Working away on cleaning up the house (I mowed the front yard - or, more honestly, flattened down the bedstraw with my mower - the mower doesn't readily cut it - earlier). Luckily I had mowed earlier and was indoors, got a call from my mother:
My niece took a fall off a swing. At first my sister-in-law thought it was simply a dislocated shoulder (apparently she grabbed onto the chain of the swing as she fell and twisted around) but it sounds like it's broken. (The humerus, I guess; all my brother said was "upper arm bone")
I am HOPING it's a nondisplaced fracture (I figure since my sister in law thought it was dislocated at first, it's not a *compound* fracture, which would be way worse) so all they have to do is cast it. Hoping she won't have to have surgery to set it. Hoping it's not a "spiral fracture," though given what I heard about what happened it could be. (Those are harder to set and have more difficult recoveries than a simple nondisplaced fracture)
I haven't heard anything more; probably won't before tonight or tomorrow.
I mean, I guess this is not unexpected for kids (though I think the only bone I broke as a "kid" was my nose, at 13 - the elbow fracture, I was already over 21 when that happened, but luckily that one was nondisplaced and all they needed to do was cast it). My brother had a rather horrific wrist injury at 15 or so when he went over the handlebars of his bike and he had to have a pin and a plate put in his arm. (The pin removal was simple and was done without anesthetic in the doctor's office. My mom fainted but apparently my brother was unfazed by it. The plate removal was much, much worse, it was surgical)
My brother also had stitches as a kid when he tried climbing a file cabinet and wound up pulling a metal file-card box down on his forehead, and I had stitches as an adult when I was very, very ill (probably a gallstone, though I've had no problems since) and fainted and fell and split my nose open. I probably broke my nose at the same time but the ENT guy who looked at the x-ray said if it was, it wasn't displaced, and didn't need to be set, and just to be careful for six weeks. (Getting stitches is not as bad as it seems; they numb you and on your face you don't even really see what they are doing. I have a very tiny scar but you have to look really hard for it)
But yeah. I need to wash down the kitchen floor (I think the bathroom cleaning will be a Wednesday evening thing, before the piano teacher comes) and then I can relax a little before having to go back and get at it hard tomorrow (first up: evaluating the applicants for the position; second up, dealing with a student who was AWOL most of the semester and then e-mailed me - on Spring Break, no less - wanting to "make up the missed material." He is an athlete and I am guessing his coach finally got on him after I had e-mailed several times noting the nonattendance. I'm going to have to ask him for a "when were you okayed to return to class" notice, because we have policies about that and it's gonna be kind of a mess, I may have to loop my department chair in on it)
But here's hoping I get a call this evening that my niece is home, with a cast, no need for surgery...
UPDATE: Not a spiral fracture, but the break is close to the shoulder joint, so there's still a chance she might need surgery; they are going to see a pediatric orthopedist tomorrow or the next day to know for sure. She's in a splint now and says it feels a lot better, but that doesn't mean a whole lot other than that she's in less pain.
It's her right arm (dominant arm) too. And she was all excited to start soccer in another week or so and that's not gonna happen.
Hopefully it will still just be a simple matter of "slap a cast on it and wait"
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