Eli's Broken Leg

Over the weekend of August 24th we went to Hibbing to visit my grandparents. Friday night we stayed with my grandpa and on Saturday we had a wonderful visit with my grandmother at her memory care facility. She was all smiles and happy to see us and the boys had room to run and play in the facilities court yard. We even brought Brockway in to visit since grandma loves dogs as much as I do! Adam and Eli are her boys and watching my grandparents hold hands is so sweet.

After the wonderful visit we had lunch and then headed with my parents to the cabin. It was getting hot so we were all looking forward to swimming. The boys got on their PFD's and jumped in the lake with my mom, dad and I. While Dave mowed the lawn.

When Dave finished mowing the lawn he was hot and sweaty. He came running down the path to the lake with Brockway at his heals. My mom, Eli and I were on the shore near the dock. When Dave got to the end of the dock he jumped right in to the extremely shallow water even though my mother and I warned him. Brockway turned around and bolted towards us. Poor Eli was in her way and she ran right into him. His legs were thrown out from under him and he landed on his back and started crying. I picked him and it took me a long time to calm him down. I brought him up to the cabin and my mom called the men up from swimming when Eli wasn't settling down fast. When he finally calmed down I examined him and he looked just fine so I put him down and Eli tried to put weight on his right leg and he buckled and started crying in pain. I brought him out to the van and put him in his car seat and Dave and I went straight to the ER in Grand Rapids 45 minutes away.

It was a long wait to see the ER doctor and we had Eli's x-rays while we waited. The doctor didn't see a break and ordered a second set of x-rays. Dave ran out to get Eli some mac 'n cheese. The second set of x-rays showed no break so we were sent home with orders to go to the doctor on Monday if he still wouldn't put weight on his leg. We got home five hours after leaving and celebrated with a camp fire and beer that Eli didn't break a leg.

The next day Eli still wouldn't put weight on his leg and he was pretty crabby. We alternated ibuprofen and Tylenol and carried him everywhere. I wanted to stay at the cabin, but I knew Eli needed to go home. When we finally regained cell signal in Grand Rapids I had a message from the ER doc. A radiologist looked at his x-ray and saw a break. I called that awesome ER doctor back and we talked through our options but ultimately decided to take Eli home in favor of seeing a doctor in Hutch during normal business hours on Monday.

By Sunday evening Eli had figured out how to crawl with his broken leg slightly raised at the bottom and stand like a flamingo with his broken leg up to avoid putting weight on it. He was even crawling up onto chairs for the most part without hurting himself. Every once in a while he would bump his leg and cry about hurting his skin, which mommy didn't like.

On Monday morning I spent several hours in the urgent care waiting and getting an x-ray and then was sent over to the Hutchinson Orthopedic and fracture clinic.And I learned an important lesson, next broken bone we go straight to the Orthopedic Clinic and skip Urgent Care. Several hours later we left with a bright green cast. The doctor at the Orthopedic Clinic was concerned that it might be a spiral break, but hopefully it's not and the cast will come off in three weeks time.

Eli was in great spirits the whole time at the clinic Monday. He got a sucker and he got to play guy-guys and read books without having to share his mommy. I tried to keep in contact with David through lots of texts and phone calls, I know it was hard for him to miss the time with his little guy and his broken leg.

My brother broke his arm many times when he was growing up and I remember coming home and finding a happy meal on the kitchen table (we never-ever went to McDonald's) and then I knew Henry broke his arm again. So I took Eli for lunch at McDonald's partially for the tradition, but more because Adam and the preschoolers were there for a field trip. All the preschoolers asked several times what happened and felt really sorry for Eli. The toddlers on the other hand didn't even notice Eli had changed. That night Nathaniel (Preschooler) told his family about Eli's broken and Josh (Eli's toddler friend) was asking all kinds of questions like he had no idea Eli had a cast on at daycare. Ha!

Things got a lot easier after the cast was on. By the time we picked him up from daycare that evening he was crawling again and in two days he was walking. The first few days Big Brother and Eli played really well together. I joked that the broken leg forced Eli to sit still and work on his fine motor skills. Reading books on the floor, playing with ninja turtles and legos at the table was what he did those first few nights with his big brother by his side or bringing him more toys to play with.

Then by Thursday he figured out how to walk. He sticks uses the tips of his toes to keep from sliding on slippery surfaces. Now he's back to Eli normal-ness- running, jumping, wanting to play on playgrounds. If you couldn't see the cast you wouldn't know he had a broken leg! The doctor told us he could walk on it, but after his check up told us he shouldn't jump. Now how am I supposed to keep a two year old from jumping?