Heidi Breaks Her Collarbone

 Well, we officially have our first broken bone in the family. 

Monday July 18th

The kids were biking around the neighborhood. Heidi wanted to climb a tree that hung over the park fence in hopes that that might be a connection between 2 neighborhoods. (At the Longfellow house, the kids LOVED biking and skating because most of the neighborhoods in our church ward were connected through a few streets so they could wander very far away from home, but still be safe on small roads and be near houses they know. Our current neighborhood is very isolated with only a busy road and no sidewalk to connect to any other neighborhoods, which they were extremely disappointed to learn).

Heidi jumped up to grab a branch, swung her legs, and then grabbed on to a thinner branch that was apparently dead, because it snapped with her weight and she came tumbling down. She told me later that she tried to get her bike and walk back to the house, but luckily Grant was with her said, "Do you want me to get mom?" And she said Yes. Grant came running to the house and yelled for me saying Heidi was hurt really bad. I ran to the park and knew we were in trouble when I saw how pale she was and the ball of her shoulder. I thought the shoulder was dislocated by how large it was, but didn't take a closer look because I suspected I would faint.

Pat came to the park to help me and gave Heidi a blessing because she requested one. How good of her to think of that. I was in such a panic it hadn't even crossed my mind. I ran back to the house to get the van so we could take her to urgent care. (Mal recommended a pediatric urgent care that was way cheaper than the emergency room, which I was very grateful for. I never would've thought of that). 

To make a long story slightly shorter, they took an Xray. I was thinking her shoulder was dislocated at first, but Pat was able to move it from a raised position to down at her side, so then I wasn't sure. The doc there said that if it was dislocated, he'd send us to the ER because the don't store pain meds on site, and to fix a dislocation, they highly recommend pain meds for children. So I prayed that it wasn't a dislocation. That is until I saw the xray. Her collarbone was completely snapped (later we learned it was a 125% displacement). And that she might need surgery. At that, I wanted to trade back for a shoulder dislocation! Pain meds and an ER bill is not much in comparison to WEEKS of healing with no physical activity in summer and orthopedic surgeon bills! Heidi was devastated, especially because Mallory had just invited us to Roaring Springs with her family to use the free tickets that Heidi, Grant, and Anderson got for their summer reading. My kids have been waiting over a year to go. And now Heidi might not get to go at all because a water park is definitely high impact!

X Ray a couple hours after falling

Heidi loves doing her hair so she was also disappointed to find that was only thing she has to give up for a while. I came with my A-game and really tried to make those french braids tight and even. She concluded that I did well :D (phew!)

Wed July 20th

Xray a couple days later at Orthop PA appt

We told everyone about the fracture and asked for prayers that we could avoid surgery. A couple days later we met with the orthop PA and she shared that we really could go either way. She explained that operating on children is a very new thing. If we were to go to 10 different orthopedic surgeons, she's confident that they would be split right down the middle whether to operate or not. What a position that put us in!

Surgery Pros:

• Greater ease and comfort in about 2 weeks (compared to 6 for conservative)
• Shoulders will be same width
• Heidi won't get a large bone lump in her shoulder

Surgery Cons:

• Will still take 6-8 weeks to fully heal
• risk of complications with anesthesia, infection
• will have a small lump from the plate and screws
• will have to have hardware in her body for her whole life, unless it's taken out with ANOTHER surgery
•  stress of appointments, scheduling, worry for Heidi's surgery
  
• greater expense: surgery + extra xrays and follow up appts

Conservative Approach Pros:

• no foreign objects in body
• cheaper
• less stress an risk of complications
• won't have to worry about going through xray machines for the rest of her life
• won't have the risk of screws or plates bothering her (was told by PA that often children are bothered by the feel on them through their skin)
• no loss of mobility & no risk of arthritis
• bone will remodel itself so the lump may be smaller and less bothersome over time 
• Heidi is pre-pubescnet thus still has significant growing time 
• the injury is on her non-dominant side & she's not super athletic
  

Conservative Approach Cons:

• full 10 weeks to heal enough for high impact activities
• possible risk of muscle weakness on her left shoulder long term
• left shoulder will be 1 cm shorter than the right

Wed July 27th

Xray a week after fracture with Orthop Surgeon

After talking through all the pros and cons, we didn't see a compelling reason to go for surgery. When we met with the surgeon, he totally agreed. Both the PA and surgeon explained we would probably be having a different conversation if she was 14-17 years old and on a field hockey team or something. (Or if we were dead set on surgery, he would've talked through our options and supported us). But because we were already leaning towards a conservative approach, he thought that was totally understandable. 

Man, it sure is hard making these huge decisions for your children! In 1 week, Heidi can take her sling off. In another 2 weeks she can splash around in water and have fun (no deep water though where she has to rely on her arms). Mostly regular activity at 6 weeks. Full healing, including high impact at 10 weeks. 

Unfortunately there was no option for: shoulder fixed better than ever. So we're happy with the results. Heidi didn't want surgery and I'm just praying that her bone has a little miracle and forms the way it's supposed to over time!