Just over three weeks ago, I was on a conference call with Ben, David, and Scott. My home phone line rang, but I ignored it. I heard someone leave a message, but I figured I'd listen soon enough. Then my iPhone started to ring. It was the wife, but I couldn't hear her, so I hung up. Within another minute or so, it rang again. This time I could hear her clearly, "The school called, Zach fell from the monkey bars, and they *think* he broke his arm". I quickly blurted something to the rest of the guys on the call, hung up, and headed to pick him up since I work/live about half a mile from the school.
What I arrived to was a bit shocking, as it was brutally clear that Zach, my first-grader and youngest boy (5), had broken his arm. He was crying a bit, but he was more sad than anything else. On the way to the hospital, I met up with Linda, and we went in a single car. Wanting some ice to control the swelling, we popped into the local In N Out and asked for a cup of ice for our five-year-old's broken arm. They told my wife we needed to buy something, so I went in, asked for a drink carrier, and filled it with ice and used the cardboard to somewhat stabalize his arm.
At the hospital, we were quickly admitted to the emergency room and ended up being there for about 8.5 hours. Poor Zach hadn't eaten lunch and since they weren't sure how bad the break was (awaiting x-rays), they couldn't give him anything. In the end, he broke (okay, snapped) both bones about 2 inches below the wrist. They had to knock him out while an orthopedic surgeon came in and by touch alone, reset it to within a couple millimeters of perfection. (Amazing!).
Having my iPhone in that small 10x10 room for more than eight hours turned out to be the biggest blessing. Not only was I able to call family with updates, but I took some pictures (below), sent SMS/email, and even showed Zach a Pixar short (Geri's Game) that I'd downloaded to try out the video player. Throughout that long day earlier this month, I kept telling him the same thing over and over...Zach is a CHAMP!!!
Zach appears to be recovering well. After two weeks of a splint, he got his first hard cast. Next week they'll saw that one off, take more x-rays and put on the final cast. Hopefully, this whole ordeal will be over by his birthday in late October.
