The Greenstick Fracture

Well, it seems that our little Jack loves taking trips to the emergency room. This time it wasn't the ER, but an Urgent Care Clinic affiliated with the local hospital. It all started yesterday afternoon while I was mowing the lawn. I stopped to come in for a drink of water and heard Jack crying. I knew by the way he cried that he was really hurt, it wasn't the usual "kiss my booboo mommy, it hurts" or the "Ouch, I need a band-aid" cry, it was the "I am seriously hurt" cry. I found him curled up in a ball in the corner of Sarah's room. There were Sarah and Adam just coloring away next to him. I said "Why didn't somebody come and get me?" Sarah said, "I don't know" I guess since I told the kids that unless it was an emergency not to interrupt me while mowing the lawn so I could finish faster. She apparently thought Jack's cries were of the usual reasons stated above. When I asked what happened, both Sarah's and Adam's stories were pretty consistent, but very vague. I thought to wait it out because our kids are always hurting themselves and within an hour or two if not seriously injured they would forget that got hurt in the first place. So he exhausted himself from crying and fell asleep on the couch while I massaged the foot that he pointed out to me that hurt. A few hours later and a completely mowed lawn I came back in and Jack was just waking up so I watched him to see if he would still favor that leg. He did, he tried to crawl off the couch and the moment he touched his foot on the floor he cried out in pain. I took him back on the couch again and examined his foot, this time it started to look swollen so I decided to take him to the doctor, afterall, better to be safe then sorry right? So I thought they would tell me that it was bruised pretty bad, but he would be fine. Instead after 3 x-rays all of which looked normal, the doctor informed me it might possibly be fractured. I was confused, I mean how could he think it might be fractured if the x-rays revealed nothing. That is when he told me about the Greenstick Fracture. He showed me an area on the x-ray that concerned him and that area was consistent with the area of swelling and tenderness of Jack's foot. So now he must see a specialist to confirm the diagnosis and treatment. For now Jack is in a splint made up of a partial cast and ace bandages. Dan with his brilliant mind got his garage chair on wheels out and strapped Jack down since he can not walk on his cast and now I won't have to carry him around all day.