Big Red, meet Little Red…

In case you have forgotten the fateful day that was January 17, 2009, feel free to go here to read up on it and you can go here to meet Big Red.  Apparently my kids break easily and Carter has broken his leg again.  Different leg this time, his left Tibia – last time was his right femur.  On Sunday, Mike was lifting him over the baby gate (which we have since replaced with one that swings open) and kind of dropped him down on the other side, the same way we have done a hundred times.  Apparently he landed wrong and broke his leg. He knew right away it was broken, he was screaming that he needed an x-ray and we had to go to the hospital right away.  I gave him some ibuprofen and we headed out to Children’s Hospital (lesson learned from last time).  By the time we got there, he had calmed down to the point that no one really thought it was broken.  Other than not wanting anyone to touch right where is was broken he seemed ok.  He could turn his foot and even was ok  when the doctor put pressure on his heel.  But once the x-ray came back it was pretty clear that Carter was right and it was broken.  It’s hard to see here, but it’s the little white line running down the bone towards the bottom. 

Luckily, we know a great pediatric orthopedist.  We were able to go on Tuesday and get his cast put on.  In general, this hasn’t been nearly as bad as the last break, but I did cry a little bit when the ER doc said he would be in a wheelchair again (note to self, take anything said by any doc outside his specialty with a  grain of salt).  It’s just so hard when it’s snowy and so cold outside, and really being in a wheelchair just kind of sucks.  Luckily, when we went to get the cast Dr. Van Valin decided to let Carter get a walking cast.  The look on Carter’s face was priceless when he found out. 

After that, he just laid on the table with a pleased look while they put his cast on.  In honor of Christmas he got a red and white striped one – “Santa will be so surprised!”.  He’s obviously pretty pleased with it.  And the best part?  The white part glows. 

He only has to have it on for four weeks, at which point he will get a boot. For some people, this could be a pretty big deal.  Unfortunately, it’s turning into an all too common occurrence around here.  A friend came over to check on us and told us about how he had broken 6 bones.  We are putting the kids on extra calcium supplements and hoping they don’t follow suit.