Christian Update

He is doing really well. He pulled through the chaos like a champ! We are finally home and are enjoying being out of those hospital walls.

Let me start from the beginning.

On Thursday afternoon/evening I was talking to my dad on the phone. This is a daily thing we do and like every other time we were talking about the office. Jason had an appointment he had to get to and couldn't find his car keys so he asked to use my car. Of course that was fine, where was I going? Nowhere! After Jason left I continued to talk to my dad on the phone, then I heard a faint scratch on the door. Sounded like one of the dogs but when I turned around to see the dogs were at my feet. Then out of the corner of my eye I saw Christian use his head to knock on the door (we have a glass front door) and then sit down. I opened the door and saw something I had hoped to NEVER see. Christian was holding his wrist and it did not look pretty. I could tell right away and I looked at my little boys face and I could see he was in pain. I could feel myself starting to panic and Christian looked at me and said, I think I sprained it again. Really good this time. I almost laughed. I couldn't believe he didn't know it was broken. Realizing I had no car keys I called an ambulance. They came about 10 minutes later and put a splint on his arm and took us to Orange Park Medical Center. Jason was waiting for us at the ER entrance. Say what you want about OPMC, after Thursday I have nothing but great things to say about them! The paramedics took us straight in. Insiders tip: If you think you need to go to the ER, call an ambulance. They take you straight in, no waiting in the waiting room. We were put in a room and the nurse and doctor came in and took X-rays and then came out to let Jason and I know they were going to have to sedate him to reset his wrist/arm. You have 2 bones in your arm and he broke both of the bones. It was a nice clean break. They told us it would take about 10-15 minutes and we would need to wait in the waiting room. Jason and I were starving and asked if we could drive to Burger King. I know this sounds like we left him but honestly, Burger King is less than a 2 minute drive away and he was going to be under for at least 10. The nurse said it would be no problem (they knew I was pregnant and knew I should get something in my belly). We drove through, scarfed our food down and were back at the hospital in no time. As we were going in the waiting room the doctor came out to get us. He had no idea we even left that's how quick we were and how quick they were. He let us know it wasn't bad news but this wasn't going to be the news we wanted to hear. Not only did Chrsitian break the bones but one of the bones pierced his skin. We couldn't see it before because it was on the backside of his wrist area and we couldn't get to it because he was hurting so bad then they splinted over it. Dr. Goodfriend (yes that really was his name, not something clever like Officer Friendly) told us he needed to transfer Christian to Wolfson's to have an Orthopedic Surgeon take a look and clean out the wound. They called an ambulance and we were off again. At this point it was about 10:30 pmand the injury occured at about 7 pm. I told Jason to go on home because we didn't know how long we would be there and someone needed to get home to tend to the dogs. Not to mention in my haste to leave I left the front door unlocked and had to have my sister come over and lock it. Anyway, he left and we were off to Wolfson's. The orthopedic surgeon came in and was very nice. He was from Chicago and you could tell. He had a strong accent. They also did an x-ray and looked at the one from OPMC. He called up to the pediatric OR and found out the attending doctor, Dr. Hahn, was already in a surgery so they scheduled Christian for 6 am. This wasn't too bad as it was already midnight-1 am at this point. They put us in a room around 2 am and advised me to get some sleep (Christian had already gone to sleep because of the pain medicine) because 5 am was coming quick and I would be expected to stay with him during his preop stuff. DUH! Boy were they right, 5 am came real fast. Actually, they didn't call for him until 5:30 but it still felt like 5 minutes after they put us in the room. We wheeled on over to the OR room and I met with the anesteseologist (I KNOW I haven't spelled that right!) and two of the orthopedic surgeons that were going to be in his surgery. One was Dr. Hahn who is the attending. Very nice man. I was really pleased he performed Christian's surgery. They told me it would take about an hour from the time they got him in the OR and they got him in about 6:15. 7:15 came and went and then it was 7:30, then 7:45 and about this time I started to get really concerned. Finally at about 8 Dr. Hahn came out to let me know everything went well. They opened his arm where the bone had pierced and cleaned it out really well. There is a very serious risk for infection when a bone is exposed in that manner. I had no idea. But then again, I never went to medical school. He told me Christian was in the recovery room, I couldn't go in but they would be taking him to his hospital room in about 30 minutes and I could join him there. That was probably the longest 30 minutes ever. It felt longer then waiting for him to come out of surgery. Later that afternoon one of the surgeons came to the room to let us know he needed to be on antibiotics for 24 hours and we would be able to go home Saturday afternoon. Which was going to work out really well for us because my niece Brittney's birthday party was in the afternoon and we really wanted to go. So we hunkered down for the rest of the day and night. Jason was in and out as he had to go to work. Gloria and Johnny (Johnny is Christian's cousin and Gloria is Johnny's other Grandma who is really close to all of us. Christian calls her Grandma) came to visit and so did Casey. At about 6:30 am on Saturday morning the oncall Surgeon came in to do rounds and I excitedly said, hey you're here really early. I'll call my husband to come and get us. He looked at me confused and said, where you going? Home!! That's where. He let me normal protocal for Chrsitian's injury was to keep the patient in the hospital for 48 hours after surgery administering an IV antibiotic, so we wouldn't be going home until Sunday. WHAT? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I was devestated. I'm not sure Christian was. He was getting all the pudding, ice cream, apple juice and jello his stomach could hold. The nurses were very good to him. I made my phone calls to Jason and the rest of the family and let them know we were stuck for another day. It really wasn't that bad to be honest with you. My son was safe. He had a broken arm but he wasn't sick. Outside of the possibility his injury could get infected, he was otherwise healthy. There were other kids around him that weren't so lucky. I thank my Father in Heaven for this opportunity because it helped to remind me how incredibly lucky I am that my son is here, safe. He has a cast and a pin in his wrist as a trophy. Christian was finally released this morning. We got home not too long ago and boy was I glad to see my bed!



Here are some things I learned through this adventure:

1. Christian is very thankful when he's doped up on Morphine. He must have thanked the doctors and nursing staff 10 times each.

2. Christian does NOT like to get an IV. But who does really?

3. Hospital food isn't that bad when you are really really hungry.

4. Christian looks so darn cute in Lime Green.

5. You really do need to get outside everyday, even if it is just for 5 minutes.

6. I can't rest well in a hospital chair and Christian and I can't fit on the bed together.

7. Wolfson Children's Hospital is beyond wonderful. Their staff of nurses and doctors are incomparable.

8. Christian is the BRAVEST 12 year old I know.

9. All parents should join together to ban Ripsticks.

10. I really did a good job picking out a husband for me and father for Christian. Jason wouldn't leave our side except for when he had to work. We were his top priority and he proved it to us over and over again throughout the weekend. He really is my hero!