Eric's Surgery

Monday morning we went to the orthopedics's office expecting to have Eric's arm set as we were instructed at the ER. The doctor we saw just didn't seem to answer any of our questions. It was frustrating. When he said he wanted to ask one of his "friends," I just kept thinking, "Phone a friend? This isn't Who Wants to be a Millionaire!" It was a mess. I knew that I didn't want this man working on my son.

So, we got a referral to a pediatric orthopedic surgeon's office in Lubbock. Wednesday morning we saw the specialist who ordered new x-rays to clarify the break. We wanted to know if the bones needed a simple reduction or a bigger fix. This is what we saw with the new xrays.

See the doctor's notes on there?
138 degrees. A straight line is 180 degrees, so off by 42 degrees, ouch.

We were told if we left it alone that he would have severe deformity and lose his ability to do simple things such as turn a door knob. So, with that as our option we chose surgery, the next morning. They put a titanium rod in each of the broken bones. Those rods will be removed in 4-6mos, so one more surgery to go.

Comfort from Dad and his pooh blanket

Eric was a little nervous until we told him the mask he gets to breath into is like the ones fighter pilots wear. Then he was ready to go (especially when they told him he could keep his mask).

He was practicing his "fighter pilot breaths"

Eric did give us a scare when he experienced respiratory depression caused by morphine. He stopped breathing normally and started grunting and gasping. His nurse was on top of it though and did everything she was supposed to do, and Eric recovered nicely. My heart took a little longer...

those pouty lips won the hearts of many a nurse...

It's amazing what a popsicle will fix, isn't it?

I'd like to think I was whispering sweet nothings to Eric.
The reality is that we needed to pick a cartoon STAT!