On March 3rd, we started our Sunday morning like any other morning. I remember it was freezing that morning, so after I made the kids breakfast I jumped back into bed to try and get warm under the covers. I started getting the usual "I'm flying to California in two days!" anxiety. I always freak myself out because it's a freaky thing to do and I have a million things on my mind, like things I need to get done before we leave or things I need to remember to pack.
As I was lying in bed, I sneezed. Then I felt it coming! I tweaked my neck!! NO! This can't be happening. I was in so much pain and I couldn't move. I couldn't even get out of bed because that would involve using my neck muscles to lift my head. Christian had to help me up. So this was a bad, bad thing to do right before my trip. I couldn't fly alone with the kids while I was in that much pain. How embarrassing! I sneezed and I tweaked my neck. Ridiculous.
We immediately contacted our friend who does acupuncture to see if he would be able to treat me that night so I could try and heal faster for the flight. He agreed to come up to our house that night.
Moving on to our next tragedy. I stayed home from church because I was dying a little from the pain. Christian braved both kids at church. That afternoon/evening the kids were going stir crazy in the house, so Christian took them down to the park to get some wiggles out. It was getting close to 6:00 and the sun was going down. Christian called me and said that Tristan had just broken his arm from jumping off the slide, and he was going to take him to the hospital. He was with our friends, the Lindquists, and they were going to drop Betsy with me while Bruce helped hold Tristan in the front seat. When they came to drop B, it was SO sad to see Tristan in so much pain. I wish I wasn't 'out-of-order' so I could be the one holding him and comforting him.
Christian later described what happened at the park: He was already having a rough time with a trantruming Betsy who insisted on climbing on the jungle jim where she could get trampled by the many older kids running around everywhere. So they where watching her more closely than Tristan; he is great at climbing and knows how to be careful- usually...So Christian was talking to the Lindquists, a couple from church, and hears Tristan screaming. He looked over and could see Tristan on the ground at the bottom of the slide. He ran over, asking, "What happened? Where does it hurt?" and could tell it was a different, serious pain by Tristan's face. He looked really scared and was screaming and crying so hard. As Christian lifted him up, Tristan cried "Dad, my arm isn't working! It won't move!" and it was kind of just limp and flopping around. He had a jacket on, so Christian felt down his arm and could feel a bend in his arm and knew it was broken. He handed Tristan to Bruce, who said they'd help, and grabbed Betsy and ran to the car.
I lost contact with Christian at the hospital because his battery died. I was dying to know what was going on! After I fed B and put her down for the night, I called our dear friends, the Thomsons, to have Zach take me to the hospital while Alyse stayed at the house with Betsy while she slept.
When I arrived at the hospital, they walked me to his bed and said to wait there while they were running more X-rays on Tristan. While I was waiting I saw this laying on the chair...
My jaw dropped! I couldn't believe how bad the break was. I was so sad for Tristan. I waited for about 20 minutes and I was thinking that Tristan would be crying and in pain when they brought him back. When I saw him being wheeled back to his bed he was the happiest little boy, all drugged up and pain free. That was nice to see. :) We were all so happy to see each other! T was feeling so good from the meds he even started joking around with the nurses.
I was able to talk to his doctor to find out what was going on. It's funny because the doctor kept saying that Tristan would be fine to fly out in two days. Ha! With my neck and his arm, I was more than happy to cancel my trip. With a doctors note, we were fully reimbursed for the cancellation fee. We just need to postpone the trip for a couple of months. So basically, the ER doctor said that our Orthopedic Dr. would be able to tell us more after we met with him, whether he needed surgery or not.
We met with Dr. Garber, the Orthopedic Surgeon a couple days later. (Until then, nights were super hard! Tristan had the hardest time sleeping. He was so uncomfortable). Dr. Garber gave us the option to cast it as is, or to knock him out and adjust the bones, then cast it. He said that if we casted it as is, Tristan should be able to heal on his own, but he would probably have a really crooked arm for 3-4 years. Ah! We opted to get the arm adjusted before it was casted.
That Friday, we were scheduled for a 7:00 a.m. surgery, at the Pali Momi Hospital out in Aiea, 40 minutes away. We were told to be there 2 hours early to register and get Tristan prepped. Which means we had to leave our house at 4:15 a.m. Craziness! Our friend, Alyse, came up to the house at 4:00 a.m. to stay with Betsy girl. What would we do without all of our amazing friends?
Tristan was really really excited for his surgery day because of the hard cast, and he was excited to see if it would protect him from his nerf gun bullets. Funny kid. Surgery was fast (well, it was a pretend surgery because they didn't end up opening him up. They made the adjustment by pulling on fingers and wiggling his arm around). T was in a lot of pain after the surgery but as soon as we got home, he was as chipper as can be.
Fast forward 3 1/2 weeks. We noticed that his ring finger on his broken arm side was bent stiff. It would not straighten at all. We asked Dr. Garber about it at his follow up appointment and he said that was unusual, something he's never seen before. He assumed that his flexor tendon grew in to his cartilage somehow, and that we may need another surgery to fix it. Sad! We were disappointed to hear this. After he got 2 opinions from hand surgeons, he said that there is a chance that it can heal on its own since he's so young. Garber is going to monitor it for the next month, and then we will start seeing the hand specialist for either hand therapy or another surgery. Bummer. But the cast comes off in 2 weeks! We can't wait to go swimming again!
Aside from the pains he felt in the beginning, I think that Tristan has loved this whole experience. He has been enjoying all the attention he's been getting from everyone, and he said that he feels more like a super hero with his hard cast on. I know that everything will pass soon and his arm and hand will heal just fine. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers!
P.S. After two acupuncture treatments, my neck healed about 4 days later. So lame. I'm never sneezing again!
