Broken Bones

A couple of years ago a friend called me at 10:00 p.m. the day before Thanksgiving with questions regarding what to do with her young child's broken leg.  It was itchy, hot, painful, and the child was not happy! Of course, the only medical facility that would be available for the next two days was the ER. That's the way it seems to always go!

Two weeks ago, we were working in the backyard when my son fell and broke his arm. It was one of those surreal moments.  Your mouth goes dry, your palms sweat, and you struggle to retain a sane thought.  My poor husband, distressed by the sight of the crooked arm, which looked like clay or putty shaped into a squiggle line, couldn't decide what to do.  Do we call 911? Do we try to move it? Realizing that this was beyond him, he called a paramedic friend who told us to take him to the ER to have the bone reset.  

In the meantime, I was calling out orders: "Get ice ...no, get the bag of peas from the freezer!" Peas would mold to the crookedness of the arm.  Externally, I was telling my child that it was going to be okay and trying to calm him down, but internally I was screaming, "What pain medication do I use?!? I don't know what to do! Oh, that looks BAD. Gross. Oh man, we have to go to the hospital! Ok, focus and help your son get through this...and your husband."  I found myself flying to my oils drawer and searching out Pain Out. I placed about an ounce of water in a small cup and two drops of Pain Out in it and ran to my son, who was still sprawled out in the yard.  By the time I reached him, I had spilled some of the oils and water, so he probably only got about 1/2 of the oil.  I had him drink it and then he, my daughter, and my husband were off to the hospital. The rest of us met them there later.

I have read several accounts of how to use oils for broken bones and when it came down to it, I used the one oil I would have immediately recommended in that instance...Pain Out.  The founder of Young Living, Gary Young concocted something very similar to Pain Out (which Young Living sells as PanAway) when he broke his leg.  Other good oils in this instance would be Extinguish, lavender, or copaiba directly on the arm.

When my son came home in his splint, he took Pain Out one more time, but that was all the pain medication he required, outside what they gave him in the hospital when they reset his bone...which was some horribly strong drug.  We used copaiba on his hand and fingers two or three times a day over the next few days, while the arm was still swollen.  Then he got the cast.

He still has the cast, and will for several weeks.  When he complains of the cast itching, I rub bottom balm onto his arm, around the edge of the cast (usually, it itches right inside the top of the cast), then I rub a drop of peppermint on his fingers and hand. A small ice pack (boo boo buddy) sits in his hand, an ice pack sits on his cast, and an ice pack frozen in a "c" shape curves around his arm at the top of the cast. Then, we cover his entire arm with a towel to seal in the cold.  He sits and reads a book. Within a few minutes he is feeling better. 

Hopefully, within a few weeks, this will all be history, and hopefully this will help someone else who has to endure a cast for several weeks. I've also heard that comfrey is excellent for healing broken bones...but I don't know much about that.  It's a goal of mine to delve into herbs this coming year.