Buckle Fracture of the Distal Radius and Distal Ulna

Whatever that means??  All I know is it is a bad break, but Lowery is making it fine.  The culprit?  Cartwheels.  Thought she was getting to be a pro, but her brief but bright gymnastics career has been cut short due to a nasty injury.  She first hurt her arm on this past Friday while we were in El Dorado, but it did not swell nor did she act like anything was wrong.  But on Sunday night, we heard screaming and crying and she said she had tried another cartwheel and hurt it again.  Then it began swelling and she was favoring it - wouldn't use it to do anything.  I contemplated taking her to the ER on Sunday night, but with the swine flu and all here I decided against it (wrong move, in hindsight).  

On Monday morning, she couldn't even get out of bed by herself or use it at all.  Then the fun began - trying to find a pediatrician who would see us since were not yet established patients.  Finally I found a great clinic that was so nice and agreed to see her (Thank you, Lord)  - I am still thinking it's a sprain at this point.  Even after we saw the pediatrician who told me to expect a fracture, I still wasn't sure.  We went to an imaging center yesterday afternoon for the X-Rays.  They gave us the films, which of course we tried to review in the parking lot - and we immediately saw two breaks.  Turns out the one we saw was just one of them, there was another in the bone up closer to her wrist.

Anyway, we got the formal news from the doc late yesterday that is was fractured and that we needed to see an orthopedist.  They had hoped to get us in last night because it needed to be stabilized, but they couldn't get her in.  So, the doctor gave us orders on how to make a homemade splint.  We found a box and cut sections of cardboard out, wrapped them in wash cloths and wrapped her arm in an ace bandage (last pic).  We actually got props on it from the orthopedist people this morning - ha!  She slept fine and we went to the orthopedist this morning.

He explained her breaks really well, but I can't remember all of what he said.  The bad news is that her bone "slipped" and they are not certain the cast will stop the slipping.  They gave her a cast that goes above her elbow and we will find out in a week if we need surgery (small chance) to set the bone back straight.  Let's hope not!  

So, for the first time in our lives when we have a pool, Lowery is out of commission.  She will have the large cast on for 3 weeks, then get recast in a smaller one for several weeks.  There goes the month of June!  Worst part, the doctor gave a NO to her dancing in her recital this Saturday :(  No yellow polka dot bikini performance for her.  Other than being upset about the recital, she is doing good and not in much pain.  Say a prayer for us for the long weeks to come with this cast and that we won't need surgery!  Also, she was very brave - did not cry once while they were bending the cast while they set it.  The doctor and nurse kept looking at us with amazement and said she was really tough, that she did better than most adults.  But, you can see by the look on her face in the pictures, it wasn't exactly fun!   I am proud of our little girl, eve if professional gymnastics is not in her future.