2011 In Review: Broken Leg

One of our more memorable 2011 events was Gabe's broken leg.  In late September, literally like 2 days after we returned from vacation, he fractured his left shin.  I was at work, and got a call from Dan letting me know the school had called (cue panic).  Gabe had fallen on the playground while trying to slide down the fireman-type pole and hurt his leg, but was resting and would be going back to class.  Hmmm....ok.  Never like to get a call from school or hear they were hurt, but didn't seem too major.

About five minutes later, I get another call from Dan.  This time, the school called and thinks he should come pick Gabe up.  He's pretty sad and can't really stand on his leg (cue elevated levels of panic). 

Twenty minutes later: another call from Dan.  They are home, but Gabe is sad and can't stand on his leg at all.  I suggest he take him in to immediate care to have it checked out (trying hard not to let the panic take over....breathe..).

Head to a meeting, checking my phone every 10 seconds or so.  Text from Dan:  it's fractured.  Leave meeting immediately and head home.

He ended up getting a splint at the immediate care, and a follow-up appointment with an orthopedic specialist for 2 days later.  Those were 2 exceptionally long days.  The splint went all the way up the back of his leg to the hip, and was wrapped snuggly with an ACE bandage and a little bit of padding. It was really uncomfortable for him.  He didn't sleep much AT ALL (nor did I) the first night, mostly because of discomfort and itching.  I tried everything - q-tips, sticking my finger in there....ugh....just a long, uncomfortable, painful night. 

Things were a little better the next day, but MUCH better after he got the actual cast (surprisingly).  The orthopedic doctor was excellent, the fracture was fairly minor and he even got to pick out the color of his cast (purple!).  The downsides: no walking AT ALL, no walking cast (which is what I had been hoping for) and it needed to be on for four whole weeks.  He also got really freaked out by the crutches after falling a couple of times onto the sore leg.  Boo.  That meant we were carrying him almost everywhere for the next month.

Somehow we managed, though.  We mostly carried him around at home (and a couple weeks in he got REALLY good at scootching and crawling around) and at school he got to take the elevator and get pushed around in a wheelchair by his buddy for four whole weeks.  Everyone got to know him (and Dan, who went everyday at lunch to help him go to the bathroom!), and frankly I think he enjoyed the extra attention!  He had a lot of help and support, for which we were very appreciative.

Baths were a challenge - we couldn't get the cast wet at all, so we sat a stool in the tub, covered the leg with a plastic bag, and propped it on the side.  Not fun, but it did the trick.

On the upside, he got lots of fun signatures, including one from Olympic marathoner Ryan Hall while at the expo for the Chicago Marathon!

To celebrate the cast removal and as a thank you to all his classmates and teachers, I made some cast-shaped cookies to send to school.  At about 10 p.m. that night I was regretting that decision and wishing I would have picked up something store bought (I am always overly-optimistic about these things!), but had already promised Gabe, so purple cast-shaped cookies it was.

Even after the cast was off, he had a really hard time with soreness and stiffness.  The orthopedic dr. almost put another cast on before we left the appointment.  But she gave us two weeks to see how he did, but still no running or jumping.  Ironically, this is when he started using the crutches and did really well with them. (Thankfully he had Mario for support!) This was quite the experience, one I hope we never have again!  However, I was super proud of Gabe and his perserverence through the enitre thing.  He was a real champ.  And super thankful for friends, family, classmates, friends and teachers who supported him and encouraged him with kind words, cards and extra hugs and kisses.  Most of all, I'm thankful that he is back to his normal self - which is not something to ever take for granted.