Orange October!

This past Saturday, we were rounding out our 2nd party of the day and promised E a few more minutes to play with his older friends. He'd been such a good boy all day and even skipped his nap. Plus, we were all having a blast. One of the older kids, a 7-year-old, helped him up climb the slide's ladder and then got him to go down. It was his first time on that large and fast of a slide and he loved it. Lisa and I were both right there in the ready, but relaxed after seeing how well he did on it. They went up for a second time.

The older girl sat at the top of the slide and before I could even think, she had E on her lap and they were headed down together. Meanwhile, one of the other kids wanted to help catch them and jumped in the landing zone. We're not entirely sure what happened at that moment, but all three ended up in a pile on the ground.

E immediately started crying very, very hard and refused to be put down, going limp every time we tried. We chalked it up to a mix of fear, plus exhaustion and left the party. On the way home, he fell asleep and we hoped that was the end of it. 

However, in the night he needed to go potty. Again, he wouldn't put weight on it. Even holding on to the side of the tub and standing like a sad little flamingo. Must be a sprain, we decided.

I made the first available appointment with his doctor (which wasn't until Monday afternoon) while Lisa talked to the advice nurse and determined that with no swelling, bruising, or pain while sitting...it was probably best just to visit his regular doctor versus exposing him to all the lovely junk in the Emergency Room. The nurse told us to keep it rested, iced, under compression, and elevated. 

A full day of keeping a 2.5-year-old immobile. 

Riiiiight.

We explained it to him and he was a trooper. He kept saying, "I can't stand very well," and "I can't walk very well." And watched plenty of Daniel the Tiger (and, of course, the Giants' big win). However, his condition never improved. 

By the time Lisa took him to the doctor on Monday, we were self-diagnosing some sort of stress fracture. After an x-ray (which he was awesome at, being more interested in all the big machines), a visit to the orthopedic specialist, another skipped nap, and several new "get well" matchbox cars, they found a slight spiral fracture in his tibia (shin bone).  It was very hard to see, ever so slight, but based on the fact that he couldn't stand, they had to assume it was there. The slight fracture appeared to extend pretty far up the tibia and casting below the knee would potentially put too much pressure on the bone that they were trying to heal, so they safest and most effective treatment was a full leg cast. 

Weight bearing? 

No.

Water proof?
Nope.

How long? 

Four weeks. 

I know, I know. Please send all the extra luck you have sitting around.

Lisa said that he was very brave getting his cast and asking the other people waiting if they also had fallen off the slide. He couldn't quite decide on the colors until he suddenly yelled, "Orange! Go Giants!" (at least his heart is still intact).

All in all, we're doing alright. It'll be an adjustment for sure, but at least we're through the wedding season and before the holidays. Really, it's the "best" time for something like this to happen. That said, did I ask if you had any extra luck around??