Friday evening, shortly after I posted about quitting my nanny gig, I let Josh go play out in the backyard before it started getting too dark. Well, he's at the age where I don't watch him every second that he's out there, I just open the blinds on all the kitchen windows to check on him every couple minutes, and leave the door open so I can hear him. So, there I am, doing something with Leila, and I thought I heard Josh cry, so I paused, and sure enough, he was SCREAMING. I high-tail it to the back porch, and he's at the back end of the yard, sitting on the ground crying. Usually, when he gets hurt, he comes running to me to kiss his boo-boo's better. So when he just sat there crying and calling for me, I knew something was wrong.
I ran out to him, and saw that his foot was in a shallow hole that one of the dogs had dug. Not even stuck in the hole, just in it. And the first thing he said to me, between sobs, was, "It's b-b-brokeeeen! I broke my leeeeeg!" Now, he tends to be overly dramatic with me, because he knows I buy into it, plus he had been around those kids I kept, and I was thinking that maybe he had heard one of them say something like that, playing around. I didn't doubt that he was hurt, just thought maybe he had twisted his leg, or sprained it, or hyper-extended it.
I brought him in, laid him on the floor, and pulled his shorts off, which made him scream. He refused to let me touch his leg, and when I finally talked him into it, as soon as I tried to move it, he screamed. I told Brian to come in and I was gonna leave the room, so he see if he could get him to calm down (since Josh milks it with me). He had no luck, Josh wouldn't let him touch it, and screamed when Brian tried to do anything with it too. By the time I came back in, Josh had quieted down, and was laying on the floor with is leg straight out, so I was thinking "OK, it's wearing off" so I went and ran a warm bath for him, thinking it would help to further relax him. Brian picked him up to bring him into the bathroom, and he started screaming again. I told Brian to go call my dad, who has been in the paramedic/ems field for 30+ years. When I got Josh in the bath, he moved wrong or something, and clutched my arm to his chest and screamed bloody murder (right in my ear) over and over and over. At that point, I didn't care if it was just a sprain or twist, he was obviously in severe pain, so when Brian came in, I told him we're taking him to CareNow (urgent care).
We finally got to CareNow @ 9:00 that night, Dr finally saw us @ 10:00. They decided they needed to do X-rays, and I told Brian to carry him down there, I would stay in the room with Leila. When Brian picked Josh up, he was holding him like a baby (with his arm under Josh's butt, and Josh's legs against his chest) - and when he got to the doorway, he stopped short and said, "Holy s***, that's not right, something IS wrong! I FEEL stuff moving around in his leg! OMG!" And I was sitting there thinking, "Oh no no no!" The X-ray room was literally on the other end of the building, and from the exam room, I could hear Josh screaming as they tried to straighten his leg back out for X-rays. When they opened the door, they were talking, and the only word I made out of the conversation was "fracture" and again I was thinking "No no no!" So the nurse came back down to the room and told me Josh had fractured his femur, and that's all I heard, I just broke down crying. They said that he needed to go to Cook Children's in downtown, and they had called the ambulance to transport him to keep him more comfortable and stable.
Josh said he wanted Brian to ride in the ambulance with him, so I got Leila loaded up in the car and headed to the house to get my phone charger and a drink (they hadn't left the clinic yet, so I was well ahead of them). Anyways, we were in the hospital ER all night, pretty much. Around 2:30AM, Brian told me to take Leila home and get some rest. Josh, fortunately, didn't need surgery, but around 9:30 yesterday morning they took him into the OR (under anesthesia) to put his cast on. It goes up to his chest, down his broken leg, and halfway down his other leg, with a hole in the crotch for bathroom purposes. Problem is, he has to use a diaper, and we were just on the tail-end of potty-training! Anyways, he has to wear the cast for 5-8 weeks, depending on how well he heals. His birthday is mid-June, I'm hoping he will be out of it by then. But then, even after that, we have to limit his activity for 3-4 more months, which is going to be VERY hard for all parties involved.
We got to bring him home yesterday evening, and have turned part of our living room into a makeshift recovery room for him. We moved his bed and recliner out here, and it's right next to Brian's desk, so he can watch movies on the computer. Brian's been so good and devoted to him, he didn't sleep from 6:00 Friday morning until around midnight last night, so he could be there for him the whole time.
In a way, it's a good thing and a bad thing that I quit on Friday. Good, because Josh needs full-time help and care right now, and I am free to be there for him (there's no way I could take him back and forth over there every day, and take care of him and Leila, and all those little heathens). It's bad because financially, we weren't expecting this, and now I have no money coming in. My parents and Brian's parents are offering their help where they can though. I know things happen for a reason, so I'm surprisingly NOT stressed about it. I think God is going to help us get through this one, I have no idea how, just trying to have faith!
This is Josh Friday night/Saturday morning in the hospital ER. He had a 2-lb weight hanging from his foot off the end of the bed to help stop the muscle spasms which were causing him a lot of pain.
This is him in his cast after coming out of the OR.
Aaaaaand here he is, waiting for them to come give us the ok to go home lol Gotta love the attitude!