Caleb's Broken Leg

Don't be alarmed, Caleb didn't break his leg again!! As I said before, I am so far behind that I'm just now getting to it! This past March, Caleb broke his leg! It was a beautiful spring afternoon, and Caleb and I were walking down the driveway. He tripped and fell onto the driveway. I picked him up to comfort him and he calmed down right immediately. He didn't even have any scrapes on his hands where he had tried to brace himself from the fall (he was wearing pants, so no scrapes on his knees either). He was happy the rest of the evening.

By the following morning, my usually happy little guy had become unusually fussy. He was also crawling instead of walking. I started to grow a little concerned and decided to keep an eye on things. After he woke up from his nap, he wouldn't even crawl. Caleb is a very curious kid who doesn't sit still for long, so I grew extremely concerned at this point. I tried to get him to stand up and when I did, I noticed that he was lifting his right leg off of the floor!! Something was wrong with my poor baby!!

I called the doctor's office and got him right in for an appointment. The doctor suspected a toddler fracture, but sent us for x-rays to confirm. We waited all afternoon for the results, and were then told that his leg was not broken. Which turned out to be not exactly true.

We gave him pain reliever and carried him around all weekend, and by Monday, he was abosolutely miserable.  Joe took him to the orthopedist Monday morning and the orthopedist knew immediately that his leg was broken. So they put Caleb's leg into a cast, from his toes up to his thigh. The office also gave us a boot so Caleb could walk once he felt up to it.

Caleb had his cast on for 3 1/2 weeks. It turns out that Caleb's break was right on the growth plate, just below his knee. Because it was on the growth plate, it did not show up on the x-rays. When he had new x-rays taken just before the cast came off, the doctor was able to see new growth where it had been broken. 

Poor little guy!! He was all worn out after his visit to the orthopedist. He was in so much pain that it took two nurses to wrap his leg!

Caleb was pretty unhappy those first couple of days. He did not like the big heavy cast on his leg and was not sure how to get around. He shed many tears over those first couple of days.

We had to keep his cast dry, so he could not get into the bathtub. Caleb tends to run to the bathroom as soon as he hears the tub filling with water, so missing bath time was a major bummer for him!

Caleb learned how to crawl and then walk with the cast pretty quickly. And once he was able to get up and around, he was much happier! (Please ignore the huge mess in the background! I was getting ready for a consignment sale and had tons of stuff out for it)!

Walking around the kitchen with a big smile on this face!

Caleb is all boy, meaning that if he's awake, he's on the move! He just doesn't sit still. I had hoped his cast might slow him down a little, but that didn't happen! He still managed to get into plenty, including the drawer under the oven to pull out pots and pans.

Caught red handed!!

After a couple days, the cast didn't slow him down at all! He ran around the cul-de-sac with us, running off with the sidewalk chalk.

And then took a spin around on his firetruck.

He even mowed the lawn with that broken leg! hehehe!

Could a broken leg stop someone from kicking a ball? Not this guy!!

Looking worn out!! He was ready to be picked up and carried around a little by this point!!

Caleb was such a trooper with his broken leg! I am so pround of him!! He walked a little stiff-legged for about a week, but was back to normal pretty quickly!! I am praying it is the only broken bone either of the kids ever has!!