And so it begins....

039, a photo by megan bauer on Flickr.

Owen broke his wrist on Sunday in a soccer game, the semi final game, at a tournament in Pennsylvania.

It was the first 5 minutes of the game, and Owen was in the middle of a crowd of defenders heading toward the goal. I'm not sure exactly what happened. I was watching, but didn't really see. Owen says that he was sliding for the ball, and went down on his wrist funny. A dad of another player on his team said that he was pushed in the back and fell forward. I don't really know....at any rate, we new immediately it was broken. I didn't pay a whole lot of attention while he was on the ground until the coach (who had run over to him) screamed for me. At that point his coach, and another adult who happened to be a physician from the other team, had his arm in the air. Running over to him, the physician said he has an obvious fracture. And, yep -while his bone wasn't through the skin, it made a v shaped formation that you could see through the skin (xrays later showed that he broke both his radius and ulna - 2 bones in the wrist).

Finally after what seemed like FOREVER - the ambulance arrived. The coaches and field medic joked that the ambulance was a horse and buggy (the tournament was in Lancaster County, Pennsylvani - AMISH country!).

If you know my Owen, you know how tough he is and so this might not surprise you. But - I was shocked that it was broken as badly as it was, because he hardly cried. The ambulance driver kept asking him what his pain level was and he never went over a 6/10. The kid is tough! Although, in the hospital they kept giving him IV antinausea medication, because he thought he was going to throw up. They said that was pretty common - and was pain related.

Owen's coach and the physician splinted his arm with shin guards. I have photos of the splint that once I download, I'll add and show you. It was beautiful.

As we were leaving the field via golf cart to meet the ambulance waiting for us in the parking lot, Owen's teammates came over one by one and hi fived his good arm and said words of encouragement. So, so sweet.

We rode in the ambulance for about 30 minutes to Hershey/ Penn State Medical Center. There was a closer hospital nearby, but we opted for the farther one that was a children's hospital.

The put in a IV and gave him a bunch of morphine. His pain was the worst when they were xraying his wrist, because of the manipulation they had to do.

(Oh - and while I was in the hospital with Owen, Eddie took Henry and Emmett back to the hotel -that we were supposed to have checked out of - to hang out and swim while they waited for us).

While we were waiting for the doctors to read the xray, the women's world cup game - Brazil vs. USA - was on. The doctors must have thought he was crazy, because WHAT A GAME. Owen and I were screaming and cheering the whole time.

After reading the xrays, the doctors said that his wrist had to be reduced (put back in place). Poor kiddo was super, super nervous. They gave him conscious sedation (ketamine), and once he was asleep, they kicked me out of the room, and reduced his arm right there in the ER room. Then, they casted it. AND - OMG! - casted him right up to his shoulder. They said because it was by his growth plate, they didn't want him to be able to move his arm at all.

We stayed in the ER about another hour after he woke up, and then with another dose of IV morphine, and a prescription for oral tylenol codeine, we started back to Syracuse.

The cast to the shoulder is a major summer bummer.

All the things he can't do w/ a cast up to your shoulder (especially because it's his right arm and he's right handed!):

Swim
Play soccer
Put his contacts in
Bathe
Wash/brush his hair
Write
Practice his piano (that's the only good thing he says!)
Brush his teeth
Go cart
Putt putt golf
Get dressed
Ride his bike
ETC ETC ETC ETC

Anyway - I'm guessing this is just the beginning of a long line of injuries with three active, athletic boys. His coach (who played professional soccer for 10 years) said he's broke his wrist 4 times...

And, as long as he doesn't injure his head or neck - no biggie....he'll heal :)!