Fracture

Leif broke his arm this weekend.

Technically, he fractured his left radius and ulna, but when I saw him running toward me with a sickeningly unnatural curve to his forearm, I said only, "He broke his arm." I immediately noticed that I didn't use medical language, but at that moment I was solely a mother.

We were visiting family in Langley, and Leif had fallen from a four-foot slide. As we headed to emergency, minutes up the road, Leif kept insisting through his sobs that he needed nothing more than a band-aid. "That always made it feel better before!"

If you're going to injure yourself in Langley, there's no better last name to have than ours. Within minutes of arriving at the hospital, Leif's forearm was being x-rayed, and we were being asked to explain our relationship to the Scholtens nursing dynasty.

* * Continued here at Mothers in Medicine * *

Comments

[Amy Hoogstad]

Oh no! Poor Leif:) Glad you all handled it so well and that your little boy is such a trooper!

[Lisa G]

Ouch! Poor little guy.
The X-Ray is a nice touch.

[sheri]

poor kid but great x-ray! I hope he's 100% soon!

[Mary Smith]

Hope he's doing well soon! I wonder if it's reassuring or more upsetting when you don't actually have to go to the Dr. to get that diagnosis!

[lynn]

Now how did you get his x-ray online?

[slydi]

martina conducts her own x-rays at home. it's a great ice breaker at parties.

[Martina]

Mary - I like being able to diagnose my own kids. Less time wasted with unnecessary Emerg visits.

Lynn - The (Langley) radiology tech offered to burn the images to a CD for my (Vancouver) GP, to compare with any repeat x-rays. The CD is being couriered by me, with a brief stopover on my own computer.

[celeste]

Kinda reminds me of my badly sprained ankle.
I hurt it and then ran up ten flights of stairs, walked up 6 more blocks and when I reached home my mother was horrified. It was the size of a tennis ball.