Yesterday our middle son broke his arm. The kids and I went out for a jog like we frequently do. It was an out and back route. On the way out he fell while crossing a wooden bridge but was able to brush himself off and keep going. On the way back, just 2 blocks from home, he fell again. This time he was only about 10 yards ahead of me and was on the concrete sidewalk. He suddenly tripped and fell flat on the concrete. He put his hands out in front of him and hit so hard that his whole body literally bounced/skid forward at least half a foot. Immediately he yelled, "I can't feel my hand!""
I calmed him down and helped him to roll over. I could see the bump on his forearm and just knew it was broken. We managed to get him up and walk the rest of the way home. Then I drove him to the hospital. I called my husband while we were walking but forgot to tell him that we were still more than a block from home. By the time we left the house, my husband called to say that he was already on his way from work to meet us at the hospital. We pulled into their parking lot and the same time.
By the time we got into the doctor's area, F was acting like his normal self. As long as you didn't move the arm, you wouldn't think anything was wrong with him. He remained his joyful, active self.
After a few hours, he was finally set and ready to go home. For some reason, he really wanted Taco Bell. He actually had a pretty decent argument to convince us that it was the best option. First and most importantly, a burrito is the only thing he could eat with just one hand. Secondly, if he tried to use a fork with his left hand, it would definitely be used like a shovel and that is just bad manners. Finally, it was late and we'd had a long evening, so I shouldn't be bothered with cooking. When it was time to go, he and the male nurse really had some good laughs. The nurse definitely thought Taco Bell sounded good. He even joked about writing it on the dismissal paperwork as follows: "patient must eat burrito from Taco Bell." :)
It was certainly entertaining and he was a very cheerful patient. When the nurse was trying to get his vital signs, F was having a great time with the monitor. He noticed that if he moved or talked a lot, the line on the screen would bounce up and down and go a little crazy; as opposed to being a steady up and down. Of course, he had to do some wiggling and squirming to make that line jump. Fortunately, the nurse was a good sport and was even laughing quite heartily. He did manage to get his stats, in case you were worried.
Since he broke his strong arm, he is not able to write. Because of his dyslexia, writing is challenging enough so you can imagine how writing with his non-dominant hand might work out. This brings me to our great experience today.
In order to keep up with his school work, he is dictating and I'm writing down all of his work. It's quite fun to pretend that I know absolutely nothing and make him tell me exactly what to write, where to write it, and how to write it. :)
As you may know, we pulled him out of public school after 4th grade because he was not doing good at all. He was way behind grade level and showed no signs of improvement without drastic measures. On certain subjects I grade his work everyday but do not sit down and go through every part with him. Math is one of those subjects. With 5 kids on different levels, it is not feasible to go through every problem with each child. I grade their work and go over any areas of concern. The rest they do on their own.
Today I was pleasantly surprised and very impressed with my boy. In math, he was able to quickly and correctly dictate to me exactly how to solve all sorts of problems, including using fractions and decimals. He didn't even seem phased when a problem had a fraction or decimal. He did long division, multiplication, mental math, unit conversions and all sorts of things.
In his Bible curriculum, he read the entire story to me and then answered every question. Remember, this young man has some learning disabilities that make reading a major challenge. I knew from reading out loud each day that he was making progress. Also, I grade his Bible work everyday so I knew that he usually does very well on it; however, I didn't realize how easily he worked through it.
I am very grateful that this experience allowed me to see first hand how well he has progressed! I am very proud to be his mom. Not only is he working hard and making great progress academically, but his attitude is wonderful. If you didn't see his arm in the splint, you'd never know anything was wrong. He truly is a boy with a great heart full of joy. As one of our family friends said, "it's clear that his joy comes from the Lord."
On a side note that just shows his great attitude: he usually goes to an art class for 1 hour a week. While still at the hospital he asked me what we'd do about art. I said, "let's not worry about that yet." Then he said, "it's no problem. I can just practice working with my left hand. I don't want to miss art at all." So, today he went to art and used his left hand to draw. When I picked him up, I could clearly see that he had drawn a very large horse.
I'm not sure what the world would be like if we were all as happy-go-lucky as F but I definitely believe that it would be a better place.
I calmed him down and helped him to roll over. I could see the bump on his forearm and just knew it was broken. We managed to get him up and walk the rest of the way home. Then I drove him to the hospital. I called my husband while we were walking but forgot to tell him that we were still more than a block from home. By the time we left the house, my husband called to say that he was already on his way from work to meet us at the hospital. We pulled into their parking lot and the same time.
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| waiting with a good attitude |
It was certainly entertaining and he was a very cheerful patient. When the nurse was trying to get his vital signs, F was having a great time with the monitor. He noticed that if he moved or talked a lot, the line on the screen would bounce up and down and go a little crazy; as opposed to being a steady up and down. Of course, he had to do some wiggling and squirming to make that line jump. Fortunately, the nurse was a good sport and was even laughing quite heartily. He did manage to get his stats, in case you were worried.
 |
| ready to go |
In order to keep up with his school work, he is dictating and I'm writing down all of his work. It's quite fun to pretend that I know absolutely nothing and make him tell me exactly what to write, where to write it, and how to write it. :)
As you may know, we pulled him out of public school after 4th grade because he was not doing good at all. He was way behind grade level and showed no signs of improvement without drastic measures. On certain subjects I grade his work everyday but do not sit down and go through every part with him. Math is one of those subjects. With 5 kids on different levels, it is not feasible to go through every problem with each child. I grade their work and go over any areas of concern. The rest they do on their own.
Today I was pleasantly surprised and very impressed with my boy. In math, he was able to quickly and correctly dictate to me exactly how to solve all sorts of problems, including using fractions and decimals. He didn't even seem phased when a problem had a fraction or decimal. He did long division, multiplication, mental math, unit conversions and all sorts of things.
In his Bible curriculum, he read the entire story to me and then answered every question. Remember, this young man has some learning disabilities that make reading a major challenge. I knew from reading out loud each day that he was making progress. Also, I grade his Bible work everyday so I knew that he usually does very well on it; however, I didn't realize how easily he worked through it.
I am very grateful that this experience allowed me to see first hand how well he has progressed! I am very proud to be his mom. Not only is he working hard and making great progress academically, but his attitude is wonderful. If you didn't see his arm in the splint, you'd never know anything was wrong. He truly is a boy with a great heart full of joy. As one of our family friends said, "it's clear that his joy comes from the Lord."
On a side note that just shows his great attitude: he usually goes to an art class for 1 hour a week. While still at the hospital he asked me what we'd do about art. I said, "let's not worry about that yet." Then he said, "it's no problem. I can just practice working with my left hand. I don't want to miss art at all." So, today he went to art and used his left hand to draw. When I picked him up, I could clearly see that he had drawn a very large horse.
I'm not sure what the world would be like if we were all as happy-go-lucky as F but I definitely believe that it would be a better place.
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