On Halloween, 2016, my brother broke his arm. We were putting up our tent in the yard after a camping trip, and he tripped over one of the poles. Our tent has medal poles that we set up in an "A" shape as the first step. It was the first time we had ever seen a broken bone, and it was very freaky!
We took him to the E.R., and as usual, they had him on an IV, then they put him to sleep and reset the bone. He came home in a splint and sling, but then he discovered that he had to learn how to eat and write with his left hand because he broke his right arm. I don't think that was fun for him!
A few days later, he went to the orthopedic doctor and got a long-arm cast. He couldn't get it wet, but thankfully it wasn't summertime, so we weren't going swimming often.
That stayed on for a few weeks, and then he got a short-arm cast. It was amazing to see all of the dry skin on his arm after being locked up in a cast for that long! He had to get used to bending and twisting his arm.
After a few weeks of that, the cast was taken off. We were glad to be done with that one, but...
Six months later, this time it was at the park. He jumped out of a swing, and landed on his arm weird, and broke it again. Same arm, same spot, same kind of break. Here we go again, back to the E.R., but this time they couldn't set it. It would stay set if the doctor was holding it there, but if he let go, it would slip out of place. The bone attached to his main arm would stay, but it was the one attached to his thumb that wouldn't stay.
He went home once again in a splint and sling, and in a week, we went to the hospital to get a rod installed in his arm through surgery for a short period of time. He got another long-arm cast, but when it was time to get his short-arm cast, my mom heard about removable casts, so we decided to get him a removable cast that could get wet.
My mom would sometimes remove the cast to give him arm baths, just putting hot water in a 9x13 pan and gently rubbing all of the dry skin off of his arm. He stayed a few weeks in that cast, and then we got leave to take it off, and leave it off.
After a few months, the rod was taken out, and we got to see it, in fact, they let him keep it!
That was the end, thankfully! It wasn't very fun at all!
