Broken Leg, Resolute Spirit

Admittedly we're catching up on posts here since this news is more than a month old now... But we just wanted to chronicle Titus' recent injury. One night back in March (Saturday, March 6, to be exact), Kate went out to have some personal time at Panera (a rare occasion these days), I was left home alone with Titus and I always bask in the opportunity to show Kate, "I've got it! You can go away and know that everything will be fine when you come back." Well, I failed miserably at that goal on this night...

I was walking down the stairs with him and somehow just lost my footing - not holding on to the railing - and slipped 6 or 7 steps down to the bottom, while Titus slipped with me. He obviously cried, which is to be expected, but after several hours of fussiness, we were getting concerned because you would think if he weren't injured, he'd be over it by now. We also thought, well, it must not be broken because he'd be in constant pain. The most troubling thing to me was that he wasn't his normal smiley self. As a parent (I'm sure many of you have gone through this), everything awful goes through your mind. "Did he hit his head? Does he have a bad head injury? Does he have brain damage? Is it permanent? Did he hurt his spine?" I felt awful. Definitely the most significant trial we've been through as parents.

Then, I was shocked to learn on the following Monday from Kate that he had broken his leg (more accurately, I broke his leg). Then some of the same awful questions go through your mind. "Will he be able to crawl and walk? Will he be normal like other little boys?" Oh man, what a rough piece of news to get. But I have to say that in the days since I've learned that there is so much more to be thankful for than there is to be concerned about.

I met Kate at the ortho doctor's office and they gave him a splint and me a lot of reassurance, believing he would be fine. They said 2/3 of kids break bones. Crazy. Maybe Titus has officially gotten his out of the way? I hope so...

But praise God that he has healed so well the last few weeks. It was a rougher period, especially on Kate, both because he was higher maintenance emotionally and higher maintenance physically, by virtue of the fact that it was more difficult to place him somewhere, like in one of his toys where he sits up. He is an extremely resilient kid. After about a week, you would have had a tough time knowing he had a broken leg from the waist up. Towards the end, he was banging his splint on things, presumably because he liked the sound. He's a boy all right...

For those of you thinking that I'm still beating myself up, I'm mostly OK. I know God will take care of him. It's one of those things I'll relive again and again in my head. But I know these things just happen sometimes. And God has a great purpose in it all! One cool thing will be Titus telling the story years hence about how he broke his leg before he could even crawl, much less walk.

The splint is off now and the bone healed really, really. The nurse said she was less concerned about the fracture extending into the growth plate than she was when he first came in. So hopefully that won't be an issue.

Praise God for a happy, healthy little boy. We rejoice in the joy that he has been and is to us. What an incredible gift from our heavenly Father.

Here he is on the day he got his splint - two days after the fall: Monday, April 8, 2010. I mean, is that the cutest kid you've ever seen with a broken leg or what??

And here he is with me just before he got his splint off (March 29, 2010):