Broken bones

On Saturday August 6th, 2016, while camping at Rock Creek Reservoir on the east side of Mt. Hood, Henry tripped and fell at our campground. He landed with his forearm hitting a outcropped root and he arm was immediately not looking "normal". He calmed down relatively quickly, but Jon immediately came to get me from the tent where I was putting Leo down for nap and said "Henry broke his arm". I bolted out of the tent, and yes, his lower arm was bulging abnormally and he couldn't wiggle his fingers. Because our friends Zoe and Ryan had just arrived and Leo was still sleeping in the tent, I stayed back with them to help set up their camp, while Jon drove an hour to The Dalles (the closest hospital) to get it checked, just in case. We couldn't believe that it was actually broken, so we decided we should keep camping in case it was a "false alarm". But sure enough, it was broken, both the radius and ulna in the middle of his forearm were fractured. They put it in a temporary splint and told us to follow up first thing Monday with our providers. So Monday morning, with some fanagling with Kaiser Medical system (since the original referral did not come from one of their providers), we found ourselves at the Kaiser Sunnybrook fracture clinic for a cast.

While they were gone to the hospital, Zoe told me she was thinking, "maybe Jon and Margot just never noticed that Henry's arm was deformed and its not actually broken".

Looking pretty happy with his orange cast

a cast doesn't slow this boy down

safety first. holding hands with Kai while crossing the street

After one week with the cast it appeared that the healing was going really well.

Left: after 1 week in the cast. Right: original break

And then we saw the second x-ray. So the orthopedist attempted to "mold" it with a new cast. This time a blue one. It was definitely uncomfortable for Henry as the doctor squeezed and put pressure to try and straighten the bone as they were setting his new cast.

Left: original break. Right:after 1 week

After another week with the 2nd cast, the angle of the bones were the same. So they gave us the option to have it re-broken. Umm, no thank you! Apparently at this age, because his bones will double in size, even if it heals a little crooked, it will auto correct itself and straighten out as it grows. Here is more info, if you are curious...so cool how our body repairs itself! Especially in little kids.

So until then, we are avoiding pools and any fun water play, which is a bummer at the end of August with beautiful PNW summer days. And Henry has been such a trooper through it all. He has adapted so well and continues to just enjoy life in spite of it all. What an inspiration!