Fracture #36 (or so)

We have been applying for preschool services, so we currently have an unusually accurate fracture count. We were out to dinner Saturday night and Molly fell and broke her right Humerus (upper arm). This is the same arm she fractured back in March just a few days before her 2nd rodding surgery.

Molly and I were in the bathroom and she was using her walker. Her wheel bumped into my foot and she fell forward face first. I knew right away and then it was a matter of getting out of the restaurant to figure out how bad it was and where. While we were trying to calm her down Jim asked her if she wanted to get ice cream - assuming she would say "no" if it was honestly a fracture. I already knew it was a fracture and was extremely surprised when she said that she did want the ice cream first! This didn't last long as the pain increased, but it shows how tough these little kids really are. We got her home and pulled out the splints we had from March and she was insistent that we use the arm cuff rather than the shoulder to wrist splint. I was prepared for a long night, but she slept through the night. Today, Sunday, she was complaining a bit more about her arm and so we switched to the shoulder to wrist splint and then ace wrapped her arm to her body, which seems to be working a lot better.

Her spirits have been amazingly good and I am so impressed. She only has one arm to work with, which makes lots of things more challenging, but she has not complained or gotten frustrated at all. She will not be able to walk until the arm is healed since she needs the use of her walker. We were able to switch her wheelchair joystick to her left side and we went for a walk today, which went relatively well. She will remind us when we go to pick her up or put on a jacket... "nice and gentle" and "don't move my arm - it still hurts". She has been a model patient!

We have not gotten an X-Ray yet, but will try and do so on Monday. We need to see how straight the arm is, if it is not relatively straight we will be discussing rodding the arm with Dr. Esposito - I sure hope we don't have to do that right now.

We will be contacting Preschool Services this week to notify them of her fracture, we are going to try and use this as an "opportunity" to enlighten and educate them about the challenges that we face.