Pierson's Broken Arm

You may have noticed in all of our Christmas pictures Pierce has been sporting this lovely blue cast.  If you didn't notice then you probably need glasses.  I have an excellent eye doctor I can refer you to if that is the case.  :)  Thankfully the cast is off and the broken arm is old news, but this definitely needs to be included in our blog - our first broken bone.  Well not our first broken bone. Heaven knows Ryan and I have both had our fair share of broken bones, so I should say the first broken bone of our children.

Pierson was playing with his buddy Joey one afternoon, they flying paper airplanes, which I used to think was a safe activity!  Us moms didn't see it happen so I am uncertain of what exactly happened, but apparently Pierce and Joey both dove on the ground to catch a paper airplane and Joey's knee landed on Pierce's arm.  They came into the house, he was crying pretty hard and at first glance I thought maybe he had broken his wrist.  The way he was holding it looked like it was really hurting and his hand was just hanging from his wrist.  I took him home and we put some ice on it, he seemed to be able to move it fine and he didn't have any swelling.  We figured he sprained it and that he'd be fine so we didn't get it checked and sent him to school the next day.

Well the next afternoon I got a call from the school and had to go pick him up early.  A ball had hit his arm while playing at recess and it was really hurting him.  There was still no swelling, but we figured we better have an x ray to be sure.  Ryan took him in for the x ray that evening, the Dr. told them it wasn't broken that is must just be a bad sprain, they wrapped it up and told him to be careful with it for a few days.

Well the next morning after I'd sent him off to school I got a call from the Dr. saying I needed to bring Pierson back in.  Why??? His arm was broken!  The problem was that they were thinking he had hurt his wrist so when they looked at the x ray that was the area they were looking at.  The x ray did show the break but it was at the very bottom of the screen and when looking at it on the computer it was covered by the date and information.  So when the radiologist looked at the x ray in the morning he immediately called the Dr. to let him know this was a broken arm.  Pierce had a choir field trip that day, which he was really excited about so I didn't go get him, I figured he'd call me if it was really hurting him.  Yes, I felt like the mother of the year sending my son to school for 2 days with a broken arm!   When he came home I told him the news and we headed over to get the cast put on.

I thought it must be a tiny hairline fracture if the Dr. hadn't seen it, but it was very noticeable, even to me, both bones were actually fractured just below his elbow.  The image just needed to be moved up on the computer screen and there it was!  He was a really good sport about the whole thing.  He seemed really interested watching the Dr. put the cast on, and of course he was excited to pick a BYU blue color.  Then once we got in the car and and cast started to harden I could literally just see his spirits fall.  He was so sad once he realized how uncomfortable it was and how little he could move that arm.  I was so sad because his Christmas piano recital was one week away.  He had been working so hard on 2 recital pieces this year and had one of them memorized for weeks and played it beautifully, the other was a harder piece and he was working so hard to get it and was so close to having it memorized.  I was so sad he wouldn't  be able to play.  I tried to cheer him up with trip to the store for a prize and Arctic Circle for a shake.  Julianne and Joey were so sweet to come over when we got home and bring him a get well balloon, a treat and a card Joey made for him.  You'd have never known anything was wrong when Joey showed up with a treat for him!

The first few days in the cast were frustrating for him, he couldn't write well or cut with scissors and it was just plain awkward.  His teacher was really nice to help him at school and Ryan and I wrote out most of his homework for him.   He decided to go ahead and participate in his piano recital even though he could only play the left hand notes.  Kathryn was so sweet and played the right hand with him.  I promised him we could have a special recital at home once the cast was off.  After a few days he was doing great and he did just fine adjusting to the cast.  Fortunately he only had to have it on for 4 weeks!

Here he is on the last day of the cast, getting ready to go get it taken off, he was happy about that!

He was a little nervous about that saw!  And Jensen was terrified, the noise is pretty bad!

I took him out for a celebration lunch at Ice Berg and then we came home and SCRUBBED that arm!  I gave him a little spa treatment and his arm was looking great after that.  It took him about a week to start using it normally. He was so used to eating with his left hand,  I'd notice him doing it and remind him he could use his right hand again!   He started working hard exercising his hand and  re-learning his piano songs.  A week and a half after getting it off he felt ready to perform his songs.  We had a fun little recital for him at home, I made special treats and we had Grandma, The Halls, The Woodburys and The Brooks come over.  He loved it and I know he felt really special having everyone there for him.  Now he is back in business and I'm reminding him to "be careful, I don't want another broken arm!"