Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Worst Day and Night Ever!!!!!

I wish that I was posting about my vacations like I wanted to but unfortunately I'm not. Last Sunday, Father's Day, Blake broke his femur and we spent the night at the hospital to put the cast on and control his pain. Which was a lot of pain! So how did it happen? I'm not really sure but I can guess. We were all outside playing with some soccer balls. And when I say all I mean myself, Doug, Ethan, Blake, my nephew Braeden, Papa, Kyle, and Garret. So 5 adults and three kids. How could someone get hurt with that much supervision? Oh ya Blake has my genes. So we think that Blake's foot found a divet in the grass and his leg twisted or he fell sideways while he twisted with his foot stuck. None the less his femur broke. Biggest bone in the body and the littlest two year old. I still am dumbfounded by this and just don't understand why or how! When he fell onto the soft grass he was on all fours and not crying yet so we thought he was fine. Now looking back he must have been in shock. Doug picked him up and set him back on his feet obviously not knowing. Our first reaction was that he was just fine. It's grass. Who gets hurt in the grass. Once his feet hit the ground again that's when the screaming started and the crying didn't end until 13 hours later. Literally. After he wasn't calming down and he started screaming harder every time I moved while I was holding him we decided to go to the ER. I thought maybe he pulled something or tore a ligament. No way did I think it was possible that he broke a bone, let alone the largest and strongest one at that. So once at the ER we very quickly found out that his femur was broken. The staff at NIMC was absolutely amazing and made things go so quickly. When I found out that his femur was broken I sobbed so hard. Even more than I was already crying. Let me tell you it is so hard to not move when you are crying that hard. I was holding Blake as still as I could but the poor thing still felt every breath I took. He had already had a dose of pain meds by this point but a femur fracture is very painful.

So next step was meeting the ortho surgeon who came so quickly. We were so lucky that Blake didn't need surgery. His break was huge but it was not compound and would be easily set back into place. So we waited for the OR to open up so that we could get his SPICA cast on. Basically his body cast. Unfortunately the OR was taking longer than the Doc expected so in the interest in decreasing Blake's pain he did it right there in the ER. They put us in their largest triage room and got to work. Doug and I even helped. I am so thankful to this doctor. He didn't even wait for an OR nurse knowing that it would be so much easier if he did. Instead he got to work with ER nurses that didn't know what he was doing since they never do that in the ER, just to get Blake into a more comfortable position. Blake was more than amazing. I'm even crying thinking about how brave and amazing he was. They were going to sedate him but he was doing so great that they decided not to. You might think that's cruel but that would have ment much higher risks and he could have woken up sick and vomitting reardless of the anti nausea meds. So they gave him some morphine and went to town. One of the only funny parts of this whole thing was that the doctor had to make a whole for where the diaper would go and he was sawing away cast around the pee pee area and I think Doug was extremely close to passing out at that point. Blake was funny though too. He had a huge IV in his arm and we are putting on a gigantic cast and he was crying about the pulse ox thing on his finger. It's this little thing they put on your finger to make sure you get enough oxygen. Anyway the nurse took it off and moved it to his toe and mid crying Blake says "Thank you". It was soooooo cute.

So once the gigantic cast was on, Blake was free to fall asleep if he could through all the pain. The morphine helped but since he's so little they can't give him that much. Once he fell asleep he kept on waking up from massive muscle spasms that caused him a lot of pain. We finally got up to the pediatric unit and into his bed. I pushed the two beds together so I could sleep next to Blake. Anyone that knows him knows that my hair is his security blanket so I slept as close as I could so he could have it. That night was the longest night of my life. Not only did I need to check his diaper every hour but Blake was in so much pain and it was excruciating to watch him go thru that. I don't think I ever cried that much in my life. The doctor even begged me to not cry.

By about 8:30 the next morning he finally fell asleep for about two hours and woke up in a much better mood. He saw my mom and a micky mouse balloon from his aunt and cousins and smiled. Best moment ever! To see him smile again was heaven. So after talking to specialists, social workers, and a police officer we worked out how we would get safely home and we are receiving a special car seat from Children's Hospital today. I was soooooo glad to take Blake home. The nurses were all amazing but there's nothing like home to make you feel better.

So now we are home and have our own hospital bed set up in the living room next to the couch where Blake and I will be spending the night for the next week. He's doing much better now and is not in as much pain but still is in some pain. We are medicating him around the clock and won't stop until Saturday. Thank you to everyone who has helped and called and came to visit. We love you. If I haven't called to tell you what happened yet then you're not family. I have just been so busy taking care of Blake that I contacted a few family members and let them call down the chain. So if anyone wants to come visit you are more than welcome. Looks like we won't be going anywhere for a while.

Here's a pic before the pain meds were finally easing the pain.
After pain meds had finally started easing the pain. Leave it to Blake to be a goof ball.


8 comments:

  1. Poor guy. You might want to check out what other parents of spica cast kids report at www.castcooler.com/spicacastlp.html

    Rick Dunagan
    www.castcooler.com

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  2. oh man! that's so crazy! and so sad!!! i would have been a total wreck too! the diaper cut-out is sooo crazy too. how long will it take to heal? we love you!

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  3. He is such a tough guy!! Hate to see such a tramatic thing happen to cute little Blake. So glad you are home now and Blake can feel at ease with his own family! Take care !

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  4. Oh how sad Melissa! My prayers are with Blake for a speedy recovery. Hang in there! Do you need anything?

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  5. Oh Melissa,
    I am so sorry to hear! I too have spent a day like that in the hospital with a screaming child, and it is agony to watch your baby in that much pain. And not be able to do anything about it.I actually still haunts me to this day. I am so glad you can just take it easy at home now. What a cute little guy you have! He is beautiful! What an awful experience. If you need anything from me, just let me know. I be thinking of your family.

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  6. Oh my goodness - I am so sorry and just blown away!! I don't know how you went through that. Blake is one tough kid, but it always seems to be harder on the mom. I guess that means six flags is out for awhile ;) Love you, love your family, praying for a quick recovery!!

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  7. Oh wow, it's so hard having hurt or sick kids. Hang in there! They really do heal fast, I think Aniela's cast was only on for about 4 weeks. Let me know if there is any thing I can do to help. Hugs and prayers for all of you!

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  8. Holy crap. That's crazy stuff! I hope he gets better soon! Poor little dude.

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