No surgery

We headed out for Vail around 10am and had 1 hour and 15 minutes to make it to our appointment for the oldest ones elbow with the top pediatric hand and elbow doc in the country. Turns out it was a really really smart decision to ask for a referral and go up to see Dr. Viola. This guy is recognized as the preeminent specialist in his speciality in the country. When you go to the Stedman Clinic the walls are lined with photos and jerseys from pro athletes and Olympians from all over the World. We’re very lucky to have these doctors here in Colorado.

We arrived on time and I dropped the oldest and the misses at the front door of the hospital and then took the youngest along with me to renew our p.o.box in Minturn. 20 minutes later we were back and they had already looked at his x-rays. It looked like he may have torn the ligament from the bone so they needed an mri. It was now about noon and the soonest they could get us in was 2:15 so off to lunch we went. The P.A. (physicians assistant) turned out to be my good friend Steve’s wife Heather. They were just at our house 2 weeks ago on the way to the first Bronco game. They own probably the best italian restaurant in Vail called Ti Amo and we’ve been friends and doing business together for years. What a coincidence. Anyhow Heather made sure we received extra special treatment and made the day as easy as possible. After lunch we went back for the mri and the oldest one handled it with no problem. If you haven’t had one, it can be kind of scary. As soon a he was done we headed back upstairs where Heather whisked us right in. It’s all who you know! It turns out that the mri gets sent to doctors in Paolo Alto at Stanford who read it and then confer with the doctors at Steadman. Talk about the best care in the World, doctors at Stanford and Steadman working on his arm. Anyhow Randy (our doctor) came in and put some x-rays up on the screen. He showed us where the break was but told us the ligament was fine. This was great news as it meant no surgery and just a cast for 6 weeks. We were all thrilled. So next up was his cast, he had two options, a regular cast or a waterproof cast. He opted for the waterproof version which has a gore tex pad instead of cotton under the fiber glass casting wrap. Heather took the oldest one into the casting room and let him pick his colors. He chose an orange cast with blue stripes on top for a perfect Bronco colored arm! His arm sure is long and the doctor said thankfully the growth plates were not part of the break but noted that he would be a tall one. Heather told us to come back in two weeks for a cast change but said if he didn’t like the color or anything to just text her and come back anytime, even the next day, and she’d change it. It’s good to have such good friends as you never know how things will work out. Finally at 4:45 pm we were in the car headed home. Aunt B fed the pups and we made it home by about 6. We go back on September 11th for a quick cast change. The oldest is bummed as he is barred from all sports and field day is October 11th. He might make it but probably not. He almost cried when he realized he couldn’t compete in it this year. We’re just all thankful he didn’t need surgery. We had talked to them about docs in Denver and were told the when it comes to kids, the elbow is the most challenging joint to fix in kids. They used to refer some patients to doctors in Denver but are not comfortable doing that anymore as they’ve had to fix too many screw ups from inexperienced docs down here. You do get what you pay for. Just because someone has the title of doctor or lawyer doesn’t mean they know what they’re doing! I don’t even want to think about what the day cost us but in the end it really doesn’t matter, what’s important is that his elbow has been fixed in the best way possible.

Today we’re back to school and I’m sure the oldest will be beaming with his orange and blue striped arm. The youngest will be the first to sign it this morning and he’s quite excited about it. I have a call with the distributor in Virginia at 8:30am and then Seattle at 2pm. Between then I need to run to Greeley which is about an hour away. The misses headache was back in full force yesterday and I think she finally fell asleep around 1am. It hurt so bad she just couldn’t sleep. It was probably the car ride which is too bad as she was headache free just a week ago.

No politics today, lucky you! It’s almost 6am and time to run. Take care and God Bless and we’ll talk to you tomorrow. Oh, I guess no one wants to go anywhere next year, what’s wrong with you people? I mean Hawaii, come on, oh well, we’ll send you all a postcard.

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