2 fractured wrists, 1 fractured elbow and some freebies!

Well, Friday the 13th isn’t even here yet, so we were a week early with bad luck!


To start things off, on Saturday, January 31st, Tanner was at his Dad’s for the weekend and they went to practice for a motox race. He crashed pretty good and went head over handle bars (several times, I later found out and then crashed a few more times because he couldn’t hold onto the handle bars)… but the arse (my ex) made it sound like it wasn’t a big deal. We took Tanner to urgent care for what the docs thought was a stress fracture in his left wrist/arm. They put a partial/splint cast on it and wrapped it with ace bandages so that he could take it off to shower and then we were to go back on Thursday to have is re-checked once the swelling went down. Tanner was instructed to take it easy for the whole week by the doctor. (Yeah right, this doctor doesn't know my kid! LOL)

Before anyone asks, YES, Tanner was wearing full protective gear while riding his dirt bike! Helmet, chest protector etc, etc.

When Tanner came home from his Dad’s on Sunday, he said that his stomach hurt and he felt nauseous. He was that way on Monday too but Tuesday and Wednesday seemed to be getting better.

On Wednesday, February 4th, while I was at work, Tanner decided to go skateboarding, which he was NOT supposed to be doing because of the wreck on Saturday. Well, he fell and wrecked on the skateboard and hurt his arm at about 3:45pm. I got home about 5:10pm and he finally tells me about 5:40pm because the pain was so bad. Into Urgent care we go again. This time the right arm/wrist hurt and they think that it is broken just above the elbow so they put a partial/splint cast on it and schedule us for Orthopedic Fracture Clinic for the following Tuesday. They also informed us that the results of the first arm x-rays from Saturday is most likely just a very bad sprain but for him to keep the splint on until Tuesday. So both arms are in splints/casts and all that he can do for himself is stand, sit and walk! LOL They went ahead and cancled the appointment for Thursday since he was going to be seen at the fracture clinic the following week.

He wasn’t feeling all that great when we got home Wednesday night which I expected since he hurt his other arm. We kept him home from school on Thursday and Friday. Both days he kept saying he wasn’t feeling good, his stomach hurt and that he felt sick but it seemed to come and go. Friday, he kept getting worse, he was even starting to whine and cry a bit, laying and sleeping a lot on the couch, which is very UNCOMMON for Tanner! He wouldn’t eat either.

On Friday at about 2:30pm, I had Kaytelynn go to the Wendy’s, he wanted fries and a pop…. Even after I tried bribing him to eat ice cream, a frosty or anything that he want and none of that worked so I knew his was seriously not feeling well. He took only a couple of bites of the fries and a drink of the coke and then vomited it all back up. (Oh I was able t get him to eat a banana earlier in the day but that was it.) I took his temp several times throughout the day, which was normal. I called Eric to talk to him about it and then called Kaiser. They said to bring him into Urgent Care that opened at 5:30pm for sign in because there weren't any appointments available.

We go to the Urgent Care, I requested x-rays of his chest and abdomen which they did. They also did a urine sample to see if there was blood in his urine. The doctor stated that she had consulted with several doctors and doctors at Kaiser Sunnyside Hospital in Clackamas, Oregon. They wanted him to have CT scans at Sunnyside for possible internal bleeding/organ injury. That way, if there needed to be any intervention (surgery or whatever) they were more equipped to do it than an Urgent Care.

I drove as calmly as possible from Vancouver, Washington to Clackamas, Oregon, for the 30 minute drive to that hospital. Tanner and I both were just trying to stay calm! We chatted about why we had to go there. He had a lot of questions that I tried to answer as best that I could without scaring him and me! LOL But just tried to reassure him that going to this hospital was just to make sure that he was ok.

We went to the ER as instructed and went directly back to the CT scan are because they were waiting for us. He had to drink a couple of cups of nasty tasting dye that looked like lemon aide and each cup had to be 40 minutes apart. He didn’t like it at all and kept begging me to not make him drink it, that he was going to vomit. I let the doctors know that he was saying that might throw up and they told him to do the best that he could.

He was able to get 2 cups of that nastiness swallowed and then they gave him an IV in his left arm (we had to take off one of the splints so that they could.) They took him back to the CT scan and gave him more dye through the IV. After the CT scan they removed the IV and sent us to the waiting room just outside of the ER check in. They called us to the desk and asked us to check in and I thought I was going to faint! They had taken out the IV so I figured things were going to be ok.

After the CT scan, they sent us back to an ER room, where they eventually told us that an ambulance was going to transport Tanner to OHSU/Dorenbecher’s Children’s Hospital and that they needed to get an IV started. Tanner and I both started to cry a bit. That worried us both. Both splints were back on his arms and the doctor and nurses were just peeved that the CT scan people had take out the first IV, so they had to put the IV into his left shoulder because he was becoming dehydrated and his veins were collapsing! While waiting for the ambulance, Eric had shown up which really helped to ease both of us.

Tanner rode in the ambulance (no lights/sirens) with the EMTs by himself, which he was ok with. They weren’t really waiting for us so Eric and I both drove our own vehicles following the ambulance to the children’s hospital. I had no idea that it was going to be such a long drive…. At least it felt that way. My ex-husband, Troy was there waiting for us to arrive (he is a story all unto himself through this whole ordeal and dang near drove me, Tanner, the doctors and nurses nuts!) After being seen in the OHSU ER, the doctors and surgical team reviewed his CT scans and admitted Tanner to Doernbecher’s for a possible spleen laceration/internal bleeding. He was given a room where he was not allowed to eat or drink in case they had to do surgery, but they did put in an IV solution to keep him from getting dehydrated.

They did several blood count tests and measuring of urine output throughout the night and into Saturday. Saturday, February 7th, mid day, they did an ultra sound on his abdomen area. Long story short, they do think that he injured his spleen but didn’t think that there was continuous bleeding. Tanner was actually quite calm and patient through all of this. Later that night, they let him get up and walk around and he was saying he was hungry… so they finally let him eat. After a while, they finally discharged him. LOL We were all wanting to go home.

By Sunday, even though we, the adults were all trashed due to lack of sleep and just a bit of stress, Tanner was already bored and not happy about having to "take it extremely easy." We decided to keep him home for the week for several reasons; he couldn't do much for himself and he was not to do any kind of strenuous activity at all for the first week and then to take it very easy for the following 3 weeks.

Tuesday, February 10th, I took Tanner to the Orthopedic Fracture Clinic, were they found both wrists and the right elbow to have fractures in the growth plates, so that meant 2 full casts!

Now the hard part will be to keep this 12 year old boy from running, jumping and anything else that could cause any further spleen damage while he is supposed to be healing over the next 4 weeks. God helps us all!

I dont know what I would have done without Eric being there for us. He surely helped to keep us all calm! I also don't know what we would have done without my Mom, Diana. She came over to our house, took Kaytelynn shopping for the items to make lasagna and helped her get ready for her high school dance. She made the lasagna for her boyfriend, Gary, before the dance.

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Now that I have written a novel about our little escapades over the last week, how about a freebie or two for you?! Two of our fabulous Royal Muses, Kabra and Bonnie, have put together some wonderful goodies for you all! Kabra created 2 - 4x6 Valentine Cards and Bonnie created some Vaentine word art.

Download here and be sure to leave the gals some love! (No password needed)

Don't forget to subscribe to my blog, there will be a few more goodies for you as the week goes on, since I was unable to get them posted last week and over the weekend!!