Derek's Broken Leg

Derek had a hockey tournament on Saturday. The coach was gathering the kids just outside the rink for their 3rd and final game of the day when one of the kids stumbled, hit Derek from behind, and knocked Derek's skates out from under him.

I was watching a game on another rink when one of the parents came over to tell me that Derek was hurt. It didn't make sense since the team wasn't even playing. I went over and found Derek lying down and crying with his leg propped up on a hockey bag. The coach and the rest of the team were already on the rink warming up for their game.

I wrapped Derek's leg with some ice, gathered all the equipment, pulled the car around, and carried Derek to the car with the help of another Dad. I was hoping for a sprain, but there was no swelling so I had a bad feeling. Derek was crying in agony so I stopped at a pharmacy near the rink to get some painkillers. The pharmacist said I needed to go to the doctor and gave me directions to an urgent care center nearby.

Thankfully the urgent care center wasn't busy, but they weren't as urgent as I would have liked. Another kid was leaving in his football uniform with a broken arm. He and Derek talked a little and wished each other well. After filling out the paperwork we were led to the x-ray room where they kept messing with Derek to take images of both legs from different angles. Derek was screaming the whole time.

We were finally led to a room where the physician's assistant asked if Derek could have some pain medication. I made some snide comment about needing it 10 minutes earlier when we first walked in the office. Overall the staff was nice and handled it well. They put a splint on his leg and gave him some vicodin which calmed him down.

We called our pediatrician and they set up an appointment to see an orthopedic on Monday morning.