We started 2023 off with a big bang!! Literally, Jackson banged his elbow on the gym floor during middle school basketball tryouts after colliding with another player during a lay-up drill and not only broke his humerus bone in two (which was not very humorous) the bone cut through the skin and he also shattered his elbow joint. Yikes. It was really no bueno. I was on a bike ride with Benny and had left my phone charging at home. All of a sudden, Daniel comes tearing down the road and tells us that the basketball coach called, Jackson had dislocated his elbow and split the skin and the paramedics were there and did we want them to take him to the hospital in an ambulance or did we want to come get him and drive him? Needless to say, Daniel was on his way to pick the boy up. Benny and I finished our ride and waited at home for the boys to swing by. We discussed which hospital we should take him to, decided on Nemours, and Jackson (who was clearly in shock at this point) was starving and asked for something to eat. I had just pulled a pan of enchiladas out of the oven so I made him a plate, set it on a tray, kissed them goodbye and they headed to the hospital.
Here is the boy, bandaged up from the paramedics, in fairly good spirits, awaiting his enchiladas, about to go to the hospital.
I, in the meantime, had to get Benny to his basketball practice and then go pick Ivy up from her practice then drive back to pick Benny up from his. On the boys end, Nemours got Jackson in pretty quickly for x-rays. It was clearly broken, open compound fracture and he needed immediate surgery. When was the last time he had eaten.... ? Oops.
Here is the wound... not just split skin from the gym floor but punctured by the bone. Daniel said that having the x-rays done was pure torture for Jackson. It hurt really bad as they manipulated the elbow to get the right angles and he was bleeding all over the place.
Here is the sad, sad patient... waiting on results and in a lot of pain.
X-rays!
Daniel called me with the results and sent pictures of the x-rays while I was picking Benny up from practice. Jackson would be having surgery that night (they were supposed to wait 8 hours from the last time he ate but were willing to close that window a little bit since they were worried about infection and emphysema.) They admitted him and hooked him up to an IV to give him some pain medicine and start him on fluids. I came home and got the kids squared away. Christine came over to watch them for us and I packed up an overnight bag for Daniel and Jackson and then raced to the hospital.
Jackson was medicated and feeling okay when I arrived.
We had a good meeting with the orthopedic doctor, Doctor Baldwin, and her assistant. She explained everything very thoroughly and we felt very confident that he was going to be just fine. He's marked up and I had to scrub him down, top to bottom to prep for surgery. We all went up to surgery together and we were there as they started putting him under anesthesia. Once they took him to the operating room they showed us to the waiting room and there we waited!
Dr. Baldwin thought surgery would take between 2-3 hours but it ended up taking 5!! They wheeled him away around 10:00 pm and we got a text about 11:00 that they were starting surgery. They were very good about texting us updates regularly and it wasn't until 4:00am that we got a text saying he was all done! The doctor came out to the waiting room to update us personally. She said it was a very difficult surgery but she was very happy with the results. She had to put in 2 plates and 15 screws to rebuild the elbow joint and put the bones back together. As she walked away her back was drenched with sweat and Daniel and I felt so grateful for her hard, diligent work on our boy. Several times in that waiting room I felt prompted to offer up a prayer to lead and guide her and I also felt inspired to ask for angels to be present in the operating room. I felt calm and peaceful that he was being watched over very carefully by many souls. I am grateful for that experience.
He was very groggy coming out of anesthesia and pretty much fell immediately back asleep. They wheeled him to his recovery room and after he and Daniel were settled in for the night I headed back home. I arrived home about 6:00am, thankful that Christine had so willingly stayed all night with the kids and just slept on the couch.
I got the kids up and ready and off to school and then freshened up, packed up a few things and headed back to the hospital. I stopped at Wawa and 7-11 for drinks and sizzli's for the boys. When I got there the report was Jackson had had a very rough morning. The anesthesia had made him nauseous and he had been throwing up. Poor kiddo. They were working at managing his pain and he was not feeling well. Both Daniel and I hung around for awhile but then Daniel left about mid day.
Each hour improved for Jackson, however. He was able to eat and keep some food down. He got in a good amount of sleep. He watched a movie. He enjoyed a visit from Heather and Porter who brought him treats. He participated in a zoom magic show and got a visit from a service dog. We even had some volunteers bring us some games for later but Jackson was dying to bust out of there!! The nurses were so helpful and caring. Once the doctor made final rounds that evening and Jackson finished his antibiotic they cleared us to go home!! Woohoo!! We were so happy about that. It felt like the longest day of our lives and the thought of another night was very discouraging. Jackson was so happy to have the IVs taken out and the gown off and able to actually move!! Our instructions were to keep the arm dry and in the sling! Easy enough!! We had Daniel grab burgers from Culver's and had dinner waiting for us when we got home!
The reunion when we arrived home was so tender. Benny and Ivy had both been so worried about Jackson. They both burst into tears when he got home. They embraced and my mama heart almost burst. (they DO love each other!!) After we ate dinner I had to help Jackson take a bath and once he was clean he felt so much better. We were instructed to stay on top of his pain meds which we were very good about. We had him stay in the guest bedroom so if he needed us during the night we were close by.
So happy to be home!
Over the next few days Jackson received many many visitors bringing all kinds of love, support and treats. He received many text messages from friends and family and even care packages in the mail!!! He is one lucky, loved individual. It feels so good to have such a good support system.
Each day with the elbow got a little easier and a little easier. Soon he was showering on his own and very mobile and capable. After a few days we jumped back into school work. After awhile he only needed pain meds at night. Eventually we got him to use the bathroom (it's the little things!). After 1 week post surgery we returned to the doctor for a follow up. They took an x-ray and were happy with the placement of the bone and how it was healing but it wasn't ready to come out of the wrapping. They scheduled him back in another week. They also cleared him to return to Texas to finish up that deer hunt they started in December (more on that to come in another blog post).
2 weeks post op appointment and they unwrapped the arm!! We had been dying to see the stitches and the incision. It was pretty gnarly!! They took all the stiches out and took more x-rays. Everything was looking great. They ordered Physical Therapy for 6 weeks and wants him to return the end of February. They also put him in a new brace and told him to move that elbow as tolerated. Seems a little risky to me but he's been doing amazing with it. Can even go fishing!!
This is what it looks like with the stitches out. He keeps it wrapped most of the time but likes to air it out every once in a while.
It was quite the start to the brand new year. Jackson was busier than ever... playing on a rec basketball team but also just starting an AAU basketball team and also playing on an AAU volleyball team. He was pretty hopeful to have made the middle school basketball team as well. All of that is on hold for now... he'll miss his chance on the middle school team and the rec season will be over before he's able to play again but hopefully he can pick back up on his AAU teams when all is healed and well. He's also done a really good job of being optimistic. We are so grateful it is his left arm and not his right. We are grateful it is his arm and not his leg. We are grateful it happened in middle school and not high school. Lots to be grateful for but especially that in the grand scheme of things, this is just a teeny tiny minor bump in the road. He'll be healed and back at it before we know it!
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