Another Injury Lesson

Denise set Julian's file on the floor. She opened it up and began reading it to us. She explained that that Julian's Left Tibia (his lower left leg) and Right Femur (his right thigh bone) both had bucket handle fractures. She must have been able to tell that neither my husband or I knew what a bucket handle fracture was and so she explained further. She said...bucket handle fractures are most frequently seen in child abuse cases. They usually come from jerking or shaking a child's limbs. I was listening to her words as I was looking down at Julian in my arms and I couldn't believe someone would do this to him. My eyes were tearing up and so I took a deep breath and looked back toward Denise for more information.

His right distal radius (his right forearm close to thumb) was also broken and had been broken for at least two weeks before being brought into the emergency room. She told us that this wrist fracture was very common in teens and older people who had fallen but for a child Julian's age it usually again pointed toward child abuse. At that point I held Julian just a little tighter in my arms and I glanced over at my husband. His cheeks had become red and I could tell he was angry. So I grabbed his hand. When he felt my touch he looked into my eyes and said....who does this to a child? Denise interrupted us and said...unfortunately I see this to often. I looked toward the mat and shook my head. I was going thru so many scenarios in my head about what Julian had to live thru. Was he just laying there and crying to much so they hit him or swung him around by his legs? Was he even crying? Was it his own father that did this or his mother? Could it have been the babysitter? I was snapped out of my own thoughts when I heard Denise speaking again.

She said...well luckily this little guy has you two to care for him and with the system doing their job and you and I doing our jobs hopefully we can change his future. I smiled at the thought of her hope. Together we were changing his future. I loved that she saw us together in the future. She didn't see Julian being reunited with his biological family in the future she saw us in the future. She thought of us as his parents...and from that point on I knew I could trust her.

After we talked about Julian's medical history we jumped right into ways to help he develop physically. We watched and learned from Denise that day on ways to move Julian's little body so he would learn he could do it on his own. An hour had passed quickly and we had come to the end of our session. She said...before you leave I want to give you a list of tools you need to get to help him. I said..tools? I was picturing my grandfathers garage full of screw drivers and hammers...nothing I envisioned would be of help to Julian. She giggled and said....he needs some toys. Get one of those mats that he can lay on the floor with that has toys he can reach for. He needs something that will be helpful both on his tummy and his back. She said...get things with music or that make noise that catch his attention. She said we have a lot of work to do and toys are the answer.

And so with our shopping list of toys we left physical therapy that day and went directly to the toy store. We were willing to do what ever it took to get Julian where he needed to be.