Noah Broke His Arm

The past few days have been kind of crazy. Thursday evening after we put Abel to bed Noah decided to try and slide down the banister, but instead he flipped over the rail and landed on his arm. Jude saw the whole thing and immediately ran upstairs to get Joe and I. We heard the thud and scream and ran down to see what happened. Right away we knew something was wrong when his elbow bent the wrong direction. Initially we thought it might be dislocated so Joe immediately put him in the car and took him to the ER.

Luckily, the ER wasn’t busy and he was seen right away. The initial consensus was it was broken since he could feel and move his fingers which was later confirmed with X-rays. The brake was such that it required surgery to place pins to keep the bone in place. The surgeon opted to wait until the next day to perform the surgery since it was already 11pm. So they admitted Noah, put a splint on his arm, gave him some meds so he could sleep and waited to do the surgery the next day. Poor Noah just wanted to go home, he told Joe his arm was feeling better and asked to go home around 10pm.

All the while I’m at home with the other boys anxious about what is going on a wishing I could be there. But I knew he was in good hands with Joe and the great staff at WakeMed. We know several nurses that work there and always have great care anytime we’ve had to visit the hospital.

The next morning was Simon’s first day of kindergarten so I woke up early to prep things for school and things to take to the hospital. I didn’t know what time the surgery would be taking place but I knew Joe needed some supplies and Noah would probably like a few things. After dropping off Jude and Simon at school Abel and I headed over to the hospital where we got to see Noah a bit before he headed back to surgery. Earlier in the morning I had messaged Noah’s teachers to let them know he wouldn’t be at school and that he had surgery. One of his teachers happened to be near the hospital and stopped by to visit him before he had surgery. It’s so wonderful to have teachers that love and care for my kids.

Abel, Joe and I hung out at the hospital while Noah was in surgery and recovery. The surgery went well and he did great coming out of anesthesia. The nurse thought if he continued to do well he might get to go home that same day as opposed to the previous mention of him staying an additional night. Joe and Abel left a little after lunch to go home and get the boys from school. Around 3:30pm the nurse said he was looking great and got together the information and stuff we would need to be discharged. Finally, we headed home around 5pm. Everyone was so thrilled to be home.

Noah has about 2 months of recovery ahead of him but so far he’s doing great. He currently has a splint on his arm and in a week or so he will go back to the orthopedist to have the pins removed from his arm and will then get a cast. He’s been very careful about his arm but doesn’t generally complain about pain. He can’t bear any weight on his arm so he’s had a little trouble adjusting to using just 1 arm but otherwise he’s in great spirits. He was prescribed some strong pain medicine but he hasn’t had to use it at all, we’ve only given him a bit of Tylenol to keep him comfortable.

We are so thankful for the great medical care we received and for the family and friends that prayed for Noah and offered to help.