Mom Fail... Or Not

Four weeks ago during a baseball practice at school, The Boy slid into 2nd base. He got up feeling like he did something funky to his wrist. He shook it off. He went in the dugout and picked up a bat. OUCH. He tried to throw. OUCH. He told the coach, got some ice and iced the rest of practice.

At home he told me about it. It was a little swollen, but nothing dramatic and no bruising. The swelling was down the next day. He could move it all directions, though a few were a little uncomfortable. I taped him up (I'm certified in Kinesio Taping). We kept it taped, he was able to resume playing. Some days it would be sore when he got home, some days he would say, "It's a little better." Then it would be sore again. We figured it was a sprain, and the continued use was just slowing down the healing.

You see where this is going, right?

But they were in the run for the championship, which they ultimately won. Then he joined his summer ball team. He came home and said, "Mom, it's still bugging me. I think we should get it x-rayed." I'd offered before to take him in.

I took him to the local Urgent Care center after school on a Friday to rule out any fractures. But the doctor said the radiologist said (he said that she said...) there was an "abnormality" on the scaphoid bone. They told us to follow up with a specialist and put him in a splint. Which he took off the next day to go play with his team. And the day after that. And two days after that.

The hand specialist appointment was last Thursday - after school, but before his next game that night. The doctor took one look at the x-ray and announced that it was indeed fractured, and in fact a bone cyst was starting to form. This particular bone has a poor blood supply, and in general heals poorly without complete immobilization. Without treatment, they often form non-unions and require surgery.

YIKES!

So four weeks of this:

I call it the Green Monster. Yes, all that cast for a bone that's just about an inch long. But he can't have any movement, including turning his lower arm back and forth (hence the elbow being included). Then when this comes off, four MORE weeks of a shorter cast. Sigh.

No baseball, no guitar, no drums, no video games. (Okay, I'm not too torn up about that last one...)

But you know what? He got to participate all the way through the championship game. It could have been worse.

We found out it was broken when we did instead of waiting it out thinking it would get better only to find out he would have needed surgery. It could have been worse.

So I've decided not to beat myself up about letting my son play with a broken wrist for the last few weeks.... *clears throat*

***Ally
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