Fracture

On Monday evening, both kids were hanging out with me in the office as I talked to Mrk on the phone. Johann left to play in the play room. I didn't think anything of it because he has free reign over the house. Arial was up stairs so there was someone up there in case he decided to go up.

Frances was sitting on my lap when I heard the "thump...thump..thuMP.THUMP" of Johann falling down the stairs. Sadly, I recognize the sound as he has fallen down before.

I hung up and raced out to him and he was lying on the landing just starting to cry. After giving him a look over to make sure that picking him up wouldn't hurt him, I picked him up and held him while Arial came down.

After questioning him (which is more of an art than a science) we think that he was at the top of the stairs and a cat ran by him, knocking him off his balance. He kept saying "Up stairs, fall down" but he responded when Arial asked if a kitty ran by him.

Arial held him for a while (because there is no substitute for Mommy). After doing a lay-persons exam for broken bones, I figured I should call Mrk back (since I had left kind of abruptly).

Shortly after calling him, Arial brought Johann up and told me that he was limping. She showed me and sure enough he didn't want to put any weight on his right leg.

We were convinced that he hurt his knee because he kept saying "knee hurt". That resonated with me because I have been having knee problems lately. We decided that he should go to the emergency room.

I took him while Arial stayed back to put Frances to bed.

At the hospital, Johann was very good. He learned that fish take a bath all day long (which he repeated periodically for the rest of the night. He was pretty tired (it was kinda late) so he didn't fuss much. He lay extremely still for the X-rays.

After examining him the resident told me that it wasn't his knee (I was quite relieved) and the X-rays proved him correct. The senior doctor explained that it was a "toddler's fracture". Apparently, it's not all that uncommon for a twisting fracture to occur when tumbling down the stairs.

The X-rays showed a small crack on one side of his shin bone.

The doctor suggested that he didn't need a cast since it was a "stable fracture". But Johann, won't be able to walk on it for a week and shouldn't jump or go down slides for 2 weeks.

Now, Johann is getting frustrated with not being able to walk but the pain keeps him from doing it (I guess that's what it's there for). It just so sad to see him try to stand. We try to stop him when ever he tries.

He has gotten pretty good at walking on his knees and standing without putting weight on it. But you can tell that he wants to be walking and running again.

So now we are taking turns (Arial's turns are longer than mine) holding him or playing with him on the floor. It's going to be a long couple weeks but it should heal with no lasting effects. Hopefully, Johann isn't now afraid of the stairs.

mwz