I've done the whole cast thing before so I knew what to expect. The person scheduling Ben's appointment with the orthopedic doctor warned us that we would wait. She was right. Instead of putting us in a room after the x-ray they had us wait in the casting room, which is wide open and carries sound like you wouldn't believe.I tried to keep Zack occupied so he wouldn't sing his funny (they are not funny) potty word songs. We played "I'm thinking of an animal" and debated the pros and cons of various cast color choices. Ben was restless and sat precariously on a too high bench wiggling too much and making me nervous that he was going to break something else. And then the way he was moving his wrist made me wonder if it was even broken. I half expected the doctor to come in and declare it all a big mistake.
When he finally walked in, he took one look at Ben's X-ray and asked me what kind of insurance we have. That's not a good sign. He showed me how Ben's bone was broken and said they couldn't accept that much of an angle and a whole bunch of stuff I couldn't follow because Zack was playing with the oxygen machine and Ben finally did fall off the bench. He told me that they would get Ben into the hospital first thing in the morning so he could fix it. Not a big deal, but Ben would have to be put to sleep and he'd wake up with a cast. What? Why? Huh? And then the nurse was asking me allergy questions and giving me surgery instructions. I made his "post-op" appointment and left wondering what had just happened.
It took me all day to get a handle on the whole thing. Apparently I am not good with surprises. I don't ask important questions. I couldn't even remember much of what Dr. Ritchie said. There was some v-word he said multiple times, but I couldn't recall what it was. Ben knew (volar) and had to tell me more than once.
This morning at 6:45 we checked into the American Fork Hospital for a "closed reduction of the left wrist." Luckily they used gas to put him under and did the IV after he was out. All I know is that the doctor pushed the bone back into position and put him in a cast. See, all fixed.
Before he aligned it, the bone was broken so that it was pointing down (and would have touched where the k is on the picture). It only happens about 10% of the time, usually the break goes up, and they just cast it and off you go. Ben will be sporting the above the elbow cast for 3-4 weeks and then can hopefully move on to a shorter cast for another 3-4 weeks. There goes his summer. At least he can swim and it doesn't hurt him too much. Now if I can just keep him out of the roller blades and off the skateboard we should be ok.
