The Bryan Family Sampler: Poor Ben!

Looking back, it was probably pretty selfish of us but we didn't want to go to either the ER or Instacare for Xrays so I called and made and appointment with Dr Brown. The earliest he could get him in that day was mid afternoon. Thankfully, Andy was able to be flexible with his work schedule and came home to help transport Ben. We grabbed a wheelchair from inside the hospital and then I took him in while Andy parked the car.

The poor guy! I look at these pictures and my heart just breaks! He was still so quiet and still.

He seemed extra sleepy and at the time I thought he was just recovering from his seizure but now, I wonder if it was a reaction to the severe pain he was in. I don't believe I had given him any pain meds since the day before.

Dr Brown examined him and agreed he needed Xrays so he sent us downstairs.

Waiting for Xrays...

Once back up in Dr Brown's office he sighed and shook his head when he saw the Xrays. He turned the screen to us and showed us that Ben had a broken hip!

The pic on the right with both hips showing is from a few years ago when we got XRays because he wasn't walking. The pic on the left was the new XRay showing his left hip. See how the ball has "slipped"? They call this a SCFE "skiffy" (Slipped capital femoral epiphysis)

Dr Brown wanted us to go to Primary Children's immediately. He would alert them to the fact that we were coming and they would hopefully do surgery that night. The biggest concern was that the bone's oxygen supply was not sufficient and it could possibly die if it was not corrected quickly.

We got a little bit of a smile out of him as we left. I called Mom and Dad as we transferred him back into the car to let them know what was going on. The poor guy! Any time we moved him he was in such terrible pain. We ran home to gather some things together since it would be an overnight thing and then we were off.

Andy dropped me and Ben off at the Emergency entrance at PCH while he parked and they took us into the room and got settled.

Look at this sweet little guy!

Bless his heart. He was such a trooper!

We had multiple people coming in and out getting him ready for surgery.

The surgeon gave us a couple of scenarios that could play out and we hoped for the least intrusive of course. It was just going to depend on what they found when they got in.

He did say it was a pretty severe case.

About ready to go into surgery...

This was so heart wrenching.

There's only been one other time that I can think of that I had to part from Ben before he went under anesthesia. I hate the feeling.

So sleepy...

Andy was singing to him before they wheeled him away.

The last song was "I am a Child of God".

Ben loved it and "sang" along with his few words that he says :)

Andy and I were both in emotional upheaval after they took him into the OR (or the "surgical theater" as our British surgeon called it)

I sent a Marco Polo to Ang and also tried to read while we waited in a deserted waiting area.

After about 1.5 hours we saw our surgeon walking down the long hall toward us.

Understandably, he must have been very tired as it was late, but I think someone should communicate to him that he needs to at least try to smile as he approaches parents after completing a surgery. As he walked towards us, his head was bent and he looked sad. My heart plummeted and I was sure he had bad news for us.

Until he sat down, started speaking and used a present tense verb ("He is just in the other room sleeping"), I was silently panicking. Things had gone well and he had been able to go the least invasive route. He showed us the XRays with two large screws holding his hip bone in the correct position.

He told us that Ben would need to be 6-8 weeks non weight bearing and that there was still a 30-35% chance the bone would die. We would be keeping a super close eye on it with regular visits throughout the coming months.