Bacon’s Broken Leg

Yep, we’ve had our first broken bone in the family. Thursday afternoon, a little before 4 pm, I took Bacon downstairs to get his blanket. I plopped him in the family room by his blanket and went over to close the curtains in front of the sliding door. The sun was beating in and it was getting warm. Just as I finished, Bacon fell and started crying and screaming. He falls all the time so I wasn’t too worried until I picked him up and he dug his hands into my arms like he was holding on for dear life. Usually he just rests his head against my shoulder long enough to get a few pats on the back and a hug from me before he’s down again. So the hands were a sign something was wrong. He continued to scream for 20+ minutes. I called Tim 3 times before he answered and he came right home. He told me he hadn’t heard anything I said, only Bacon screaming like a maniac.
By the time Tim got home, Bacon was asleep in my arms on the couch. Tim took over getting the other boys to clean up (I was watching 2 boys for a friend when all this happened) and got them dinner. I had called someone we knew and asked him what to look for. He had us go to his chiropractic practice and he took some x-rays. He couldn’t really see anything but said if it was his child, he would definitely get it looked at. It concerned him. (*side note: he called the next day just to see how Bacon was doing and what the diagnosis was. Such a great friend!). He also said to call the hospital and urgent care places to see if they would actually do anything for the leg if it was broken. Glad he told us that because they don’t really do anything. Urgent Care only takes x-ray’s and ER will only put it in a splint.
Friday morning, bright and early I called both places our insurance covers for pediatric orthopedists. We got into the second way, which is all the way across town. A great friend subbed Joy School for me and another agreed to watch Pickle for us. A different friend picked up Pach from school and watched him.
THE DIAGNOSIS: A broken leg (that you could probably get from the title of this post). The correct medical wording, I believe is, Tibial Fracture or more commonly called a Spiral Fracture because of how the leg twists when it breaks.
Dr. Valencia was fabulous! He was so calm, which helped keep Bacon calm. He said he would rather put him in a walking boot rather than a cast because little kids his age put stuff down the casts and they tend to get pretty wet. So after spending most of the afternoon there, we headed through town to get the walking cast. Bacon thought it was pretty cool when he first got it on. When he realized he had to keep it on he was less than thrilled.
He crawled around for a few days and we thought he would eventually just get up and walk. It became apparent that wasn’t going to happen, so one evening we spent an hour walking with him. I walked him to the loft and then said, “Daddy has candy in the office. Let’s go walk to him.” He then walked back to Tim and then the cycle would start all over again. It got him walking and then running and climbing and jumping and doing more than he did before. Nothing slowed him down!
He wore the boot all the time, minus in the bath, until January 8, when he had his check-up. His leg was healing wonderfully, so it was time to wean him off his boot. Nothing was stopping him anymore, not that the boot had stopped him. It only slowed him down for a few days. He was off and running as soon as he could be. Now he just climbs even more. We’ve found him sitting on their dressing, climbing and diving over Pach’s bedrail guard, on the piano, climbing up and flopping over couches, etc. He knows no fear.

The only good picture I can find.