This One Is Broken

An update on Soren. Friday was spent waiting. On Thursday Ozark Ortho called to say we were to head to Bentonville first thing in the morning and just wait to be called in to get a cast. I called them every hour to ask if it was our turn and every hour we were told we'd get a phone call sometime in the next hour from the doctor assigned to Soren's case. We spent the day in Bentonville running errands, going to the library, etc. 

By 2:30 I was pretty upset that we had been waiting and calling all day and by then I figured getting a cast was out of the question and was just assuming they'd at least splint it to avoid further injury. I needed to go pick up the girls from school so I called one last time to see if I had time to drop off the big kids at a playdate or if I should just come back over to the ortho office and bring everyone with me. This was when the receptionist told me the drs had gone home at 12 for the weekend and they would call us Tuesday to schedule something and try to keep Soren off his injury until then. I was livid. He didn't even have a splint yet!  They recommended we go to the ER and get it splinted ASAP. ASAP? HOW, after leaving someone hanging all day long, is this suddenly an emergency? A phone call to the ER revealed that they would refuse to treat Soren without first having brand new x-rays (even though he'd just had them done at that hospital less than 24 hours earlier). Not only would this cost another $700, I had to just say NO to more radiation.  Totally unnecessary.  I'm not doing that to my baby.  Our pediatrician called every pharmacy and medical supply place in NWA and a bunch of other pediatricians and could not track down a tiny leg split for Soren. Everyone carries them but everyone also happened to be out of stock.  Dude, how many babies are breaking their legs this month in NWA that everyone is out of leg splints? Our pediatrician finally recommending just calling our around among our friends and seeing if we could borrow a brace or splint from a local friend. Facebook to the rescue! Gulbransens had one for us that fit perfectly.  Soren wasn't super impressed. 

He learned to walk on the splinted leg pretty quickly and was all over the place in spite of our efforts to "keep him off of it".

I spent all Monday and Tuesday calling Ortho and harassing the ladies at the front desk to get him an appointment.  We finally got in at 3pm on Wednesday.  We decided to make the job really easy for the orthopedic surgeon and edited Soren's outfit with a sharpie before the appointment: 

I set an all time in the history of my life record and arrived with Soren at our appointment 25 minutes early.  We still waited for an hour and 20 minutes. Our appointment was a whopping total of 3 minutes and 45 seconds with the orthopedic surgeon. Seriously.  He pulled up our Xray again and said something like, "Well, now it's been almost 3 weeks since the initial injury. I would've gotten him in a cast right away but now it's been so long that it's past the point of necessity.  He's a tough little guy that's for sure. These X-rays are nearly a week old but you can already see enough new bone growth and the buckle fracture is healing perfectly on it's own, so let's just leave it alone and let it do it's thing. He can continue to wear the splint another week if it doesn't bother him. In 4 months, you could take an Xray and never know this leg was ever broken.  It was not a good break, but we couldn't have asked for a better scenario as far as recovery goes." 

I absolutely could have asked for a better scenario for recovery.  It would have gone something like this: 

When the Orthopedic surgeon looked at the X-rays on thursday, he would've called us and said, "hey, it's going to heal on it's own. take it easy." and sent us a bill for his expertise and consult.  

Instead, we spent 6 days worrying and trying to keep him off of his feet and almost racking up $1,000 visit to the ER.   I'm so glad we decided to splint it ourselves. 

In the end, the important thing is that Soren's leg will be completely healed in a matter of weeks.  There is nothing that can take that baby down. He's a strong little fighter and is just so sweet through it all. I am so lucky to have him. 

I'm also thankful to have experienced this mothering rite of passage.  More knowledge for the books and a big fat tear filled reminder that I am not really in control, and I need to be ok with that. 

Thanks to everyone who prayed for our little baby guy.  I know those prayers assisted in his quick and flawless bone recovery. The buckle fracture was non displaced, but was still a pretty bad break.   I'm thankful for Priesthood blessings and prayers, and the faith of all those who offered prayers that healed him.  I have no doubt that this particular child is highly favored of the Lord. 

Oh, and the doctor luckily came with a funny bone and did have a laugh at Soren's labeled outfit.