My Son Broke His Arm, And I Left For Pizza......

Lounge By itsmylife Updated 20 Oct 2007 , 12:25pm by itsmylife

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itsmylife Posted 17 Oct 2007 , 5:37am
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Ok... here is a 'guilty mommy' story.

We had some good friends over to watch football on Sunday (mom, dad, and 8yo son). Well, we got my son's power wheels jeep out for the boys to play on. My son was driving while our friend's son was just sitting on the back. So the kids decide to switch, and my son wasn't hanging on when his friend hit the gas. We all turn around to hear the screaming from my son as he's laying in a crumpled heap on the grass. He just rolled off the back of the thing. icon_surprised.gif

So, he gets up and runs to me complaining about his wrist. It wasn't red, it wasn't swollen.... fingers looked fine - not puffy or blue, etc. It looked fine. We just chalked it up to him being overly dramatic (hard to imagine with a 4 yo, right?), and his lack of a nap for that day. We ordered a pizza, so me and my friend left to go pick it up (cue the huge guilt trip now).

Well, the rest of the evening he would cry a little and then a few minutes later would be laughing or playing. So, I wrapped it in a little ace bandage and put him to sleep.

I take him to pre-k on Monday, and tell the teacher about it (his wrist still looked perfectly normal). Well, she calls me about an hour after I drop him off to tell me that he bent down to pick something up, and just started screaming and crying uncontrollably that his wrist hurt.

So I pick him up and take him to the doctor. She has him do a few exercises (most of which he couldn't do), and then she points out a small swollen area on the inside of his wrist (how the hell did I miss this?). Her opinion is a fracture or a really bad sprain. So we go for xrays.

Found out this morning it was fractured. Had a 2 o'clock appt to get a cast. It took three and a half damn hours to get in. I was livid. Why did I even have a damn appt????? A half hour late... ok, understandable... but 3.5 hours?!?!?! (this is a rant for another day icon_mad.gificon_mad.gificon_mad.gif )

Anyhow... he now has a cool, blue cast (can't wait for the novelty of that to wear off), and I feel terrible that I went to get pizza when he had just broken his arm.

He seems fine now (cast isn't bothering him).. but I just feel so bad that I didn't help him! icon_cry.gif I think I felt a few more hairs turning grey.......

13 replies
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jules06 Posted 17 Oct 2007 , 7:21am
post #2 of 14

Don't beat yourself up about it - I know so many instances of kids with broken bones that go undiagnosed for a day or so !! My friends' little girl broke her collarbone falling off her bed & she didn't take her to the Dr. until a day or so later !! Big guilt trip !!
My niece broke a bone in her foot fooling around on a shopping trolley, my sis didn't take her to Dr. for a day or so...big guilt trip !!!

It happens to the best of us icon_biggrin.gif

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Ursula40 Posted 17 Oct 2007 , 8:29am
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Ditto, with my daughter's little finger, thought it was a sprain, nope was broken (and I'm a nurse, should've known better, right?)

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fmcmulle Posted 17 Oct 2007 , 10:57am
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I agree don't beat yourself up over this. My son was playing flag football, I think he was six years old. A kid jumped on his back and the coach brought him over to me and told me what had happened and that his sholder was hurting. He sat in my lap for a little bit and went back out to play. He cried off and on during the night so early morning was at the ER and sure enough the collar bone was broken. I felt absolutely horrible for sending him back out to play. He still reminds me of it and he is 25. in a joking manner though.
Things happen and us mothers are only human, we make mistakes to. I know its hard to believe but we do... so just give him a little extra attention and things will be fine.. thumbs_up.gif

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navywifetrat Posted 17 Oct 2007 , 12:14pm
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I agree with the others - don't beat yourself up over it - my DD broke her thumb on a Monday. I took her to the doc on Wednesday and he even doubted it was broken because of the exercises he did with her. He said if it wasn't better to take her tomorrow for an x-ray. She had a field trip and didn't want to miss it so I tried for Friday. The x-ray place would never call me back and I had an ultrasound in the afternoon so it waited until Monday! I got a call from the doctor's office and said, yes it was fractured. She finally got the cast a week later. We are just the parents who don't like to run to the ER for everything!

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4Gifts4Lisa Posted 17 Oct 2007 , 3:32pm
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Poor mommy!

I would have done the same thing.

My friend actually broke a vertebrae in her BACK while playing soccer with her kids...got up...felt okay but just sore. Was painting her room the next day and twisted just right...and then the pain hit. She then had surgery and was bedridden for about 6 months. Scary stuff.

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artist63 Posted 18 Oct 2007 , 1:39am
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See you have nothing to feel guilty about. I did the same thing with my son, he fell but like your son his wrist wasn't swollen and he didn't want to stop playing to put ice on it so I figured he was fine. He fussed a bit at night but when it came time to go to school the next mornng OH HOW IT HURT. To teach him a lesson ( here comes the big guilt trip) I made him walk to the doctors. That would teach him to want to play hookey EXCEPT I got him there and low and behold his darn wrist was broke BAD Mommy. Needless to say to this day ( he is married and they are pregnant with their first) I still here about the time I made him walk ALL the way to the drs. with a broken wrist. DOnt worry about it kids are resiliant its us moms that will be scared forever

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dueter Posted 18 Oct 2007 , 6:14pm
post #8 of 14

Happens to the best of us.
My son was taking a bath and some how..."Oh no Mom I wasn't goofing off"...fell and hit his shoulder. Well I tell him thats what you get for horsing around in the bathroom now go to bed. Fast forward a week same DS is at school and falls down. Nurse calls and tells me that she thinks that she thinks he is seriously hurt his arm. I take him to the local hospital...XRays show broken collar bone. They cann't fix it. Need to see specialist. Go to specialist he tells me to late to straighten out the bone..it was over lapping on the broken ends. The injury had started to heal and it could cause more damage to fix it. He tells me that the break is at least a week old icon_redface.gificon_redface.gif Crap, bad mommy. DS is 19 now and takes great pleasure in showing people his "lumpy" collar bone (yes you can see it because he is so skinny) while giving me that look.

Don't sweat the small stuff. Now around here the standard reply is "Your alive aren't ya"

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AuntieElle Posted 18 Oct 2007 , 7:38pm
post #9 of 14

when my baby siter was about 18 months she had a broken arm! A dime size bruise was all she had. She was soooo fat you couldn't see all the swelling. My next to youngest sister had climbed up into her crib and fell onto her arm breaking it. She didn't fuss anymore than usual but didn't want that arm messed with at all. You aren't a bad Mama! It happens all the time!

Elle

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itsmylife Posted 19 Oct 2007 , 2:09pm
post #10 of 14

Love the responses.... nice to know I'm not alone icon_lol.gif

I just felt so bad for thinking he was just being whiney. Oh well... live and learn I guess. A friend of mine told me about when she broke her arm when she was four. She was picking apples while standing on a small metal bucket. Her sister pushed her off the bucket, and she started crying about her arm. A few days later, her mom finally took her to the doctor (same thing.... mom thought she was just trying to get attention). She actually had two little broken bones.

He still seems fine with the thing. When I took him to school on Wednesday, there was another little boy with an arm cast, and the two of them started whacking each other (cast to cast).... so I guess that's good. icon_rolleyes.gif

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mbelgard Posted 19 Oct 2007 , 2:20pm
post #11 of 14

My nephew broke his leg and didn't get in until the next day. He was about 2 but wasn't walking more than a step or two or talking yet and he was on a stool with his brother and fell off. My mom had them and he wouldn't stand up, they called the doctor but were told to wait a day.

I know another family where the kid broke his leg when he was about 15 months old and wouldn't stay off it so he had to have it reset after it had started healing. I'd feel so terrible about that, I hate taking my kids for shots.

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breelaura Posted 19 Oct 2007 , 6:27pm
post #12 of 14

A fracture is really hard to tell from a sprain, even for the person with the injury. I walked on a fractured ankle for two days before I finally decided it needed looking at. (I was in middle school at the time, and twisted ankles with great regularity.)

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heather2780 Posted 20 Oct 2007 , 2:08am
post #13 of 14

Dont feel bad these things are very hard to detect espcially if child hasnt had his nap. I will throw in a little story here when I was in the 6th grade I fell at school and got trampled in our tiny overcrowded hallway. I was taken to the nurse station where they packed bags and bags of ice on my legs I was crying and crying but then agian i was kinda a whiner. they called my mom at work but she couldnt get away so I sat all day in the office until finally my older brother came to pick me up. him and his teenage friends thought it was funny and that i was being a big baby and they just tortured me all eveing. my mom finally gets home and takes me to the doctor and I had broken my leg in several spots I had to wear a cast up to my hip for nearly a whole year. And I turned out ok

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itsmylife Posted 20 Oct 2007 , 12:25pm
post #14 of 14

Heather: WOW icon_eek.gif - You poor thing!!!! I couldn't imagine having a cast on for that long. I would've tortured the heck out of my brother after that one. LOL

Breelaura: I was just so surprised that I couldn't tell there was a problem - and the doc said the same thing about fractures and sprains being hard to distinguish (without the xrays). The xray showed that his bone bent and then cracked all the way across the radius... but it didn't shift - both pieces stayed together perfectly, so I guess that's why the cast will only be on for 4 weeks.

I think my hair dresser is going to be making a lot of money on me covering up these grey hairs.

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