Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Broken arm update!

We are having internet issues so my posting has slowed a bit. Our desktop (which has all my pictures on it) will not connect to the internet, but Bob's laptop does with no problem. I don't get it. Sometimes it will bring up the homepage, but no other websites. Anyways...
Ezra colored this while we waited at one of our appointments.

We had a follow up appointment one week after the break. When we got to the orthopedists office they sent us down to radiology for more x-rays. After reviewing the x-rays they told me that Ezra's bone had dropped a little, but it was still totally at an acceptable angle so they wanted us to come back next week. They said that if those x-rays looked fine then we would be good to go until the 4-5 week post break range, when they would take his cast off.
These x-rays are from the day of the break immediately after they put on the cast.
 Two weeks post break we came back, but this time with Bob. We were supposed to be quick and then drop Bob off at school and then I would head to my presidency meeting. After all the trip was pretty quick last time. Once again we were sent down for x-rays, and once again we were told that his bone had dropped. It had gone from a 18 degree angle to a 23 degree angle in a week. They said that they could accept a 30 degree angle in a child his age, but that we would need to come back again next week to make sure that it didn't keep dropping. They also wanted to replace his cast, because it was loose around the top and clearly loose on the x-rays. So what took a half hour the previous visit took over two hours this time. Needless to say Bob got to school much later than he hoped and I missed the first hour of my meeting.

These x-rays are from the 1 week follow-up.
You can see a slight angulation at the end of the bone in the one below.
I wish I had more x-rays, but this is all they gave me.
I was tempted to head straight to radiology for the start of our third visit, but when I checked in at orthopedics they said that the doctor had ordered x-rays with the cast off, so we were to go to the cast room and have this cast cut off. They wrapped Ezra's arm with an ace bandage and half the cast and sent us down to x-ray. This time they said that the bone did not drop any further and that we should be good to not come back for another 4-5 weeks. While Ezra's cast was off so the doctor could look at his arm she was telling me how it would take him about a week to regain full range of motion in his elbow after he got the cast off. He then completely straightened his arm, much to the doctors surprise. This time when they put the cast back on they just did it with Velcro strips, so we can take it off. He can have it off for bath time and bed time. After about 3 weeks with this cast we could start to wean him off of it, and let him go longer without it. We are now about 2 1/2 weeks into that and I let Ezra have it off more than I probably should. I just keep forgetting to put it back on in the morning. He doesn't really seem to mind if it is off or on though, which is nice. I'm glad I'm not fighting him.  It has been nice to have a break from all the doctors visits, and probably good for him to get a break from all the x-rays.

2 comments:

Crystal said...

That is great that it is healing so well!

Charmayne said...

Sweet Ezra ~ he hasn't had it easy when it comes to medical issues. What a strong little spirit he has and what a testament to the person he will become.