Roger's Broken Leg

On Tuesday night Brooke, Roger, and I were at our neighbor Sarah's house for a visit. At about 9:30 pm we headed for home. Brooke and Roger ran ahead. I told them to slow down as they ran towards the door. As I came around the hedge in front of our house, I heard Roger crying. I hurried towards him and found him in a kneeling position, clutching his leg. I picked him up and carried him to the door. I tried to stand him while I knocked on the door. Sam couldn't get to the door immediately, and yelled to Stuart to let us in. I laid him in the entry way, and started examining him. There were no cuts or scrapes, yet he was screaming in pain. I called Sam down and told him I thought his leg was broken. We started undressing him, thinking that we would find something wrong, and when we took off his shorts, we could tell that his femur was broken. His leg was bulging unnaturally. So, I called Sarah and asked if she could take the kids. She came and got them immediately. I got in the back seat of the van and Sam laid Roger in my lap. The drive was agonizing for us. We had to drive slowly because every single little bump made him cry out in pain. It was agony for me, too, to have to hear his cries, and feel his little body tense up every time there was a jolt. The main road from Thetford to Brandon is especially bumpy, and Roger kept crying out, "I don't like the bumpy road!

Finally we arrived at the hospital. Sam had called ahead, and we were relieved to hear that Dr. Sample was the ER doctor. We met him at a 60's party a couple weeks ago. They took him to get an x ray, and confirmed the break. The radiologist on call, Dr. Tan, was already there. He had stayed late to read some MRI's. We bought a car from him when we first moved here. They called the orthopedic doctor, Dr. Starr, who was also a friend of Sam's. I had met him before when I had surgery on my hand last January. I was relieved that I knew all the doctors involved.

As Sam and I were waiting for Dr. Starr (orthopedics) to get to the hospital, we were seated beside Roger, who was laying uncomfortably in the stretcher. The ER nurse was in there.

I asked him about his name, and where it came from. He was from the Philippines, and a conversation ensued. I told him my brother had served a mission there. He asked if we were LDS, and when we told him we were, he said that he was, too. So we asked if he could help Sam give Roger a blessing. He was happy to help.

When Dr. Starr finally arrived, he looked at the break and said that we had a couple of options, only because Sam was his friend. Normally for a child Roger's age (he just turned 5 the day before), he said that he would have to be put in a spica cast for 6 weeks (see picture), or he could do what is called elastic nailing, where rods are placed up the bone and a long leg cast is worn for about 3-4 weeks. He said that it's a little risky to do the latter in kids as young as him. I told him I didn't think the spica cast would be a good idea. First, because we were going to Utah in three weeks, and second, Roger has arthritis, and can't have all those joints immovable for that

long. There were other risks to the spica, as well, and I was very apprehensive about it. We opted for the second choice.

(This is a spica cast (not on Roger). It has to stay on for 6 weeks.)

Since we only had one car, Sam had to take me home, and our friends watched over him until

Sam was able to return to the hospital. They started an IV and gave him medicine to ease the pain. I needed to go home and make sure the kids were okay, and make arrangements for them for the next day. It was about midnight when I got home, and I went over to Sarah's house, and she was more than happy to watch Stuart and Brooke the next day. I went home and tried to clean up and do a little laundry (tried to get myself really tired, actually) before heading off to bed. I only slept a couple of hours, and when I woke, I found myself praying, and

I just couldn't lay there anymore. I finally got up, cleaned up the house, did some more laundry (it was very early in the morning), and then I showered, got dressed, and headed to the hospital. I arrived at about 7:30 am. Sam had to get ready for clinic.

I found Roger, lying in bed with a rope on his foot, and a weight hanging over the bed to pull the bone down (they call it traction). He was clearly uncomfortable.

Traction

Weight

(Our ENT family brought flowers, a big balloon, and a little chick that does "The Chicken Dance.")

(This is Roger in traction. A weight is keeping the bone from buckling. It also reduces the muscle spasms)

They were giving him morphine every 2-3 hours. The room was FREEZING, and it was very difficult for me to be in there. The nurses in the inpatient ward gave me a couple of heated blankets, but I struggled the whole time. I spent most of the day in the other bed wrapped in blankets. I fell asleep a lot, and woke when Roger woke, or when someone came in to visit or examine him. We had a lot of friends stop by to see him.

Surgery was scheduled for late afternoon. Those last two hours before they wheeled him down were agonizing for him. I noticed that his hand was all swollen, and when the nurse removed the dressing around the IV, I could see that his whole arm, up to his shoulder, was swollen. He hadn't been receiving any of the medication that they were giving him. It was all going into his arm. The nurse anesthetist (also a good friend of ours) came in and gave Roger some Tylenol with a sedative, and he fell asleep in about 3 minutes. Half an hour later they wheeled him to the operating room on the first floor.

Before they wheeled him down, though, our bishop (who works on the 3rd floor, down the hall from Sam, and also the inpatient ward), came over to help Sam give him a blessing. The blessing he gave Roger put me at ease, and I have been very positive about the outcome ever since. He promised that the surgery would go well, and that Roger would recover with no lasting side effects.

Sam went into the operating room with Roger to observe the procedure. I went up and waited in Sam's office. About an hour into the surgery Sam called me to say the the first rod was in place and that it went very smoothly. About an hour later he came up and told me that the surgery was over, and that it went very well. It couldn't have gone better.

Tools used in surgery

(This is an x ray of Dr. Starr inserting the elastic nails into the femur.)

This is what it looks like with the elastic nails in place.

He said that they were just putting a cast on his leg, and then they would wheel him up to the inpatient ward. I decided to get something to eat, and when I came back, he was already in his room, still under the influence of the anesthesia.

(Putting the cast on after surgery)

He spent the night, and I went home to get the kids. Brooke and Stuart were happy to come home. I washed them up and sent them to bed, then I staggered, exhausted into my own bed and slept until morning.

Early the next morning (Thursday) I took the kids to another friend's house, and hurried to the hospital. I spent the entire day in the hospital. I am grateful to all the people who came and visited us while we were there. I knitted a little sock that fits over the cast. Roger really liked it, and didn't want to take it off.

(This is the toe covering I knitted for him. I deviated a little from the pattern and did a moss stitch, because I wanted to try a new pattern.)

That evening my friend brought Stuart and Brooke to the hospital, and then I took them home. We got up early Friday morning to go back to the hospital. Sam stayed the night again. After all, he is on call. I should say, the new beds they have at the hospital are extremely comfortable.

Before Dr. Starr arrived, one of our other friends, who is a doctor was making rounds. He brought his son with him, who is Roger's good friend. Roger's little friend hung out with us for an hour or so, while his dad got some work done.

Finally Dr. Starr arrived and told us we could go home. Sam asked him about a surgery he had the night before. It was a similar surgery (elastic nails), except that the child was 12, and her arm was broken. Dr. Starr responded that it didn't go well at all. He had to open her up to fix it. I knew then that Roger's blessing made all the difference. Dr. Starr said, "If only the surgery could have gone as smoothly as Roger's. . ." Roger's success was an answer to my prayers, as well as many others' prayers.

He is home now, resting as comfortably as possible. He is starting to come back to his old self more and more. I am confident that his recovery will go well, and that he will be back to his normal self very soon. Thanks to all for your prayers and well-wishes. They are sincerely appreciated.

(Roger at home, chilling on the couch. Another one of his friends came over and delivered a teddy bear and balloon. They had just been to the hospital to see him, but missed us by a few minutes, so they drove all the way to Thetford to see us. What great friends!)