I was reading to her when I heard the door open downstairs. I heard Joshua come in, yelling, "Mom! Nathan says I broke his arm!" I attributed this to normal brotherly fighting and I continued reading to Elizabeth until Joshua came in her room, repeating his previous complaint. I still didn't think much of it.
Nathan came in a minute or two later, and I could hear him crying downstairs. Again, I just assumed that he had gotten hurt and was mad at Joshua. I was stubbornly still trying to finish Elizabeth's book so I could get her in bed. Joshua decided to call Ryan at work and tell him that Nathan might have broken his arm. That's when I realized that maybe the whole situation was more serious than I first realized!
So I went downstairs and saw that Nathan was just laying on the couch, crying, still with his backpack on and everything. He told me that as he and Joshua were coming home (Benjamin was still at school for Ceramics club), Joshua was trying to go straight to a friend's house instead of coming home first. Nathan was trying to be a good big brother, and started chasing Joshua to get him to turn around and come home. (Joshua was on his scooter and Nathan was on roller blades.) As Nathan was doing so, his backpack caused him to get off-balance and he fell backwards, trying to catch himself with his hands. He thought he broke his wrist and was begging to go to the hospital, so I investigated. It didn't look swollen, the bones didn't feel unusual, and I didn't even see any signs of bruising.
So once again, I chalked it up to an over-reaction on Nathan's part. I told him I needed to finish Elizabeth's book with her, and if it was still hurting by the time I was done, then we would go to Urgent Care. When I came back downstairs after her book, Nathan was still crying and I could tell that he really was in pain. So we all got our coats on and went down to the Urgent Care. They took some x-rays and told us that Nathan had a "buckle" fracture.
This is our first broken bone. Not bad for 3 boys and eleven years!
They put him in a splint and told us to set up a doctor's appointment for the cast after the weekend. When I asked why they don't put the cast on right away, they said it is because they have to wait for swelling to go down. I felt so much better when the doctor then added, "but this one really isn't that swollen." Whew! I'm glad that I didn't miss something obvious!
Today Nathan got his cast on. I think he enjoyed all of the extra attention he got at school, and he loved letting everyone sign it! Unfortunately, he broke his right wrist and he is right-handed! Fortunately, he only has a week and a half of school before Christmas break. And he only has to have it on for 3 weeks, so he is scheduled to get it off the day he goes back to school in January!
