Broken Leg

When Ben was very young he was playing with his cousin in the bedroom. He jumped from his bed and landed on a toy, twisting his leg and sustaining a spiral fracture or "skier's break." This was unusual for one so very young and with such flexible bones. But it caused Ben a great deal of pain.


At first, we did not know Ben's leg was broken. When he did not stop crying we took him to the emergency room. An x-ray confirmed the break and Ben was given an injection to help with the pain. I made the mistake of watching as they inserted the needle, and for the next 45 minutes Ben and I were laid out next to each other on beds in the emergency room. After the doctor finished putting on Ben's cast and was ready to discharge him, the nurse would not let me walk out to the parking lot and drive the car up to the door. Brenda had to do this because the nurse didn't trust me to drive.


With the cast, Ben could no longer walk and he seemed to become depressed. I have often wondered if his thinking at such a tender age was that he would never be able to walk again. He certainly had gone from a very active, run everywhere at full speed lifestyle to instant immobility. Fortunately, his leg healed well and he was up and around again as usual.


Unfortunately, in removing Ben's cast the doctor scraped his leg with the saw and a large keloid formed over the scrape. For a time, we thought Ben would require plastic surgery on his leg to correct this condition. But as he grew the keloid became less prominent.


Here is a photo of Ben and his cute little cast.