Lessons Learned from Breaking An Arm

Memorial Day 2010 will be one to remember!

We started the day with by going to the church Memorial Day program. Liam helped in the raising of the flag with a few other boy scouts. The program was nice and it was almost time for breakfast. Those "healthier" ward members moved to the street for the fun run/bike/scooter while the rest of us got in line for food. Liam decided to ride his bike in the race. Being 12 years old, he and a few other boys got in front and took off!! Liam made the distance and came in FIRST PLACE! However, there was no time to celebrate. Upon crossing the finish line he hit the brakes. Now this was only the 2nd time riding the new bike and he must not have been aware of the brake system. He ended up flipping over the top of the handles and onto the ground. The bike landed on top of him. I didn't see it, luckily others did and rushed to help. His scout master came to get me and I hurried over. He was in a lot of pain. We were very lucky and had a full medical team there quickly. Our ward had a doctor, nurse, and EMT that came to get him ready to transport to the hospital. I'm so thankful for those wonderful people!!

With a professional splint job we were off to the hospital.....

Turned out to be a "buckle" or "green stick" break. Not too bad as far as breaks go.

Finally the pain meds kicked in and he calmed down.

He was really in shock for the entire day though.

He had to wait an entire week to get the hard cast because of the swelling and mostly the scrapes. He decided on a lovely blue cast that only needed to be on for 4 weeks. It will be off on June 29th!

So, what lessons were learned?

1. Don't hit your front brakes!!
2. My brain freezes up when there is an actual emergency situation, even though I have had a TON of first aid training.
3. Go to the Orem Community Hospital if the emergency isn't life threatening. There was NO wait. We were the only ones in the ER the whole time.
4. When at a ward food function don't hang back and pretend you aren't eager to eat. Get the food and eat it BEFORE something goes wrong and you have to walk away from a full plate of food that you didn't get to taste!
5. If your child is in shock for the day don't try to take them out to eat. (they may be nauseous)
6. If you break your arm you will get a lot of gifts and treats!!!
7. If you break your arm you can get your mom to do things for you!
8. We live in a neighborhood full of very kind and concerned people.