Sunday, May 29, 2011

It Is Going To Happen Sometime.......

Being the mother of two very active boys and one who enjoys partaking in adventures activities with them I was mentally aware that at one point in our lives we would be dealing with an injury of some sort.  My overactive imagination has on several occasions pictured one of the boys breaking a bone or needing stitches but up until now they had pretty much gone unscathed and any "little" cuts I have been able to manage with a little bit of glue.  So when the day finally came it was more of a "ok - so now is the time".  I should have known it would occur in a foreign country (an island) with limited medical treatment and when we only had travel insurance.

After a fun day with Grammy and Boompa walking around Philipsburg and then having lunch at the Greenhouse the boys went to hang out with them at their place while Mike and I got some stuff done at home.  We met up at their place (Ocean Club) and sat around the pool relaxing.  Our friends Ken and Jane and their son Jake (they live in Tradewinds close to us) have the Bar and Grill at Ocean Club that we planned on eating at for dinner.  The three boys were playing on Jakes ripstick and having a good time.  Jane came by to say hello - and said to Ronan just don't break your neck on that thing.  I told her just don't watch - haha - I think my subconscious just new........

So it was not 5 minutes later - Ro walked up to me - held up his arm and pointed to it and calmly said "ah mom?"  I looked and noticed that it appeared he had a second elbow mid shaft between his wrist and elbow.  Yep - you have broken your arm.  There was not a tear in his eye -

we had been chatting with some other friends who were getting ready to leave the island for clinicals - poor Amanda was like really? aaaahhhhh - car - oh car, we need a car.  We got to work finding dry clothes (Dillon did a great job finding these for me), getting wet clothes off Ro, getting a bag of ice and a towel and off we went to Philipsburg, after confering with Jaime that the St.Maarten medical center would be fine and he said yes there is a good ortho guy.  OK  - we are off. ( I knew how to get there after our friends son needed stiches on his forehead and I grilled her with questions a month or so before).  This is the time you really curse all the speed bumps the island has - thankfully the traffic was not bad and it was not long before we were at the hospital.

The wait was short - it was interesting to see the face of the nurse when she came out and asked who thought they had a broken arm - I moved the towel and her facial expression said it all.  We went right back.  A quick look by the ER doc and a couple x-rays (he had a green stick fracture of the Ulna and complete and displaced fracture of the Radius - thankfully mid shaft - no issues with growth plates) and the specialist was called in.  The Doc was great and quickly reduced Ronans fracture and set it - he even had an option of pink or blue for his cast.  He picked blue of course.  They gave him some Tylenol (known as Paracetamol here) - this was his first pain medication throughout the whole ordeal.  He was amazingly brave and tough - I am sure I would have shed a few tears.  It was time to head back home. 

We stopped by Ocean Club - let everyone know all was ok - Dill had been very concerned for his little brother and was unable to eat any dinner.  The boys were supposed to sleep over at Grammy and Boompa's that night - Ro wanted to go home and Dill said he would do whatever Ro wanted him to do - Ro requested he stay at Grammy and Boompa's.  Off to bed we all went - the end of a very long day.

Some things to note - when you are in a foreign country find out where the hospital is, the hours and all those details ahead of time (I was very thankful I did not have to worry about that), get travel insurance (one that includes coverage for med evac) - sometimes they have to fly you to other places for procedures that you would expect at most hospitals, be aware that other hospitals may not go through all the steps like in the U.S. - for example - they did not do a BP, pulse, weight, height, ask if Ro was on meds or allergic to anything.  You have to be aware of this and speak up if any are an issue.  They simply treated the issue at hand.  Which for us was fine - it is just different from at home.  All in all the hospital and staff did a great job - and it was cheaper then if we were at home with or without insurance.  Another great observation - we left around 7 pm to the hospital and made it back just after 9pm - at home this would have just been the wait time in the ER.  That translates to just over 2 hours for drive time there and back, x-rays, specialist reducing fracture and casting.

Thank you to everyone who helped out - Jane, Amanda, Jaime, Bill and Jackie, Dillon - you were a great supportive big brother and helper - we all appreciated it.  Michael - thank you for being a great daddy and driver - even though Ro had to scream a few times "dad - speed bump" - he just wanted to make sure you saw them.

Ronan - you were an amazing brave boy.  Daddy and I are so proud of how you handled it all - much better then any of us would have done.  We love you lots  XOXOXOXO

Ro chillin' the day after
here is to making it through the first big one

No comments:

Post a Comment