Broken Leg

It all began pretty much like any other evening in the Dillard house. Bryce had just had a blowout, so he was stripped down to his diaper. I was in the boy’s room trying to find Bryce a clean outfit. I could hear Jack running in the hall. I even shouted out to him to stop running. Then I heard him crying. I was prepared to give him a quick kiss and then a short lecture on running in the house. Jack has a really high pain tolerance, and typically he bounces right up even after pretty bad injuries. But when I came out of the room, and looked at Jack in the hall, I knew something was not right. I knew by Jack's cry, and the little ball that he was curled into, that this was not a typical injury. I asked Jack what had happened. Between shouts of pain, he told me that the golf ball he was running with was in his leg and he needed me to get it out. Jack was grabbing his leg and saying, "Get it out, get it out." I ran to the freezer and grabbed our Boo Boo Buddy, (a small Nemo ice pack) carried him to the couch, took off his pants, and gave him the frozen fish. I knew by looking that Jack's leg was broken. I called Marty and we decided that I could not transport Jack to the hospital. He was in severe pain, and we felt an upper leg injury was serious enough to call 911. The firefighters came quickly, and by then Jack was sweating and shaking in pain. He refused to let the firefighters touch his leg. He had to, "Keep the Boo Boo Buddy on my leg." Jack was under the impression that Nemo might fix the pain.
Eventually, the paramedics arrived. They ended up giving Jack and IV and a shot of morphine (which freaked me out) for the pain. The paramedics stabilized Jack, splinted his leg, and transported Jack to Seattle Children's Hospital.



At Children's they took X rays, and sure enough he had a broken femur. That evening they set his leg in a temporary splint. He was admitted overnight. We were taken to a floor with lots of really sick children. The overnight stay really helped us to put things into perspective; we realized that all in all we were very lucky and that Jack is an otherwise healthy boy.
In the morning, Jack was put to sleep using general anesthesia. I was worried a great deal and even cried a little, until I stepped into the parent waiting room. In the waiting area I saw so many small sick babies and children. I realized what we were going through was so minor, that Jack was just getting a cast and would be fine quickly, unlike many of the other children in the waiting area. The orthopedic specialist Dr. Song set Jack's leg in a "spica" cast. The spica cast goes around his waist, and down his entire left leg. In the late evening, after Jack had recovered from the anesthetic, we were discharged.



We are now on day 3. Jack is still in a good deal of pain. The good news is that children heal quickly. He will be in the cast for 5 weeks. The doctors expect no long term damage will be done. The bad news is he can't walk at all for 5 weeks. Even if he wanted to walk, the cast puts his left leg at a 90 degree angle, which will prevent any attempts at walking. The doctor said after a few weeks, if he is up for it, he can try to crawl. I can't imagine how he will survive the lack of mobility. Jack is such a go go go kind of boy. So far he was watched the movie “Cars” 6 times (seriously).



Jack's main request after the cast was put on was a sushi dinner. So once we got him home, and fairly comfortable, his first meal was Japanese food.