Little Ball of Fire Part 2

It was inevitable. We all knew it. It has always been a question of when, not if. We hoped, we prayed, we pleaded. But when you mix high energy with reckless abandon in a four year old you know it is coming. Calby finally broke a bone. Really the only surprise is that it hadn’t happened before this.

So a little over a week ago we were having lunch in an elementary school gymnasium that is now mostly used as a cafeteria when school is in session. It’s a space we rent for once a week worship (church) services. Every week we have to go in, set things up for the service, and then afterwards we rearrange things and have lunch together. For the service there are nice folding chairs and at lunch time we set up cafeteria type tables with benches attached. All fairly safe and serene.

Since this is an elementary school there are common areas we have access to when we rent this space. Scattered throughout those common areas are a few chairs with wheels that are used at computer desks, etc. Calby is one of those kids that can pretty easily find mischief in a matter of milliseconds.

So anyway he got his hands on one of the rolling chairs and wheeled it into the gymnasium. Somehow he got it moving across the floor while he was standing on it. I was only an eyewitness to the aftermath, but witnesses say he managed to fly over the back of the chair as it was falling to the ground.

Now there was a small commotion and a little bit of crying, some hand wringing that maybe he had clunked his noggin on the floor, but after a few minutes he was back in action. We eventually took him home and life was good.

A little while after we were home he complained a little bit about his arm hurting him. We checked him over, but couldn’t see any bumps or bruises, no swelling or excruciating cries of pain. At this point we were fairly confident he had a strain or sprain that would bother him for a day or two and all would be fine. After a day or two we noticed he wasn’t lifting his arm above his head and so had some concern, but still he was using the arm almost normally besides that.

About four days after the initial tumble from the chair, he was visiting great grandpa and was “helping” with some yard work. He wanted to pull the empty lawnmower bag across the yard. That’s when it happened, the yell of anguish. Time for the emergency room. It was his collarbone. Apparently the fall had caused the initial hairline fracture, barely noticeable, not really painful, but the cause of the injury. When he was moving the mower bag it put enough strain on the fracture to cause an actual separation. Ouch!

So here we are, a little over a week into the event and he has his right arm in a sling. That’s about the only option to help immobilize a broken clavicle. There’s no way to put a cast on it, etc. Needless to say he finds the sling to be a very limiting piece of equipment. He has already removed it several times. Just this morning he went off to his bedroom to “get something” only to return slingless. He did a pretty good job of hiding it. It took a few minutes to locate it and get it back on him.

So our mission for the next 4-6 weeks (at the height of summer and outdoor play time) is to limit a kid that absolutely detests limits. He’s a smart kid so we have had some success in helping him understand the implications of re-injuring the bone, but still he will push the limits. So now we are back to hoping, praying, and pleading, but we sure do love the life our grandson brings to our home.