Broken Femur - Can we get a break? Part Deux

Brayden has a broken femur.

Here is the story...

Yesterday I was dressing Brayden.  He seemed to be a bit tight, making it harder for diaper and clothing changes.  I pulled on his leg (as I always do) to help pull up his pants.  He let out a yelp and was not happy.  I just figured he was having a "tight" day.  He and I left for a soccer game.  Brayden continued to be a bit miserable but that seems to be his m.o. the past few weekends.  We returned home.

I was putting Brayden down for a nap and decided to put him in the knee immobilizers (leg braces) to help him get a good stretch, as we do on most days.  I got his left leg in the immobilizer and started on the right leg.  He started screaming the moment I touched him and I realized his right leg was swollen.

Jeremy and I decided to wait it out through the night and see how he looked in the morning.  Well, Brayden did not make it through the night and needed some help with the pain.  I was alternating tylenol and ibuprofen.  Then this morning I talked with a friend whose daughter has dealt with something similar, then called Brayden's orthopedist.  The orthopedist is out of town for a while so another doctor answered the call.  We were told to go to the ER.

We packed up and headed to the Fairfax ER.

Brayden whimpered on and off for the car ride.  Once in the ER, x-rays were ordered.  However they could not get a good picture because they could not get his leg straight.  Brayden has been holding his leg very tight in the frog leg position.  The couple of x-rays they were able to get showed a broken femur.  Although they could not tell how serious and extensive the break is in the bone.

The ortho on-call was in surgery so he sent another ortho (who do not seem to be with peds).  At first the plan was to sedate Brayden in order to straighten his leg to get an x-ray and put on the splint.  Then the doctor came back and it was decided to splint Brayden's leg in the bent position.

Brayden is home with the splint.  We wait for the morning to make a call to get an appointment with the orthopedist, hopefully in a couple of days.  Then they will try to get more x-rays and do a cast.

Brayden has moments of pain.  Any movement of any kind really seems to cause pain...diaper changes are fun.  The splint seems to help and we will be giving him some pain medication.