Broken Arm

[Big Flounder]

Friday will make 4 weeks since my little 9 year old daughter fell off her bike and broke both of her bones between her elbow and wrist. One bone even broke the skin! It was pretty freaky to say the least. She went into surgery that same night and the Dr put the bones back in place but said that she is not out of the water yet. He said that the muscles could pull the bones back apart and in that case he would have to cut her from her elbow to her wrist and put plates in. Of couse that is not what we want but here we are going on 4 weeks and she has x-rays every week and the bones have seperated since the second week. This week he says that he sees calcium starting to build up that will pull the bones back together and again he will see her next week. Have any of you guys had any experiance with this before? The first pic is from the day it happened and the second is from this Tuesday.

[mriguy]

First of all OUCH! On the recent pic the radius (bone on the right) looks really good, you can see the calcium building up, that's the bright stuff, the ulna doesn't look great but obviously the doctor is looking at much better images. Good luck

[Salty]

This is making my back hurt.

[swamp snorkler]

pretty bad break.....godspeed on here recovery

[longcast]

Dr jay. Where are u on this one. Lol. Jk bro.

[speckulator]

hope every thing works out ok for her. i broke both bones in my leg with one poking out the skin back in the early 60,s everything went good just have a little knot where it went back together

[meaux fishing]

I broke both bones in my arm when I was 10 it all healed fine. Im sure medical technology has improved in the last 21 years... the only lingering side effect is I cant bend my wrist all the way back

[drjay]

Like the surgeon said, both-bone fractures toward the middle of the forearm are difficult to keep aligned with a cast and often require surgery. Hopefully the cast will work for her. If the orthopedic surgeon is seeing her weekly with x-rays, I'm sure they are on top of things.

I'm so sorry that happened to her. It's hard seeing little ones get hurt. She'll get through it though........unfortunately it takes time to heal.

[Big Flounder]

We trust what the Dr is telling us, it's my wife that is getting a little aggravated. The Dr was referred to us by her cheer coach. He puts all those kids back together when they break something so I believe he knows what he is doing. It sucks that we have been spending hundreds of dollars every month for a few years now on competition cheer and tumbling. The Dr says that if it takes surgery or heals on its own he expects a 100% recovery and she can get back to cheering. I hope he is right.

[Finfeatherfur]

Flounder, I know how it is in dealing with kids and injuries. We literally just went through a very similar scenario last week with one of my players on the football team. Big ole' 8th grader makes through football season with only bumps and bruises, then ends up playing around on the playground at recess and rolls his ankle. Problem is, he endd up with a compound tib/fib fracture which required surgery.

Your orthopedic has a ton of training under his belt and probably has the best intentions of your daughter in mind. With that said, their is no way in hellllll that my son would have left the hospital WITHOUT plates and screws. Yes, they can heal without it, but you eliminating a second surgery by doing it the first time.

[Salty]

Originally Posted by meaux fishing

I broke both bones in my arm when I was 10 it all healed fine. Im sure medical technology has improved in the last 21 years... the only lingering side effect is I cant bend my wrist all the way back

Does this mean that you are not as limp-wristed as once thought?

[YellowMouth7]

Looks nasty

[Big Flounder]

Finfeatherfur, I wish we would have done it from the start but when the Dr lined them back up he said that it looked great and would heal. She was in a cast that went almost to her shoulder and he put her in a short cast on Tuesday so now she is bending her elbow and I just don't see how that could make it any better.

[speck cc]

man, i feel for ya'll... my little boy just got over a "buckle fracture" in the exact same spot... but what your daughter has is much worse... i don't know much about this, but it sure is scary seeing that bone not connected after that long... best of luck to you!

[Asterisk-Rich]

I broke my left arm 3 times and my right arm 3 times growing up. After the 3rd time I would only go to the doctor to get the cast and than I would take it off myself about 4-6 weeks later with a hacksaw. She will be fine!

[Finfeatherfur]

Originally Posted by Big Flounder

Finfeatherfur, I wish we would have done it from the start but when the Dr lined them back up he said that it looked great and would heal. She was in a cast that went almost to her shoulder and he put her in a short cast on Tuesday so now she is bending her elbow and I just don't see how that could make it any better.

To "effectively" splint/cast a bone, you have to immobilize the area to the joints above and below the effected area. The radius/ulnar muscles are large enough to move the bones even when casted/splinted to the shoulder. Same with the femur bone of the leg. I have personnally treated athletes and accident victims that I actually had to medevac out because bleeding caused secondary to fractures. The bones would actually contract during spasms and tear more tissue/vessels, even while splinted.

[Big Flounder]

Originally Posted by Asterisk-Rich

I broke my left arm 3 times and my right arm 3 times growing up. After the 3rd time I would only go to the doctor to get the cast and than I would take it off myself about 4-6 weeks later with a hacksaw. She will be fine!

Man you were one dangerous kid!

[Finfeatherfur]

Dude, Big Asterick was always drunk from the age of 3!!!!!! Not dangerous, just staggering!!! LOL!

[Asterisk-Rich]

Ha ha, the first 2 came from my alchy father buIlding faulty zip lines in the back yard.