What I learned this week...

Nothing fixes it like a neon, green cast. Atleast our break wasn't as bad as the girl next to us, who had also fallen off the monkey bars.

Moral of the story:
Just say no to the monkey bars!




The short story:
When you suspect your child has a broken bone or needs stitches in their hands, feet or face: take them to Childrens' Hospital! They are the best!



The long story:
Nobody saw Dalton fall, Carl heard him crying on the ground seconds after it happened. In all honesty, when I got him I figured he had pulled his arm out of joint. (he did that a couple of years ago and we took him to a walk in clinic where they popped it back in and we were on our way, totally fine). I knew there was a serious problem by the way he was crying, but I couldn't feel a break and didn't want to sit in an ER for 4 hours only to have them pop his arm back in. So, we found a walk in clinic that was closing in 10 minutes.
They did x-rays without giving him anything for the pain (which was excruciating- he screamed through the whole thing- Carl could hear him in the waiting room.) Then when the doc came in to talk to us, he said, "I'm not an x-ray tech and I don't know exactly how to read these x-rays, but it looks pretty apparent it is broken to me. Go see an orthopedic". Uh- okay... The nurse who wrapped his arm kept asking the other nurse if she was doing it right, while Dalton was still crying from the pain. They finally gave him ibuprofren when I asked for it. My friend who was at Childrens' the week before with her 4 year old's broken arm had a completely opposite experience. (pain meds, doc's who could read x-rays and nurses who knew how to bandage a broken arm).
Needless to say after much advice and help with carpooling from friends (thank you!!!), I took him to a pediatric orthopedic at Childrens' and had a much better experience. They knew what they were doing and knew how to treat a hurt child. Lesson learned: the walkin clinic may be faster, but Childrens' will be better in the long run!



NOTE TO SELF: Clean the ice cream off his fingers before they cast it; because you can't clean inside the cast and within a few days, it will smell....