When last we left our story, Husband & I had discovered an infection under his plastic splint for his broken humerus. Hannibal was puking all day. That was Sunday.
On Monday, I go to work. Husband gets taken to work by Iago and the kids. He gets doctor appointment for 2 p.m., which means I get to take Hannibal to the pediatrician by myself at 1:30 p.m. We'd had the appointment scheduled for Hannibal for a week because he'd been waking at night and complaining during the day about, "Knees hurt. Knees hurt. My knee's hurt." I left work, went home, grabbed both Hannibal and Igor (thinking that maybe I could get the doc to look at both of them since they were both sick, too). The doc basically tells me that he doesn't think there's a problem with the knees, but orders tests. The puking is just a virus going around.
After the visit, I head next door to a Children's Close-to-Home to get knee X-rays for Hannibal and blood drawn. He was a trouper - he didn't even cry until the second time they stuck him with a needle. They gave him Batman stickers and that helped, but he was unhappy with me for holding him down for the X-rays and the bloodwork. We head to Starbucks where I get the kids a cookie to split and chocolate milk. I get my usual venti non-fat toffee nut chai. Yum.
Then I call my husband to see if he wants me to pick him up to take him back home. He informs me that he is scheduled for surgery in the morning and yes, I should pick him up. Surgery? What??? Apparently, the infection was pretty bad, I think. I call my boss and take the next day off work.
When I pick up Husband, he calls his dad and BIL (brother-in-law not living with us) and tells them the details. I get to overhear. Apparently, the surgery is to put a "nail" into his arm the length of his humerus to heal the broken arm. This will allow him to bring his arm out at a 90 degree angle to air out the infection, which we'll need to clean several times a day with hydrogen peroxide.
We get home, make arrangements for Iago to take care of the kids in the morning since we're due at the hospital at 7:30 a.m. and we're expecting Snowmaggeddon. Good news was that school the next morning was cancelled. So we could take the minivan with no worries.
Next Post - Tuesday.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Husband's broken arm - Part One
So, I've been away for a while. Went on a business trip in January. My one business trip a year. Went to Florida. While I was gone, Husband fell on the ice in the driveway while taking the recycling bin to the curb. Husband broke his humerus (upper arm) on his right side. It was a clean break and the ER put him in a splint and sent him home to see the orthopedist in a week. I came home the afternoon following the break. He couldn't shower, he couldn't move (his splint from the ER wrapped around his chest to hold his arm in place).
A week later, he saw the doctor. Various opinions later, we were shifted from one ortho to the next and opinions varied from "you need surgery" to "we'll just splint it and it'll be fine." The break was clean, but was healing a little crooked. Finally, the "upper arm ortho specialist," the one with the dismissive manner, sent us home with a plastic upper arm splint, told us not to take it off for a week, and to let gravity do its job. But we were not to remove the plastic splint for a week. That's 2 weeks of no showers. Well, we did figure something out with plastic garbage bags & duct tape. . . but it wasn't very effective and his right underarm could not be washed.
The following week, we got the go ahead to take off the splint and shower him. Well, there are this fabric sleeves that he was wearing underneath the plastic splint. We took the first one off. It stuck a little and had a little blood and smelled bad. But it had been there for a while. So we dismissed it. A couple days later, we attempted to do the same thing. Again, blood and a little bit of yellow and a bad smell. It was Sunday. I told him to call the doctor the next morning as I thought he had an infection. In the meantime, I put a dressing and some antibiotic ointment on it.
Meanwhile, that same Sunday, Hannibal threw up on me 7 times and threw up a total of 9 times throughout the day. I was running out of clean laundry! And, well, I'm not one who handles vomit well. I almost joined him every time he did it.
More later. . .
A week later, he saw the doctor. Various opinions later, we were shifted from one ortho to the next and opinions varied from "you need surgery" to "we'll just splint it and it'll be fine." The break was clean, but was healing a little crooked. Finally, the "upper arm ortho specialist," the one with the dismissive manner, sent us home with a plastic upper arm splint, told us not to take it off for a week, and to let gravity do its job. But we were not to remove the plastic splint for a week. That's 2 weeks of no showers. Well, we did figure something out with plastic garbage bags & duct tape. . . but it wasn't very effective and his right underarm could not be washed.
The following week, we got the go ahead to take off the splint and shower him. Well, there are this fabric sleeves that he was wearing underneath the plastic splint. We took the first one off. It stuck a little and had a little blood and smelled bad. But it had been there for a while. So we dismissed it. A couple days later, we attempted to do the same thing. Again, blood and a little bit of yellow and a bad smell. It was Sunday. I told him to call the doctor the next morning as I thought he had an infection. In the meantime, I put a dressing and some antibiotic ointment on it.
Meanwhile, that same Sunday, Hannibal threw up on me 7 times and threw up a total of 9 times throughout the day. I was running out of clean laundry! And, well, I'm not one who handles vomit well. I almost joined him every time he did it.
More later. . .
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