Friday, May 15, 2009

Hemophilia and Broken Bones

Well it finally happened...my soon to be 9 year old son with severe hemophilia broke a bone! Yikes!

While just playing around with some friends my son was going to catch a ball, tripped and fell, then a friend tripped over him and landed on his hand. I was peacefully watching two of my daughters play a T-Ball game when he reported to me that he hurt his thumb. It was pretty swollen and when we moved it he had the classic symptoms of a joint bleed. Upon arriving home we immediately infused him and iced the thumb. Since it was late I sent him to bed figuring I would call the HTC in the morning for a dosing schedule.

In the morning my son woke up crying and in pain...the thumb looking even worse. I was getting a really bad feeling about the whole thing so called the Pediatricians office to try to fit him in for an x-ray. I am sooooo thankful for a wonderful doctor. When I told them what had happened they said "How soon can you get here?" I packed up the kids and off we went. The doctor took one look at his thumb and sent us directly to an orthopedist. We were able to get an appointment within one hour. So off we were again to another office. After the x-rays were taken and read...the bad news was broken to us. "Yes, it is fractured," stated the doctor, "No baseball for you for about 4 to 6 weeks." My son burst into tears, he loves playing on his little league team. But the biggest disappointment was that only 4 days from then was his 9th birthday and he had been so excited all year because there was a game scheduled on his birthday! He had talked about it for two months. Now he could not play. Instead he was put in a splint and told to take it easy.

Upon arriving home I called the HTC for a dosing schedule. Since my son has a low half life we had to treat twice a day for a few days, then every day for several days after that. He was not really happy about it, but it had to be done. What a frustrating situation for a young active boy.

But not all of this is such a bad thing. What I do want to share with you is that a wonderful character building opportunity was given to my son. Yes, I was disappointed for him, and yes I missed seeing him play too. But the remarkable attitude he showed during this time brought me to tears. He wanted to go to his game that very evening. When we arrived home he got on his ball uniform and asked if he could sit with the team. I was so proud of him for having such a team spirit. But what I saw during the game was even more amazing. He did not sit on the bench feeling sorry for himself...instead he was jumping up and down cheering on his team and encouraging them every step of the way. I was encouraged to think that even when things don't turn out as we plan, there is usually a gold nugget just waiting to be found. So when things don't seem so good...just look around....look hard....you may just find a gold nugget.

Many Blessings!

3 comments:

M.Kay said...

You are so right! A year ago today Sean was rushed to the hospital with a massive bleed between his brain and skull. Today he booked a commercial for Huggies and you might all see him on TV very soon! A year ago today was by far the worst day of my life yet so much can change in a year. I love gold nuggets! :) I hope your sons arm is healing nicely and there are no further complications. I love his team spirit, it made me tear up!

Mom of 4 said...

You will have to share a link for Sean's commerical, I would love to see it! Children are amazingly resiliant.

My son just got a release from the doctor last week and is back to playing baseball. I was quite the nervous wreck when he dove for a ball and rolled over on his left hand...I thought he was going to come up crying...but instead he came up throwing and never missed a beat! He never ceases to amaze me!

Unknown said...

One of my classmates broke his arm and he has severe hemophilia and he's been out for a few days and I'm starting to get worried. Am I worrying for nothing?