Mallory was with our neighbors at their son's baseball game. It was the end of the night and as Jon and Michelle were heading over to the park to round up the girls, Mallory came running over to them, holding her arm and crying. She said she fell of the monkey bars and that it hurt really bad. Mallory has a tendency to be very dramatic with her injuries whether they are major or minor so it's hard to know how seriously injured she really is. Jon and Michelle comforted Mallory, gave her a ride home and then told Christopher what had happened. I was lucky enough to be at work when all of this was occurring.
Once she was at home, she was pretty careful with her arm and simply would not let the situation lie. That's when Christopher knew something was really wrong so off to the ER they went. Sure enough, it was broken. Mallory broke her humerus bone right above her elbow. She was not in a lot of pain as long as she was sitting still and she did a GREAT job while they took the X-ray. The staff did a great job with her! They splinted her arm and gave us a follow up appointment with Twin City Orthopedics in Burnsville.
On Friday, May 23rd, 2014 we had an appointment with an orthopedic doctor at Twin City Orthopedics in Burnsville. All three of us went in with the impression Mallory would be getting a hard cast in place of the splint. We were also told they have water proof casts these days and Mallory could get one of those if we were willing to pay the elevated cost. It was starting to sound like summer might not be so bad after all. Then they took an X-ray.
The X-ray showed a small fracture right above the elbow joint. This was bad for two reasons. 1. In a hard cast there would be some movement which would make it difficult for the bones to fuse in the right position. 2. Children are growing constantly the new bone growth would be push the broken bone out of it's corrected position if placed in a hard cast. SO - the doctor suggested pinning the broken bone back in it's corrected location. This would require surgery and the procedure would need to be done as soon as possible since the bones were already healing in the wrong position. We accepted the doctors proposal and prepared for Mallory to have the pins placed that afternoon. Here is Mallory right before her procedure. Her friends Snakey and Peace Bear were there with her.
The procedure went well and as always Mallory handled it like a pro but that afternoon was single handily the worst day of my life. Mallory having her tonsils and adenoids removed last October doesn't hold a candle. Just knowing she was in pain and so vulnerable was the worst feeling a parent can have. I am not going to sugar coat it, she was in PAIN. It was absolutely horrible.
The pins remained in her arm for the duration of her recovery but after 10 days they were able to remove the hard plaster cast that was placed on her arm after the pins were put in and give her a new, purple, sparkly fiberglass cast! It was much lighter and easier to move around it. Mallory was quite pleased with her new cast.
That afternoon she hit the neighborhood armed with a silver Sharpie and got as many signatures as she could. This is when her life became "normal" again. That cast did NOTHING to slow Mallory down. She did her daily activity as easily as before with no real complaints. I know it was itchy but she never complained. I was able to find a waterproof sleeve at Walgreens which allowed her to do some water activities as well. Those two and a half weeks were really not that difficult.
Mallory spent 31 days total in the splint/cast. You wouldn't never known she was suffering from a broken arm in any way. She played, rode her bike, performed in her dance recital and swam in a pool, hot tub and splash pad all while she had on her hard cast. It was refreshing and comforting to see that it did not ruin half of her summer. On Friday, June 18th, 2014 Mallory had her hard cast removed and her pins taken out. When the pins were put in, they left a small section of the pin sticking out so when it came time to remove them, they just pull them out. It sounds much worse then it really is. When they removed her hard cast, one of the pins just fell out. The doctor stated that means the bone is healing fine and it was a good indication the pins were ready to come out. He had to pull the other one out with a little force but once it was over Mallory said it didn't hurt at all!
Last week Tuesday we had a follow up appointment with the orthopedic doctor and he gave Mallory and her arm a clean bill of health! He cleared her to return to normal activities. I have not seen any issues with her arm since the cast has come off and she certainly has complained of anything. What started out as being a bummer of a boo boo turned into a decent memory.
Isn't is a right of passage as a child to have a broken bone or get some stitches? I think it is. I had several of both. What I am most surprised by is how well Mallory handled the whole situation in it's entirety. Sure, she cried at time, especially when they were taking X-rays and had to move her arm around, but for the most part, she was a perfect patient. I asked her when her cast was removed if she was going to have separation anxiety to which she laughed and said "uh, no way".
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