<p>Oh nooooo jym, there is no good time to break a femur, but on a college trip for another child is definitely among the worse times. You must be so torn between tending to one son, while trying to still keep the trip worthwhile for the other. 
Good luck on the surgery, therapy, crutches, percoset etc. I’m sure that after the first 2 weeks he will have adjusted to the situation, and the pain will have eased, but it’s great that you can go to Houston with him.</p>
<p>Sorry. Here’s a link to the TommyCam, <a href=“http://www.usc.edu/about/visit/upc/tommy_cam/[/url]”>http://www.usc.edu/about/visit/upc/tommy_cam/</a>, it will give a very narrow view of the USC campus.</p>
<p>I’m so sorry to hear of your family’s troubles. You might want to call the disability office at your S’s school now and give them a heads up to his situation. They may be able to start working on a plan to help him through this. I’m sure going back to Houston to help settle him in will be comforting to both of you. Best wishes for his complete recovery.</p>
<p>Oh, jym, what a rotten thing to happen! Sending warm thoughts to you and your family!</p>
<p>A lofted bed in a second story room with no elevator? Egads!! Time will come soon for your son to call on his buddies for some favors. No need to do everything yourself. </p>
<p>I am sorry for all of you. It is painful just to read it. Good thoughts sent your way.</p>
<p>I’m so sorry to hear that this happened. Fortunately, Houston has top notch medical care. One of the best orthopedic groups in Houston is Fondren Orthopedics. <a href=“http://www.fondren.com/[/url]”>http://www.fondren.com/</a> I would recommend a physician that has privileges at either Texas Orthopedic Hospital, St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital or The Methodist Hospital.</p>
<p>Best wishes for a speedy recovery!</p>
<p>Jym, I just read your thread and can’t believe it. :eek: I hope your DS feels MUCH better soon. I can’t imagine how hard it must be to deal with something like this happening away from home. Hang in there - I will be thinking of you. Please keep us updated on his progress .</p>
<p>So sorry to hear about the accident; having it happen during the trip makes it even harder to deal with. Best wishes to the whole family and hopes for the quickest possible recovery!</p>
<p>Jym, I wish I had something helpful or useful to say. I do hope recovery goes quickly and smoothly…your poor son, hopefully something good comes out of this…</p>
<p>I’m so sorry about your son’s accident. I truly hope he has a speedy recovery.</p>
<p>thinking of you today…but knowing how resourceful your family is encourages me that you will be able to get your children to the right hands. </p>
<p>nephew is in surgery right now getting his own rod in his leg in my town.</p>
<p>When you son gets back on his computer, tell him to check out <a href=“http://www.mybrokenleg.com%5B/url%5D”>www.mybrokenleg.com</a></p>
<p>There’s a message board there for people with leg fractures. Lots of nice people exchange lots of helpful tips and sympathize with each other’s frustrations.</p>
<p>Best of luck to all of you! That’s why God gives kids two parents – one to go on college tours, the other to sit by the hospital bedside! Thank goodness there’s two of you to handle it all.</p>
<p>Jym, I’m so sorry to read about your son’s accident. Best of luck navigating this ordeal.</p>
<p>Oh, Wow, I am so sorry to hear about your DS’s accident! Best wishes for a speedy recovery.</p>
<p>jym626 - sorry to here about your son’s broken leg, I send my best wishes along with all the other good thoughts here being sent from the Cafe…keep us updated…</p>
<p>Hello everyone. Just getting an opportunity to check in. We have a follow-up appt set for DS with an orthopod who is the team doc for the new Houston football team (???) and for the Rice athletic dept. Now all we have to do is get him out of the hospital! He still keeps kicking up a bit of a fever, so they won’t let him out. All tests are negative so they don’t know whaaat is up. They may call an infectious disease specialist tomorrow if they cant idntify anything. DS has figured out when they come in to do vitals, so he plans to chew on ice before they come in! He is determined to get out. We decided to stay at the rental house tonight, which is about an hour and a half from the hospital (without traffic, in the late night). I am tired of sleeping (though sleep is not the operative word) in a chair in the hospital room. We will go back in the morning and hopefully will get him out sometime tomorrow. I will try to pop back on line if I can, but there is only one computer access at this house (which is charming, by the way-- a great find and thanks to all who helped)-- At any rate, DH and DS both have work to do, so I will be limited. Thanks again for all the kind comments-- and Faline! So sorry!! My thoughts are with you!</p>
<p>jym626, I broke my leg three months ago (not the femur; the upper part of the tibia, near the knee). I had slight fevers from time to time when I was in the hospital, and nobody ever figured out why. I learned later from other people who have broken their legs and had surgery that this is a common experience. Apparently, the shock to your system of the break and the surgery is so great that your temperature regulation mechanism can go a bit out of whack. But it’s also possible that a fever can be indicative of an infection – either at the surgical site or some other sort of infection, such as a urinary tract infection (a fairly common problem in anyone who wore a catheter for a while, which your son probably did). If it is an infection, it would be much easier and more convenient to get it treated while your son is still in the hospital, rather than when he’s on the outside, where it will be exceedingly difficult for him to go out to the doctor’s office.</p>
<p>When your son is released, how is he going to get back to Texas? Can he bend the leg enough to sit in an airplane seat? I have been told that this requires about a 90 degree bend in the knee – something that I couldn’t do until 10 weeks after my own surgery. </p>
<p>If he can’t bend the knee, you may need to make special travel arrangements. Many years ago, my mom got into this sort of situation (she broke her hip during a trip to Argentina and had to go home while in a body cast). There is apparently a whole industry devoted to the travel needs of people who can’t ride normally in airplanes. My mom was referred to a service that handles this sort of thing for you. She was flown back to the U.S. lying horizontally across three seats, accompanied by a nurse whose entire job consisted of accompanying patients like her on airplane flights. Your son might need the same sort of help to get home. The doctor or the social worker at the hospital will probably know how to set it up if he does.</p>
<p>Just read this thread – my goodness, what a nightmare! – sending healing thoughts your son’s way. Hope you got a good night’s sleep, jym626.</p>
<p>Marian-</p>
<p>Yes, the orthopod agrees that fevers aren’t uncommon, and he actually had a slight temp in the ER when the accident happened. But it was kicking up over 102 which is what alarmed them. They’ve had him on prophylactic antibiotics, but (1) he had a bad reaction to an antibiotic in the past and (2) he is philosophically opposed to the overuse of antibiotics so was initially refusing to take the continued extra course of antibiotic when all his labwork was perfectly fine. He finally realized that this could only cause him to be stuck in the hospital longer, so he relented and took the second (of 5) dose last night. It was a very entertaining interchange between he and the nurse who was trying to convince him to take it. Hope fully they will d/c him today-- we will venture back through the traffic to the hospital soon.</p>