Soccer can be a dangerous sport

We had a bit of trauma at the middle school soccer game yesterday. Just a few minutes into the game, Bryant was running at the ball and this big, giant of a kid on the other team decided to slide-tackle him. That sent Bryant flying through the air. The referee instantly yellow carded the boy, while the coach ran out to check on Bryant. As soon as I saw him on the ground, I started walking toward the field (with Rick telling me to stay back and trying to keep me from being the over protective mother). His coach, Mr. Williams, knew right away that his arm was broken and, with the help of the assistant principal, led him to the nurses office. This is one of those times when I'm sooooo glad that I know the office staff at the school. The principal and all the secretaries were so sweet with Bryant and we were able to figure out a pretty good looking splint to stabilize his arm for the ride to the hospital.

The ride to the hospital was pure torture. Bryant felt each dip in the road and turn that we made. The whole trip he was thinking of all the things that he would be missing out on because of this broken arm - the rest of the school soccer season, spring baseball, a rock climbing trip, piano lessons, Rock Band.........it was so sad to think of him missing out on what he loves so much.

When we finally got to the hospital, I was pretty nervous that it was going to take forever for Bryant to be seen, but Rick made sure he pressured the staff enough that they moved him to the front of the line. As soon as his x-rays were taken, they found him a bed in the E.R. and that is where we were for the next 15 hours.

The staff did their best to get Bryant treated as quickly as possible, but when the orthopedic surgeon got there, he looked at the x-rays and decided that Bryant would definately need surgery. More bad new was that the operating room was already booked through midnight. So it was decided that we would have the surgery at 8:00 a.m., but there was another glitch.......there wasn't an extra bed in the hospital for Bryant, so he would have to stay in the emergency room for the night. Before the orthopedic surgeon left, he sedated Bryant and set his arm the best he could so that he would be able to sleep.

It was a rough night in a very noisy E.R. Bryant was on enough morphine that he was able to sleep fairly well. Rick went home for a few hours to sleep and I got a few minutes of sleep here and there.

Just before 8:00, the doctor showed up and the nurses started prepping Bryant for surgery. He was nervous for the procedure, but he continued to be brave. The surgery lasted longer than expected. Instead of just needing a pin in one of the bones, a plate and screws were also needed in the other bone. The pin will be removed in a few months and the plate in about a year.

Throughout this trauma, we were so impressed with Bryant. He "took it like a man" and never really cried. He had tears in his eyes and moaned, but all things considered, he did amazing! The treatment from all of the hospital staff was great. They were compassionate and understanding of Bryant's pain and our discomfort and fears. Even though I am frustrated with the lack of good hospital care in our area, I don't think we could have been treated any better than we were.

Below are pictures of Bryant's broken arm. Warning: the contents are graphic

This is as straight as his arm would go

The top bone has a pin through the center and the bottom has 3 horrible looking screws and a plate

Doesn't he look happy?? Not!

After 21 hours, Bryant is finally released from the hospital!