the time. He really did wonderful at school, and his amazing teacher was so good about the extra work that a kid in a wheel chair entailed. I'm so thankful for what a sweetheart she has been!

 The cast came off almost 4 weeks after the break, and we were all a little nervous. Ethan did a fantastic job of breaking the tension when it was time to pull his pant leg up to cut off the cast and he announced, "You can't take my pants off because I'm not wearing any underwear!" Lovely. Thankfully, we were able to pull the pants up high enough and cut that red thing off. Ethan went to town scratching his leg and he molted all over the place! X-rays showed the bone was healed, but the doctor told us it would be a little bit before he was walking again. Not something we expected. Today it's been a week since the cast came off and he's just started trying to walk/hop. We'll get there...

I'm so thankful this ordeal is almost over. It's been hard. It's also been good seeing the kiddos adjust and work together to help out. Owen has stepped up and been a big helper, and Harper has at a minimum enjoyed patting Ethan's leg saying, "Okay, Bubba?". :)

This shows Ethan's good spirits in spite of a broken leg as we attempted to get some school work done... Rather than yell "focus" at  him again, I figured I might as well see how long he went with his song.. Gotta love it.