A ladder and a wet driveway: Don't mix the two!

One week ago today my dad and brother were putting up Christmas lights on the house along the roof. Everything was going fine, until the ladder slipped from underneath him as he was climbing, causing him to fall 6 feet from the air, and land on his elbow. I wasn't there when this happened but everyone else in my family was, including my grandma and my mom's friend and her kids. My grandma then called me to tell me my mom was taking my dad to the ER. I was later sent a graphic picture of his arm.....

Having no idea is was that bad, I got a little worried. The x-rays later showed that he had broken humorous bone that snapped completely off and a shattered elbow.

I know it's hard to tell, but if you look at the elbow you can see small pieces of bones that broke off...

You see that line between the arm and elbow? That's where the bone broke completely off cutting through his arm

You can compare these x rays to what a normal x ray would look like of someone's arm: One and Two

My dad ended up staying the night at the hospital and the next day he was prepped for surgery. It took 4 hours of surgery, 2 plates, 9 screws, a wire and a repaired tricep muscle before my dad was finally wheeled out of the OR! Some of the bones in his elbow was not savable due to it being shattered. For the most part the procedure went really well.

Because there was no bone to reattach his elbow they had to use the big long screw and a wire to attach it. In about a year he can have the long screw and wire taken out, but everything stays. In about 3 weeks he can get out of the sling so he can start moving it so it doesn't stiffen up. At the most, he may not be able to straighten his arm all the way, but that's about it. Everything should heal nicely.

I'm so thankful that my dad is ok and that he did no spine damage and was able to walk after this fall. This year for Christmas I'm truly grateful my dad can still join us for Christmas!