He only fell from the swing…

It wasn’t even a real swing, it was one of those “low to the ground” tire swings. It was a beautiful Saturday here in Mountain Home and just warm enough to go to the park on Base. Tanner, Landon, and Jackson were all on the tire together and dad was pushing his boys, OK, I was spinning them around. I guess the centripetal force was too strong for Jackson’s fat little hands and he slid right off. He only fell about 2 feet to the ground and as every good doctor knows- if the height one falls is less then how tall they are, the mechanism of injury isn’t enough to cause much damage. So why was Jackson crying so much? Maybe it was the fact that Tanner’s foot nicked him in the head after he went down, that broke his little heart. “Don’t be a baby,” I thought, “suck it up and stop crying cuz Soldiers don’t cry.” (real sympathetic dad) Lacey asked, “Should we take him in to the UCC (urgent care)?” “He’ll be fine,” I told her. I checked all extremities, palpated every bone and joint, and he had full range of motion. In retrospect, he did cry a little every time his Left arm was lifted over 90 degrees but nothing was broken…right?

Lacey mentioned 2 or 3 (OK maybe 4 or 5) more times, “Maybe we should take him in….” Now why would we want to waist our entire Saturday sitting in the UCC waiting room, after all I’m a Doctor? That evening after continued fussing from our Jacks, I decided to appease my wife and take him to my office for a good looking over. I wanted to check his ears as he recently had tubes placed. They were fine and he was doing better. The next day at Church was a different story. He was beyond fussy. Even our good Bishop that wears hearing aids mentioned even he could hear him in the foyer. Lacey took charge and took him to the UCC.

The Doc on shift listened to the history, looked him over, palpated every bone and joint, and he still had full range of motion and no obvious injuries. After observing Lacey in the waiting room and after the persistence of an insightful mother, the Doc ordered some X-rays. Yes that’s the Left Clavicle (collarbone) and yes it’s fractured (broken). I’ll never hear the end of this one and I probably shouldn’t. Lacey mentioned a few other times I made a similar mistake, but I didn’t recall any of them;) Mothers have an amazing ability to “know their children.” Our sweet Jackson will be OK but I have learned a few valuable lessons. 1) I should at least be as sympathetic and empathetic with my own children as I am with my patients. 2) I should never discount or doubt a mother’s instinct toward the health of her child even when he is my child as well. 3) I am NOT my kids’ Doctor (for obvious reasons). 4) Sometimes it’s OK for Soldiers to cry and dad should find out why and how I can make it better.

Thank you Lay for being a wonderful mother, wife, and woman, and always taking care of all your kids (me included).

Love,

Ryan