The Rest of the Story

There is more to the story of Taneal's broken arm. And I think it is worth sharing. It goes to show how different men and women are, or maybe how different Evan and I are.

Last Tuesday when Taneal broke her arm, I was glad that Evan was home and could take Taneal to the hospital. I have always been a little hesitant when needing to go to the doctor to have Evan take the kids because he isn't much of a communicator and I always worried I would not get the instructions on how to care for the child in need. But really this time, I would have had a very hard time taking Taneal to a germ infested waiting room with a newborn. It wasn't reasonable and so I was grateful Evan was home.

After returning from the ER around 10:30pm, Taneal came upstairs in this huge arm wrap and told me she had broken her arm. The poor girl. Evan came on up a little later and I asked him what the doctor said. Evan said Taneal had not broken her arm, she "jammed" it like you would a finger. She could take the cast off the the hospital had put on her in the morning. He wasn't even sure why they had put the wrap on her because her bone was not broken. And I definitely did not need to fill the pain killer prescription. The doctor had told Evan we needed to follow-up with the Orthopedic Surgeon in a few days, but we really didn't need to, they were just out to make some money off of us. Okay.

In the morning I got up and was looking through all the paper work from the hospital. Every page said "right forearm fracture". Doesn't a fracture mean a broken bone? I called Evan to question this and he said she really hadn't broken her arm, the nurse must have just entered the wrong code in, or maybe they were just being precautious to cover themselves. I asked him if we should follow-up with the Orthopedic Surgeon, and Evan said something to the effect of, " no we don't need to, but do whatever you want! Sure, if the paperwork says to, go ahead."

What do I do? Evan was there and I was not. He knows what went on. So, I decided to call my brother who is a PA in an Orthopedic Surgeon's office. Unfortunately he lives about 5 hours away. I asked Rob to explain the hospital paperwork and why Taneal was in a hard wrap/cast if Evan says it wasn't broken. Rob said it sounds like it is broken, but we couldn't be sure without the x-ray report. He said to go ahead and schedule with an Orthopedic and I could always cancel. He told me to go up to the hospital and get the x-ray report and read it to him so we would really know what was going on.

So, I did that. And here is what it said: "Findings: There is a minimally displaced fracture of the distal radial metaphysis. There is also a fracture of the ulnar styloid process. Alignment is anatomic. Impression: Distal and ulnar fractures."

Yes, she has not only one broken bone, but two.

At the hospital, the nurse recognized Taneal from the night before. I asked her if Taneal had broken her arm because Evan was telling me she hadn't. The nurse said Taneal had broken her arm. I asked the nurse why she thought Evan was telling me it wasn't broken. The nurse looked at me and you could tell she was trying to figure out how to say it the right way, "Your husband was kind of . . . sleepy last night." For those of you who know Evan, you can imagine what had happened, why the confusion. I confirmed it with Taneal.

I called Evan to let him know what the hospital was saying, and his comment was, "Well, I guess the doctor did a poor job of explaining it to me."

So we did follow-up with the Orthopedic Surgeon. Taneal is now in a cast for the next three weeks. It isn't a bad break, but she does need to be in a cast. And it is a good thing I didn't have her remove the hospital bandaging.

And my sleepy husband. I love him to death. He is wonderful. He has such good intentions. But boy were we on a different page with this one!