I fortunately have never broken a bone. I have never had to care for someone else who had until recently.....
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Here I am about to document the procedure from the onset of the accident up to the day of recovery. I hope this may help anyone else who suddenly finds themselves in this position. and does not know what to expect.
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♥ The day it all began. It was Tuesday 9 March at 1-15 pm. I had done one job in the morning , come home, had lunch and looking forward to the afternoon to myself. No danger of that! I had just pressed the submit button booking a rather expensive family holiday online when the phone rang. It was the Matron at the school of my eldest two children. She told me she had my son Josh with her. Apparently he had been the goalie in a game of football. The ball had whacked his wrist and he was in extreme pain. He had trouble flexing his fingers.

I am not an uncaring unsympathetic Mum, ( " Will you kids get out of this damn room while I try to write this review...!" oops sorry) but I wasn't immediately concerned. Plus my mind was over in Santa Eulalia where I had just booked a holiday.
Josh is only 13 years old but a whopping 5'11", so I didn't think much damage had occurred. I told the Matron he would be okay and given that as he is in training to be a man, he was of course a bit soft!
She re-iterated that he was in a lot of pain. Common sense and the maternal instinct finally prevailed and I arranged to collect him.

♥ Casualty

On our way to the hospital we got caught amid a car crash. Surrounded on a roundabout by police vehicles, with my son in pain ,but to his credit, remarkably calm it was starting to resemble a scene from a 'Carry on' movie. Then came the farce of trying to find a parking space within a mile of the hospital.
We registered our arrival at Casualty at 1-45pm. I tried to obtain a rough estimate of the waiting period but those of you who have spent many an hour in Casualty will know that this is a secret. My concern was that I had to somehow collect my two other children from two separate schools.
We were asked to sit and wait for the Triage nurse .

♥ Triage

The Triage nurse called Josh in after a 20 minutes wait. This seemed acceptable as the department did have quite a few patients some of which included victims of the earlier car accident. She documented the immediate details of Josh's accident and the resultant injury. She had to clarify how he had sustained the injury and which parts of his arm were causing pain. She arranged to send us down to the A&E X-ray department to ascertain whether or not a breakage had occurred. Knowing that Josh would usually milk an incident like this if he was in any form of moderate pain, I had managed to convince him ,as well as myself, that he had not broken any bones.....Course Mother knows best!

♥ X-ray
We were sent straight to X-ray . We felt somewhat akin to Dorothy and the Scarecrow doing a 'Follow the Yellow brick road' when we were told the x-ray department could be located by following the red diamonds on the floor along various corridors. Kept expecting the 'Wicked Witch of the West ' to pounce on us. We soon met her. It turned out that she was the one doing the x-ray. As she wouldn't let me in to her Land of Oz ( I am not pregnant, and I have attended my young daughters chest x-rays whilst suitably protected, on previous occasions) I cannot comment on this x-ray procedure, but we were done and dusted in this department -for today at least- in about 20 minutes. We took the X-rays back to the triage nurse and now began another 30 minutes wait where once again I could receive no answers to my questions of concern...its a secret...yes but he is also my son!

♥ Back to the waiting room

Whilst ensconsed back in the Casualty waiting room we experienced a minor, or in my sons opinion a major, distraction. He excitedly tried to tell me that the guy behind us was, who he knew by name, one of the professional football players with our local team . Josh is a season ticket holder so was quite chuffed. To me (yawn) he was just a thin gawky lad who didnt look much older than Josh himself.
At this stage I paid another visit to the triage nurse who was busy chewing gum and re-adjusting her Winnie the Pooh socks out of her grubby trainers ( Cant you just tell I 'Mystery Shop?) to ask if she had any news on the x-rays and whether I would have time to collect my other children whilst waiting for information. Of course, she didnt know.
I was beginning to wonder where the professional compassion and bedside manner for my 13year old son was hiding when from another direction a little friendly voice called 'Joshua , love'. Being a child he had been assigned to a special nurse to give him the verdict. There she was all 5' 2" of her, dressed in a colourful tabard with pictures of toys designed upon it as she called him into the childrens room..
Just picture the scene, in her mind's eye she was expecting a little weakling of a boy who ended up in Casualty after trying to save a goal....and in stolls a giant of a kid just one inch short of 6ft. She almost required respiratory treatment herself as she asked if anyone had a stepladder.

♥ Verdict

She placed the x-rays on the screen and turned to face us. I was thinking, I have just got time to collect the other two from school and get back to the holiday plans when she said, " Well, Joshua, I am afraid you have a very bad break there. You have broken straight through the lower arm bone." We looked at each other aghast, stunned. All my apologies to him flooded out. The nurse explained he must have been in extreme pain. Josh just looked at the screen and said 'Bugger!'

♥ Plaster room

After a short wait we accessed the plaster room. The wicked witch of the west wasnt in this room, so I was allowed to accompany my munchkin . Josh was required to bend his broken left arm at the elbow and place it in a position across his body. Not having been in this situation before, it would appear that the plaster of paris solution was probably meshed into the special bandage. This was then smoothed over constantly with a fluid, which upon asking, I was informed, was merely aired water. This was repeated over and over again until he was solidly potted from the palm of his hand ,virtually up to his shoulder .
Nowadays the plaster casts can be coloured,not just white. Other patients were having pink, blue or green. I did ask if my gentle giant could have a pink one...... he maintained he wanted plain white. Yes.. and how long would it stay plain white and graffiti free I wonder.
The plaster cast would take 24 hours before it would set properly, so we were given the relevant leaflets giving Care of the Cast, procedure . It was at this point that we realised we could not replace any of his upper clothing due to the vast density of the plaster cast!
I was advised to keep Josh at home ( Great I miss double maths he comments) the following morning and make an appointment to see an orthapaedic consultant at theTrauma clinic for the afternoon. Appointment set at 2.10 Wednesday 9 March.

♥ Returning Home

From the time of the accident occurring to getting Josh back home from the hospital was on this occasion a duration of 2 3/4 hours which all in all is quicker than I expected . Now Josh is at this stage in all his glory, ringing his mates up and basking in the pride of his newly set cast. He no longer felt quite as soft when he found out that the goal he was trying to save had been kicked by one of the junior team members of the same local professional team!
I had managed to get word to my other children who were brought home safely. My teenage daughter, on hearing of the episode, said in the mentality of such, "I wish I'd broken a bone..!" Yes and who would straighten your hair for you every day darling?

♥ Night time
Surprisingly, Josh got through the night reasonably well , though the vast weight of the pot caused obvious discomfort.Bits of set plaster had also attached itself to his new bedding !

♥ Follow up treatment

We attended the Trauma clinic the following afternoon. After a 15 minute wait we were called into see a doctor and nurse.
They explained that the main point of the visit was to check that the bone had not become misplaced and out of line. If so for obvious reasons it would need to be reset. They also needed to check whether any further injury to the elbow , which would normally be in evidence with such a break had manifested itself. This meant going back to the land of oz. Sure enough she was still there flapping about on her broomstick. She saw us and made a grab for his file, knocking other munchkins over in the process, and said , "I did him yesterday, Why does he need another x-ray again?" Well, I do not have time for jobsworth individuals whatever their level of employment , so much to the embarrassment of my son I intervened and said, "The doctor knows why he has requested it, I know why he wants it , so lets just do it , EH??"
Job done and we returned the new xrays to the doctor and nurse. Of course I had to mention that the radiologist had not thought this procedure necessary. They laughed and acknowledged that it was a 'power thing.' Yes, well one day she will get her ruby slippers, and we all know what will happen then!
All was well with the progress of the break. The bone was still in line and a further appointment made for one weeks time.

♥ Wednesday 16 / 23 March
For the following two weeks we have had to attend an appointment at the trauma clinic. Josh is coping admirably. Meanwhile, I have had to cut the sleeve off many of his shirts. At these appointments we saw a different doctor and a different radiologist. All still going well. The bone is still in the correct position . At the first of these this appointments Josh asked the doctor when he could play football again.... This doctor being a bit of a character makes Joshua do a role reversal conversation where he becomes Josh and Josh has to be Doctor. (In my days it was Doctors and Nurses).

۞ Doctor role playing Josh-- 'Doctor, when do you think I can play football again?'

۞ Josh trying to be Doctor- 'I think if you rest your arm for another week you will be alright after that. '

۞ Doctor playing Josh- 'But no Doctor thats much too early. I haven't got my pot off yet. Don't you think I should wait for a couple of weeks after it is removed so that I can get used to using it again?'

۞Mum playing selfish- Why doesn't he wait until we have been on holiday in May. He could build up his strength doing lots of swimming whilst we are there?'

۞Nurse playing herself- 'Excellent idea!'

♥ Wednesday 6 April

It is now four weeks since the monsterous pot covered Josh's arm and he now walks tilted to the left.
We firstly attended Plaster Removal department where a member of the medical staff carefully with a small electrical circular saw blade cut through the cast in vertical and horizontal sections.
I was horrified the blade would slice into his skin, let alone his new Ben Sherman t-shirt that he had insisted on wearing. Having stopped the procedure in order to I voice my concern I was informed that the blade did not move in a circular direction but back and forth. Also beneath this plaster there is a wad of padding . The back and forth action of the blade would not cut through the wadding but get caught on it, thus protecting the skin.
After cutting and releasing some of the cast it was then loosely bound together with a light bandage dressing.

In X-ray this was removed so that a print could be taken for the first time out of the cast in order for the doctor to assess the bone.

After a longer than usual wait, we saw a different very young doctor, the type that feels the medical profession couldnt survive without him.
Without a great deal of discussion or physical examination he decided that Josh was on the mend and did not require any further protection. I was quite shocked as the bone only just looked as if it was beginning to knit together.
As I said, he is a big lad and I was very concerned that there was no intermediate protection for such a bad break. Lets not forget we are going abroad in a few weeks .Cant risk anything else happening now can we?

Josh was told to be careful and advised this time of no sport or heavy activity for 6 weeks.We left with a follow up appointment for three weeks time when it would be decided whether or not any physio would be required. That might just clash with my holiday shopping Josh!!

His elbow and wrist are both stiff and painful at the moment but at least he can enjoy a much longed for hot soak where he can flex and relax the joint.

He better not be too long though as I have a car boot full of shopping that needs bringing in lol!!

I hope this has given you an insight into the procedure following a broken limb. Thanks for the read

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