Brittle Bones?

Starting at the beginning...

Sunday evening Dave and I were in our room and Aaralyn was sitting on the couch watching cartoons, when we heard Aaralyn screaming. We went in there and Dave asked what happened and what she hurt. She just yelled, "I broke my arm! My arm hurts!" We didn't know how overly dramatic she was being, but there wasn't any blood or bruises and she said that she had fallen off the couch, so it seemed like she couldn't have been too hurt. She was being careful with her arm all evening, so we debated if we should take her to the ER, but we decided if she didn't get better in a day or so we would take her in.

Well, it had been two days and she still was complaining about her arm hurting and not lifting it or moving it around too much. I would touch her arm and ask where it hurt and she would always point to her arm just below her shoulder, not her shoulder or her elbow, but high on her humerus. That seems like a strange place to break an arm, so I thought it had to have just been strained or something. We had gone to the pool Monday and Tuesday and she would swim around, still being careful not to move it much, but not complaining really either, only when she would move too much.

Last night we went and practiced softball with our team and she played with all the other kids on the playground. She came to the field and was running to me and she looked so awkward running, hunched over not moving her arm, AT ALL. I was explaining to someone that she had fallen off the couch and hurt her arm, when I thought, it's definitely time to take her to the doctor! So after getting home at like 9pm and putting the kids to bed, my mom and I took Aaralyn to the ER while Dave stayed home with the babies.

I was putting off going to the hospital for one- because I knew it was going to be traumatic for Aaralyn, and I knew she was going to cry and freak out, like she ALWAYS does! (She's been through too much at her young age of 3, so she hates doctors!) The worst part was getting the blood pressure cuff on and the thing they put on your finger that tells you respiration and whatever- the stuff that DOESN'T EVEN HURT! After getting in the back and telling them over and over what happened (you know they are wondering with every patient if you beat your kids...), we finally got to the x-rays. Aaralyn did pretty well with the x-rays, but mostly because the tech bribed her with stickers. My mom was looking at the x-rays while she was doing them and after seeing the first picture it looked like nothing, but when she saw the second picture my mom could tell she had broken her arm! After seeing it for myself I could tell also.

So after the nurse came in she said, yes, it's broken, but since it's so high on her arm the only thing they could do is put a sling on her arm so she couldn't move it too much while it heals. I don't know how long she will have to wear it, but we have an appointment with a bone doctor on Monday and he'll probably tell us more.

The reason I ask if she has brittle bones is because 16 months ago she fell off her little rocking horse (also only 2 feet off the ground) and fractured the SAME BONE, but close to her elbow. What's with her bones? Is she just super talented to fall in such a way to break bones, or does she have really breakable bones? With how much milk she drinks she should have really strong bones! The part that sucks is that it's her right arm, so now she has to do everything left handed and one handed- which I think is the reason she's peed on the floor twice in the last couple days- because she couldn't get her pants off in time using only one hand. I feel awful for not taking her in sooner! Poor girl! (These pictures were from the first time she fractured her arm, over a year ago.)