Update on the arm

Josiah had another follow-up doctor's visit on Tuesday afternoon, the final one that we'll have here in England. Everything is healing up well, and the only frustrating part is that the particular doctor we saw still didn't want him in a full cast. This means his arm is still only supported by a plaster backslab, with surrounding padding and bandaging from armpit to knuckles. I'd definitely prefer the more bulletproof full cast. He's only 4, and we can't keep him entirely from running and playing around (he LOVES to run), yet a fall at this point could be dangerous. It's also easy for other people to knock into him, especially other children when we're out and about at kids' attractions. Ah well. We're doing our best to keep him safe without smothering him.

For those who are medically curious, here's the x-ray from the day Josiah fell. Yikes. You can see a triangle piece just above the elbow fully separated from rest of the bone that's hanging down. No wonder it was a nearly 2-hour surgery to set and pin. And on that note, I didn't realize that the pins were poking out of his body. I was with him on Tuesday when they removed the bandaging for the first time. It was gruesome! The surgical wound hadn't been cleaned or dressed in two weeks, his arm looked weird, hardware was sticking out, Josiah began screaming with pain again as they worked on stitches – yep, I ended up lying on the ground on the brink of blacking out! :) How embarrassing. The only good part about that was I could then distract Josiah by pointing out how much braver he was than me, telling him he'd better not tell Daddy that Mommy had to lie down on the floor, etc.! He was giggling again in pretty short order.