The Adventures of An Invalid

Well, apparently dishes aren't the only things breaking around here:

The Monkey Boy has fractured his left femur, a spiral fracture above the half-way point. It's so high that he's now in what they call a "one-and-a-half hip spica" cast, meaning his hips and leg are now immobilized. He'll be in it for 4-6 weeks!

One-and-a-half hip spica cast.

Let me tell you, I had never heard the words "hip spica (pronouced SPY-kah) cast" before Monday and our learning curve has been extremely steep in these past few days. Let me start from the beginning:

Thursday began in a perfectly normal way. I got up first, made breakfast, got up the babies, and started about the house chores. After a round of diaper changes I set Little Girl on the floor to roll around and play while Monk played cars and bang-on-the-toy-piano-as-hard-as-I-can. I went to put away a few things in the kitchen pantry. I heard Sweet Girl grunting and came around the corner to see Monk sitting on top of her, cheerfully riding the horsey. Except that that particular horsey is far too small for him and he has been told before not to ride it. So I exclaimed/ordered/slightly freaked out, "Get off!!" He scrambled to comply....and in his haste he lost his balance.

And I witnessed the most painful, awkward fall I have yet seen. He flung his left leg out to the side in a way that the hip was neither open to the side or closed to the front, it was at a weird 45-degree angle and a huge step away from his body. Then his foot caught on Little Girl's back while he was in the process of stepping away, and that's when he dropped down into a hideous split - I mean, hips went below knees, legs splayed, one foot caught up higher than the ground on Little Girl's back - and then he fell forward on top of his awkward split.

I heard no pop, no crack, nothing - I thought he had pulled something. I would have, if I'd have done that same fall. He cried for about ten minutes, but then was able to be consoled. I considered a break only once, but I was thinking more along the lines of a hip out of socket than a possible fracture. (Who fractures their leg with their own weight on level ground?) I figured if it was very serious he would be inconsolable. Which he wasn't. But he didn't want to walk on it or move it.

We decided to "wait and see" - I thought he had pulled a muscle, Husband thought he had hyper-extended his knee. He was doing better on Friday morning - less pain - but by that evening, he was worse. We called a family friend over (she happens to have been a old-school pediatric nurse) and she was very concerned that he seemed to be in such pain and told us that young children seldom pull muscles. We didn't want to take him to Urgent Care, so we waited til Saturday to bring him to his pediatrician.

The pediatrician was concerned, but didn't have the right expertise and so sent us on to the orthopaedic clinic. Poor little guy! They x-rayed his left leg first, but then the P.A. came in and said something about children's bones being funny to discern and asked that he get a scan of Monkey's right leg to compare. I think he must have been an excellent P.A., because the fracture was obvious on the left leg's x-ray and I think he was trying to soften the news as much as he was gathering confirmation. After the right leg x-ray he called me to the screen where the pictures were side by side, and I knew before the words came out of his mouth what it was. He gave it a more specific name: a spiral fracture. Apparently it is an unusual break for a toddler. It was the Saturday urgent care clinic with a skeleton crew (no pun intended!) so they bound up Zach's leg in a splint and gave us an appointment first thing Monday morning to have it cast. A full leg cast, they said. He'd be able to walk on it and it would probably be on for about 4 weeks.

But little did we know what was in store. Monday was a jumble of new information and experiences: After showing up at our 9:00am appointment, we were told that we'd have to come back at 1:00pm so they could have enough people to help with the casting. That was when we were introduced to the hip spica cast. It would take four people, plus me, to wrap the cast around his little body, from nipples to ankle. The break is too high - a full leg cast wouldn't immobilize it properly and might even endanger it. I don't know why someone didn't look at his x-rays and tell us about him needing this special cast earlier; it took us by surprise.

The sequence of events astounds me. Like drinking from a fire hose, information and news was being forced into our brains at an alarming rate. But it happened too quickly for me to get a good grasp on the situation, and I was bewildered. The nurses tried to be helpful, but I think they must not have seen many spica cast patients who were toddlers. Although they were well-intentioned, their suggestions for keeping him clean and dry were unsatisfactory and left me feeling a bit hopeless. I envisioned having to repeat this weeping, gnashing of teeth, hot, sweaty, labored casting of a toddler in pain. Not to mention having to have the cast sawn off more than once. How do you explain to a crying, weeping, confused, and terrified toddler that this is helping him? That you are letting him be "hurt" now for future well-being? It is so difficult.

The orange and purple is self-adhesive wrap to cover rough spots on the cast.  

The very first night, he wet the back of his cast. The next day, I spent every spare minute that wasn't devoted to caring for the babies, researching how to keep a hip spica patient who is not potty trained, clean. Momma, Patty, Paula, Cindy - were all sending me articles and helpful tips throughout the day. By day's end, I had figured up a system of how to better keep him clean and dry - and how to dry out his cast if he wet himself.

He's pretty comfortable now. We're figuring out how to keep him entertained since his ability to move or walk is pretty much nonexistent.  He has to either sit or lay for now. He sits in a miniature camp chair at a coffee table with all his cars, trucks, and animals in reach or at his kitchen play set, in his high chair looking outside and eating, sitting on cushions on the couch reading his books or watching Mister Roger's Neighborhood on Amazon Prime, Winnie the Pooh, the Green Beats channel, or "Happy Day by Tim Hughes - Drum Cover" on YouTube. And he's been pushed around in the stroller each afternoon for a long walk after it cools down outside. It must be frustrating to be that age and not do for yourself what you used to, so we try to keep that in mind and keep him entertained to the best of our abilities.

Playing at his table.

He fought nap time so long that he fell asleep reading.

It's pretty much like having a newborn in the house - except this one weighs 35lbs in a cast! But the same caring for every need, shifting around for a change of scenery, diaper changes through the night, etc. I'm being real here: it is a lot of work. But I am praying the Lord heals the bone quickly and that Monkey can have the cast off in 4 weeks. We're three days into our hip spica cast adventure, a week since the fracture.

¹³ 

For you formed my inward parts;

    you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

¹⁴ 

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works;

    my soul knows it very well.

¹⁵ 

My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was being made in secret,

    intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

¹⁶ 

Your eyes saw my unformed substance;

in your book were written, every one of them,

    the days that were formed for me,

    when as yet there was none of them.

Psalm 139:13-16