Aaron & Janice

When Taft was a "Tubing Tornado" on Saturday, (see below post) injuring his hand, little did we know that it was actually BROKEN! It was swollen, and he put ice on it, not using it. By Sunday night I had decided it needed to be checked. Taft isn't one to complain, so it is hard to figure out what kind of shape it is in.

The doctor took a look at it, and said there was too much blood in the area, which caused him to think it was broken. X-rays are done. Did you know that they don't develop x-ray film any more? It's put on computer. That way the doctor can bring it up, (there is a computer in each patient room) and can enlarge, and move around the picture easier than ever. He can also send them to another doctors office with a click of a button, which is what he did. The break is right below his thumb, it was on an angle, and he decided we needed to see a bone specialist, who might want to 'pin' it.

The Specialist took a look at the x-ray and moved around his hand. He couldn't believe the high pain threshold that Taft had, saying he would be gushing out tears if someone did that to him. He decided if Taft was older he might pin it, but it was on a border line to do so. But he didn't want to do it to Taft since he would have to pin it across his growth plate for his thumb, which might cause Taft to have a short thumb as he grew....smart idea. By the way, Taft is now 5 feet tall (actual 60 inches) and 104 pounds. He is a 7th grader, 12 years of age.

On with the casting. It's fiberglass, and when they wrap the fiberglass strips on his arm, it is first dipped into cold water, which activates it. Taft said it got hot, as it dried and harden. The cast will be on for at least 3 weeks. Next week they will take another x-ray (with the cast on).

One of the first things Taft said when the cast was put on was "I guess I'm not going skiing this weekend". The doctor quickly informed him that he was right, and asked if he had P.E., which he wrote a note for that teacher. Darn, he finally got go roller skating with his P.E. class, once- now he will miss the rest of that activity.

This is the first broken bone for any of our children, of course they have all had stitches, but first on breaks. Aaron said it's a first on his side of his family for broken bones too.

I like the photo of Taft trying to do his homework. He is working on his math. Before the cast his handwriting wouldn't win any awards....but now? He wondered if the teacher could even read it. Well his sister did help, by writing out his work, and later his brother Tavin helped too. Perhaps three weeks won't seem so long to him?