Monday, May 5, 2014

Broken Arm

 This week has been quite the week. One of the worst things to go through as a parent is to watch your kid get hurt and watch their summer disappear and everything he has worked so hard for. Cohen went to practice dirtbiking one night and it was a windier day. Usually we don't practice if it's windy because it's not good to jump in the wind. Well we did anyways. I dropped him and left because it was too windy for the girls so I went to the new house to do some cleaning. When I dropped him off I said, "Now don't jump today it's too windy just work on the corners" Dallas also told him no jumping and his trainer. Well for the first hour Cohen's chain had broke so they were fixing that and as soon as they got it fixed we think Cohen was antsy to get out there. He got on his bike went around the turn and then pinned it and hit the jump harder than he had ever hit it. We think the wind blew him a little in the air so when he landed it threw off his landing. He still landed on his bike but I think he then bounced off because of the impact and then fell on his arm. Dallas ran over to him and Cohen was crying so that ended the night.  They came over to the new house to drop some stuff off and that's when I found out he had wrecked. He was still crying and you could tell he was in pain. He complained of it hurting between his elbow and shoulder. We didn't think it was broken so we had him ice it and then soak in a warm bath. He whimpered all night so we were starting to get worried. The next morning he was still crying so I called his doctor and got him in that morning.  We took him in and met with a different doctor since ours was busy and she was amazing! She checked him out and felt his arm and was concerned. She said we needed to get an xray except she didn't know what to xray since it hurt from his elbow to his shoulder and she also wanted to get some of his collar bone just in case. She called in another doctor who is one of my favorites for a second opinion. He came in and checked Cohen out as well. He agreed he needed xrays and said what to order and go from there. They were both so sweet to me. I was a little worried since dirtbiking can be a little more dangerous and many people can be very judgemental of the sport but they were so supportive and put me at ease. I explained that he raced dirtbikes so she wanted to get the best orthopedic doctor out there since she said he was a competing athlete. It comforted me so much that she was supportive of it and wanted to make sure everything was fixed properly so he could get back out there.  Also the other doctor since his kid had a similar break and all they had done was slip on the kitchen floor. That made me feel better knowing kids break things doing dumb stuff all the time and that I wasn't a bad mom for having Cohen ride dirtbikes. Another doctor told me too that their son had broken his leg falling off their bunk bed. The doctors were seriously so sweet to me. She probably explained to me what the process was going to be a couple of times because I'm sure she could tell I was getting overwhelmed. I was tearing up thinking of everything going on and that his dirt biking season was over which is heartbreaking since he has worked so hard for this and we have looked forward to it all summer. And on top of this Dallas was in Salina so he was 2 1/2 hours away. The doctor told me I had to take Cohen to the outpatient center over by the hospital to get his xrays and then she would call an orthopedic doctor and we would go from there. She said since it was a serious break that they wouldn't be able to set it so she wanted to get a good sports orthopedic. As soon as we left I immediately called Jaymie to see if she could come pick up the girls. Poor Brin was missing her morning nap and was getting hungry so she was pretty much done and I couldn't do this all by myself. Luckily she wasn't busy so she met me at the hospital and got the girls.
 We got into the xray room and the lady was trying to get Cohen to hold his arm at a 30 degree angle and as soon as she would let go of his arm it would just fall back down. Cohen had been complaining that his arm wasn't working and he couldn't lift it up but I thought he was babying it because he tends to do that when he hurts stuff.  She had him hold onto a chair so she could get the xray. As soon as the picture came up her tone and demeanor completely changed. She said, "Do you even want to see the Xray?" I said yes and then saw it and started to tear up. It was definitely broken and he broke it good. She then said, "We don't even need to take more xrays it's clear what is broken and I don't want to move his arm. No wonder he couldn't move it." After that she called our doctor and talked to her and then we had to wait in a room while our doctor called and talked to the orthopedic doctor. While waiting the xray lady said, "You might not want to give him any food." and I said, "Why?" Then she said, "If they need to do surgery he can't have eaten anything for 8 hours." My heart dropped and I started to cry. That was the last thing I wanted was for my little boy to have to have surgery and get a pin put in his arm, let alone Dallas was far away. Such a horrible feeling. Finally we heard back from the doctor and she had good news. She had talked to the Orthopedic doctor and he had seen the xray. He said since it was such a clean break he didn't think we needed to do surgery and since Cohen was so young that it should heal up and quick. That was a huge relief. Now we had to schedule a follow up with him for Monday to see then if it needed to be cast but for now Cohen had to wear a sling. This was definitely not the day I was expecting but I am extremely grateful for such sweet and amazing doctors and nursers and most of all that Cohen didn't need surgery.


 After all the doctor stuff me and Cohen went to In and Out to grab some lunch. It was fun to spend one on one time with Cohen. Love this little guy!
 The next night I had been planning my first overnighter with some girls from my childhood home ward. We have been planning it for a couple months. With everything going on between moving and now Cohen, I didn't want to cancel and I think I needed a short break. It was just friday night to Saturday morning. I am so glad I went. I have not been away from my family since we have been married. Yes Dallas has gone on lots of his guy trips and when I was pregnant Dallas took the kids to Moab since I was too sick. But this was my first outing away from all of them. I was nervous but so excited. I drove up to Farmington and of course my luck there was an accident so it took me two hours which was a pain. Once I got there we all left together and drove up to Stephanie's parent n law's house in Eden. They have a gorgeous house in a beautiful area! We got up there and went to a little barbeque restaurant which was delicious. After that we headed back to the house and talked, ate lots of yummies and played one game. Apparently me and Angie are the only ones who like games, but luckily they had fun playing it for a minute. I love these girls. These girls I grew up with, went to primary with, young womans, activities, camps, all of school, weddings, baby showers and so much more! We all hung out with different groups of kids in high school but we made a deep connection in young womans that has lasted for over 20 years. It makes me so grateful for the gospel, and most importantly our amazing youth leaders. They brought us together and taught us so much about life and made such amazing memories for us. It goes to show just how important youth leaders are and what a difference they can make in kids lives. Now as an adult and having similar callings I have a deeper appreciation for my leaders growing up. They put so much time, love and effort into their callings. I wonder now how they did it all because I can get overwhelmed trying to juggle all of my responsibilities, but they did it and have impacted 5 girls lives for the better. I love that we have always kept in touch throughout all these years. We usually go to dinner once a year around Christmas time to catch up and after this last time I suggested for us to do an overnighter since our dinner goes by so fast. Everyone jumped on the idea and after trying to find a weekend that worked for everyone we finally scheduled it. We had so much fun talking about girls camp, childhood memories, highschool and now us being married and having kids. I forgot how much fun it is to hang out with my girlfriends and to feel young again. It seriously felt like we were at girls camp all over again! Especially when we all decided to stay in the kid room where there were bunk beds. There were at least 7 bedrooms and we all decided to stay in one room. We are crazy but it was a lot of fun! I need to find a picture from girls camp and put up next to the picture of us on the bunk beds.
 This was a beautiful view to wake up to. There were some deer just grazing outside.
 Had to get a good morning selfie before we left. Sadly Mallory had to leave early that morning so she missed out on a delicious breakfast Angie made for us all. I seriously cannot tell you how much fun I had and I hope we do this again real soon! Thank you girls for being such amazing lifelong friends!

 Monday we had our follow up with the Orthopedic doctor. Cohen actually did really well the whole weekend. The only time he would cry is when we have to change his shirt because it hurts so badly to lift his arm. We were really hoping that he wouldn't have to get a cast and could continue to wear the sling. Unfortunately when the doctor was checking him out Cohen's elbow still hurt. The doctor said he wanted to cast it just incase there was a small fracture in his elbow. He said sometimes you can't see the fractures in the elbow with an xray and since there is a growth plate right there he wanted to cast in just in case. He wanted to do what was called a floating cast. The cast goes from his hand all the way up to where the break is. So the actual break isn't even casted but he said it should still help it heal since it will help keep it in place. And the break was so clean and not moved so it could heal perfectly. We went into another room to get his cast and of course Cohen picked KTM orange for his cast and the guy started casting it. I felt so bad for Cohen because the guy kept lifting up his arm to cast around it and Cohen was being so tough and just wincing in pain. You could tell it really hurt him but he was trying so hard to stay strong and he did. But it was horrible to watch him in that much pain and there is nothing you can do about it.

 Cohen is not very happy about the whole thing. Luckily he only has to wear the cast for 3 weeks then we will go back to get it removed and get another xray and go from there. The guy putting the cast on said it would be 12 weeks before he could probably ride his dirtbike but hopefully we can hear something different in three weeks because I can't even swallow 12 weeks right now. That will devestate Cohen. I'm hoping after three weeks he will have to wear the sling for another 2 or 3 and then be good to go. So keep him in your prayers because he has already tried to ride his bike before he got his cast on even after I told him he could not ride it. But Cohen says mom I can ride it with one hand. Oh man this is going to be a long month trying to keep him off anything wheels. Riding bikes and anything is who Cohen is and what he loves to do. This week has just been heartbreaking. He had such a good first race and we were all looking forward to the rest of the season now just to have is cut short.
 As soon as we got home Cohen wanted to have his friends sign his cast. I love this picture of his friend Crew in his dirtbike helmet signing his cast. This group of boys they are all crazy but crazy fun.