Phillip's Big Break

I just realized that I never published this post from last summer.


What was supposed to be a lazy pajama day at home turned into quite an adventure. I was working on my sister-in-law's birthday present while the boys played in their room. Then all of a sudden, Phillip was screaming! I went in their room to find Phillip laying on the bed holding his leg, crying in pain. The first words out of Trevor and Patrick's mouths were, " Mom, we heard a crack." Oh boy!

I quickly checked Phillip who was laying very still and not wanting to be touched. I called Steven and told him what happened and that I was taking Phillip to the Emergency Room. Next, I called my mom and asked if I could leave the older boys with her while I took Phillip. I tried very hard to hold my composure in front of the boys, who were crying and very upset. I told them, "Stop crying! It's not helping the situation."

Putting a diaper on Phillip and getting him into the car was very difficult. He was begging me not to touch him or pick him up. I remember pulling in my parents' driveway, the boys getting out, and then leaving right away. I cried most of the way to the ER, between calling church members, my in-laws and Steven.

When we arrived at the ER in Apex, Phillip held onto the passenger seat so tight, refusing to be picked up and carried. Once he was put onto a bed and he was left alone and could watch cartoons, he seemed ok. Steven met us at the ER and later his parents came too.

Froggy and his blue blanket make everything much better.

Once the x-ray confirmed that his right femur was broken, it was a waiting game to find out what would happen next. We did stay at the ER for several hours. Finally, we got the word that he would be needing surgery and would be transferred to Western Wake Children's Hospital. My emotions were such a roller coaster that day. I cried every time Phillip whined. Watching them put his leg in a traction for transport was impossible to do without crying. He is my baby and I couldn't to anything to help him.  

 He was transported to Western Wake Children's Hospital by ambulance. I rode too, but had to sit up front due to their policy. I was able to view him on a monitor. The nurses told me that he did great and slept most of the way.

 The nurse gave him another shot of morphine before they began to move him out of the ambulance and into the hospital. Once we were in our new room, the doctors had confirmed that he was having an allergic reaction to the morphine. He had developed a rash over most of his torso.

Last picture, before he was taken back for surgery. The orthopedic doctor had told us there were possibly 2 options for treating Phillip. The first was a hip-spica cast. The second was to put pins into his leg. Unfortunately, he was underweight to have the second option. They explained to us what the cast would look like and that it would take about 1 1/2 hours to do. 

That 1 1/2 hours was the longest time period in my life. Steven and I went to eat dinner in the cafeteria, his parents later came and joined us. As we were finishing our dinner our pager went off. I was so excited!! Phillip did great! He became more aware and talkative as he was moved to a patient room on the children's floor.

Once we had settled into the room, Phillip said he had to go potty. I called the nurse and she said that he'll just have to go in his diaper. I knew Phillip would not do that. He was potty trained. The nurse proceeded to tell me that there was no way that he could sit on the potty with a hip spica cast. I was very nervous that he was going to take a huge step back in being potty trained and would have to learn all over again. We soon learned how to help him when he had to go potty. 

The next morning he was checked again by the doctor and we were given the ok to home. WooHoo!! Deanna and Andrew met us at the hospital to drive Steven's car home since one of us had to sit in the back with Phillip. We went to MawMaw and PawPaw's house since it was family day.

Angela let Phillip blow out the candles on her birthday cake. He loved the hat she got too. He was a pirate!

I missed this smile!!

Here's some pictures of how Phillip managed with his cast. The cast didn't knock his spirits down at all, once the pain went away he was back to his old goofy self. 

Blowing bubbles at Grandma's.

Ms. Janna brought him a balloon (only balloon she could find was happy birthday). He LOVED it!

Chilling in the car eating goldfish.

Watching a movie on the iPad.

BOWLING!!

Building Marshmallow towers

Watching his big brother

This is how he got around until he learned to walk in the cast. 

Walking. The only problem was he couldn't pick stuff up off the floor. 

Happy Boy!!