Answer: Broken

Question: What is Peter's right arm?

Peter has a broken arm. It is something that I absolutely never imagined happening, but now we are learning how to handle a toddler who is frustrated because he doesn't have full mobility of his right arm. I'm so thankful that he is a happy baby overall. That is definitely helping him in this situation!

Yesterday started out as any normal Monday would. It's that weird time of year where the weather is so cold in the morning that you have to wear a coat, but so warm in the afternoon that you can wear shorts. Peter was wearing his new sweater and shoes - such a handsome boy. :)

He had fun playing with his friends at the sitter, but he fell during the day there. When I picked him up, he was a little fussy, but he wasn't acting like he was in a lot of pain. I took him home and fed him lunch. After lunch, I sat him on the floor in the playroom to play before nap time. He was acting completely frustrated and wouldn't scoot around like he normally does. I could tell that he wanted a certain toy, but he wasn't trying to get it. Although he isn't walking yet, he gets around just as fast scooting on his bottom and pulling himself with his arms. Yesterday, though, he was just sitting there. I called the doctor and left a message to see if we could come in.

At that point, I thought that he was probably just sore from falling. He had hit his head, so I thought that he might have a headache. I gave him some Tylenol and put him down for a nap. He usually takes a 1.5-2.5 hour nap in the afternoon, but he barely slept for an hour before waking yesterday. I called the doctor again, and they got us in right away.

Peter is usually great at the doctor, but he was not feeling himself yesterday at all. He screamed when the doctor tried to look at him. Because Peter couldn't verbalize where he was hurting, we were sent to the radiologist's office for x-rays.

Once there, we signed in and waited. Peter was doing great at this point. Although he still wasn't using his right arm, he was eating cheerios and visiting with another lady waiting in the office. We were called back pretty quickly, and we got ready to take pictures. They had to take A LOT of x-rays. They did x-rays of his skull, clavicle, shoulder, arm, and wrist. Peter did not care for the x-ray tech at all. She was very sweet, but every time she would walk in the room, he would start screaming. Then she would leave to check the picture, and he was totally fine. They had several techs helping, though, and they were wonderful. I could tell they had experience with young children. An hour later we were finished, and a nice little orange monkey got to leave with us because Peter did such a good job. Peter already had one stuffed monkey, so I think this might be the start of a monkey collection!

The pediatric radiologist looked at the x-rays and called my doctor. By this time, it was already after office hours. The doctor then called me at home at 6pm with the verdict - a broken humerus.

We visited the pediatric orthopedic surgeon today. The service at this office was wonderful as well. They were right on time, and we were in and out in less than an hour! We were able to see the bone, and it was indeed broken. The doctor described it as a "crinkle" - kind of like when you squeeze a soda can. It was a clean break, and it was not out of alignment. Because of the location of the break - upper humerus near the shoulder - a cast isn't an option in this case. Instead, they put a sling on Peter and wrapped an ace bandage around it. The goal is to limit mobility for 4 weeks. At that point, we return for x-rays and pray that it is healed. The doctor was extremely optimistic that it would heal just fine.

Peter seems to be getting used to the sling. He can take it off for naps and bedtime, and he is sleeping well despite everything. He is still turning over onto his stomach in bed to go to sleep, but he can't turn back over when he wakes up. He also can't pull up in bed (another new skill that he has learned recently that was affecting his sleeping). He is definitely being a real trooper about all of this!