Today’s entertainment …
… was mostly playing ‘I spy’ in the waiting room at A&E.
Yesterday Josiah went to play with a friend, and just before I collected him he tripped over in their garden and put his hand out as he fell, landing mainly on his wrist. He did complain that it hurt a bit yesterday but being the sympathetic kind of parents that we are, we just sent him to bed and told him that it would feel much better after a good night’s sleep.
Well, this morning it was still painful, he couldn’t use a knife to cut pancakes at breakfast time (and they’re not exactly hard to cut), or play the piano. When he was sick during violin practice (I was only asking him to do vibrato exercises as well, I wasn’t making him use his right hand, otherwise I’d have felt really awful!) I began to think that perhaps there was something more serious wrong! So I took him off to the hospital to get it checked out. After two hours we were seen for an x-ray, and sure enough it showed a fracture on his radius, right near his wrist. Glad we checked!
Another hour later we emerged, Josiah proudly sporting a bright red cast. He chose red just because he liked it – it will clash terribly with school uniform but at least it will match his cassock! It was a simple fracture so he’s only got a soft cast, which I can take off myself in three weeks without needing to go back to the fracture clinic (you should have seen my face light up when given that option!). There’s a fair bit of flexibility in the cast around his hand, and again at the top near his elbow, but the section around his wrist is rigid. I guess it will just make him (and his friends!) take care of it while it heals. Suppose I ought to get some Calpol just in case he needs it over the next few days though …
April 13th, 2010 at 14:54
Hope it heals quickly and easily. Surprised you don’t have to go back at all.
April 13th, 2010 at 15:02
I was surprised too – but pleased as well! Saves the nhs time and money I suppose, if the doctor can be reasonably sure that a break will heal quickly and cleanly, so it makes sense.
April 13th, 2010 at 15:03
I hope it heals quickly and how fab he doesn’t need to go back to the clinic. I am still traumatised by the time Charlie broke his elbow as it was such a nightmare!
April 13th, 2010 at 15:25
Bless him! I fractured my right wrist when I was 10 but the casts weren’t as snazzy then. It was a plaster of paris cast that went right up over my elbow and I had to have it on for 6 weeks. A very frustrating 6 weeks for such an independant character as me!! I couldn’t even cut up my own dinner! I hope he’s not too frustrated by it!
April 13th, 2010 at 15:42
Oh poor Joe. He does look fairly happy with it though!
April 13th, 2010 at 17:35
Yes, he thinks it will mean no music practice for three weeks!
April 13th, 2010 at 22:10
I think I’d have sent mine off to bed too, in the hope that a night’s sleep would cure most things. At least you avoided the long waits in A&E of earlier in the winter when the whole nation seemed to be slipping on ice – or I hope you did.
April 13th, 2010 at 22:23
I remember when we were at school, having a cast made you a total celebrity
Instant popularity – hope he enjoys it!
April 14th, 2010 at 0:08
Yes, can you still write on these newfangled coloured ones?
Overnight is fine I think, for less than complete agony
Hope it heals well and doesn’t bother him too much in the meantime.
April 14th, 2010 at 18:56
Owch – poor Joe! Oscar broke both wrists last year which also played havoc with the violin practise (I had to lock him in his room for hours over Xmas to make up for lost time). As for not thinking they were really broken I was even considering going home while we were waiting in A&E and that was after he’d fainted!
April 14th, 2010 at 21:27
I’m a great believer in two paracetamol and a night’s sleep before I ramp up the sympathy.
April 14th, 2010 at 22:59
ooh, you evil mother ha ha. Poor Jo, give him our love. xx
April 14th, 2010 at 23:03
You can write on them in Fibre tip pen but not as easy as old plaster casts. Hope he gets through the 3weeks in as good humour as he seems to be in now.
April 15th, 2010 at 9:33
I’m not letting him have writing on it – they look awful! It’s bad enough that the white under-sock will go all grubby! Though you can bath and shower with these so I might be able to clean it a bit.
April 15th, 2010 at 19:16
How can you NOT let him write on it?! That’s the whole fun of having a plaster. I’ve been there and it was my one consolation for not being able to wash my arm for ages, being in pain, not being able to go on the trampoline etc. Perhaps I should start a fan club for Joe “let him write on his arm!” x
April 15th, 2010 at 19:51
I’ve let him do *everything* so far – bar a zip wire yesterday and abseiling down the cliff today – which I thought was reasonable but he got Very Cross.