Medical "Spa" Day....Bobby's First Cast

When Bobby fell and hurt him self while roller skating, I immediately knew that there were going to be multiple medical appointments involved in this incident which filled me with more dread that I can even explain!!!  I was already feeling a little panicky because Bobby had a well-child check scheduled for first thing Monday morning.

Bobby's worst behaviors always shine through during medical appointments and he even actually does better at the dentist than at the doctor.  Go figure!  I don't take him to the doctor unless absolutely necessary.  The years of neurology visits and every 3 month doctors visits make me cringe when I think back on them.  I was so frustrated with Bobby by the time that the doctor actually made it into the exam room that I all wanted to do was leave and leave now!!  I rarely discussed in depth things with them because he was tantruming up a storm in the room with us, unless he was just too sick to make a fuss.  Many times Daddy came along and took Bobby to the car as soon as they finished their basic exam on Bobby just so that I could string two thoughts together to discuss with his physicians.

So imagine my panic when I knew that he had probably just broken a bone.  Ugh. When we first arrived at the Urgent Care immediately following the accident he was gearing up to show some super bad behavior....hitting the table, pacing and being extremely loud.  However, we knew he was in major pain.  As soon as his arm was stabilized, he calmed down and became pleasant for the rest of the medical visit.

So, I wasn't sure what to except this morning for his 8 am well-child check appointment.  What a way to start the day!!  To top it off it was cold, raining and just a blah gray outside.  Perfect!!  We got there 15 minutes early and went upstairs to Pediatrics.  What did my eyes see????  A completely empty waiting room, we were the first ones there....and the angels began to sing!!  We were checked in, Bobby ran around the brand new waiting room to inspect all of the new features and they took us back before anyone else got there!!!  In my head....."OH MY GOSH, we aren't going to have to wait for the doctor either!!  We are definitely first!!!"  We had to wait for the computers to boot up to get checked in is how I was confident that we were the only ones there!!

Our pediatrician came right in and obviously the well-child check went straight to.....what happened to your arm????

 I gave him our computer disk of x-rays and he left to give them a look.  Bobby admired himself in the mirror and did a little yoga on the exam table.

 Of course he had to ride around on the spinning chair for a while!

 The doctor came back in with a paper in his hand, he had gotten Bobby an appointment with the neighboring orthopaedic office (in the same building) for 2:30 so we would have to come back later on in the day.  I was just happy to have an appointment today so that I wouldn't have to worry about it for another day.  Bobby was being so incredible that I also got to discuss a couple of other concerns with him....a first!!  He did his basic exam, gave us our scripts for school and therapy, and we were on our way!!  I was so extremely happy with Bobby and so proud of his progress.

Now to the next part of our spa day.  I did something that I hadn't planned to do.  I got out Bobby's big Christmas gift, put it into a bag just in case we needed it at the appointment.  We got to the appointment 10 minutes early and when I walked around the corner and looked into the waiting room my heart sunk.  It was the exact opposite of the waiting room this morning.  It was PACKED.  I was soon thanking God that I grabbed his gift, a new iPad mini.  I had already set it up and it has all of his movies and tv shows loaded, plus earbuds work with the new one and don't with his old one.  I'm sure everyone would just love hearing Bobby play the same parts of movies over and over and over and over while they are waiting for their appointments.  Well, Bobby and I waited for 45 minutes before they took us back.  The iPad saved our lives!!!  When they finally took us back, we walked down the hallway and turned into a room and my heart sunk again......it's not a private room but curtained off areas.  What???  NO DOOR TO SHUT HIM IN WITH!!!

 I think he preferred this!!!  He can see what is going on....all of the hustle and bustle around him!!! He was happy and smiling.....on some kind of adventure.

 He even had time to ponder the meaning of life.......

 He had a lot of time to ponder.  Boy, did we do a lot of waiting!!!  They came in and talked to us and then left because they needed to go look at his x-rays that I brought.   Waited more....and more....

 Finally look his splint off and took us to x-ray so that they could get pictures of his elbow too.  We waited and he scratched and we waited and he scratched.  He was so happy to have that thing off of his arm.

 He complied very well in x-ray.  I had to hold his fingers and arms, but he let me and did a great job. Then we went back to our little curtain room and waited, and waited, and waited.......Finally the doctor came in, his elbow looks fine.  He has a buckle fracture in his wrist (according to the written report,.....There is a buckle fracture of the distal radius along the dorsal aspect. The remainder of the osseous structures are radiographically intact) so he only needs a short cast.  Yay, he will be able to bend his arm!!  Then we waited.....and waited.....and waited........until a man finally came in to put on a cast.  Whoo hoo!!  It's about time.

Again, Bobby shocked me and complied very well.  I had to assist and hold his arm certain ways while the cast was being put on.  But overall, Bobby did OUTSTANDING!!!  We were there for 2 1/2 hours and he did not cry, hit, whine, kick, yell.....he did laugh, smile, comply, and make his mom a very proud Mamma!!!  The iPad literally saved the day.  The thing about Bobby, I will be able to put it away and not bring it out again until......well, his next appointment in 4 weeks.  I do now have another thing that I want to get him for Christmas.....headphones, he doesn't really like the earbuds.  I also got to pick out the color for the cast because Bobby didn't answer when we asked him.  I picked red to go along with the Christmas festivities that will be coming up very soon.

So my baby has his first cast and he handled the whole thing so much better than I could have ever anticipated!!   So proud!!