What if you break your arm on Mull?

[User050105]

Ds15 is going to the Camas centre on Mull in a couple of weeks. We're in East Lothian.

He's got this worry in his head that he'll fall and break his arm. I have no idea why. He's never broken anything so far.

I assume if you break your arm on Mull you go to the community hospital in Craignure and they fix you up. Your parent then has to drive up to collect you, unless you feel like going back to Camas.

Ds has decided that he might get put on a helicopter to Edinburgh or Glasgow and going on a helicopter by himself would be his absolute worst nightmare. Although it would take us less time to get to him.

He has all sorts of anxiety spirals all the time but this helicopter business is a big one.

Please can someone who has broken their arm on Mull reassure him that it can be fixed without a helicopter trip?

I will show him your replies (assuming they're helpful 😀) and hopefully he'll feel better.

We'll also phone the Camas centre in advance and see I'd they've ever had to deal with a broken arm before. Hopefully they'll have reassuring answers.

Thank you, I know this is ridiculous.

My friends lives on Iona
I know craigmure on mull has a a&e so imagine they can deal with a broken arm

my friend did have a stroke and she did have to go via helicopter to the mainland but that was quite a big emergency if that make sense

Jeez, they're planning a day trip to Iona. He hasn't thought (yet) about what might happen if he breaks his arm on an even smaller island.

Poor lad, life is just one big worry.

They can x-ray and deal with broken limbs in Craignure. Anything more serious means going to Oban or Glasgow, which can mean being transported by helicopter. All depends how serious it is and how quickly the patient needs to get to a larger hospital

I have family in the area. There's drs etc on Mull, and anything they can't deal with would go to the hospital in Oban that would deal with more complex cases. They've been known to call the lifeboat out to get people across to the hospital in emergencies and childbirth. Unlikely to go to Glasgow for something like a broken arm unless needing specialist surgery for pins.

Edited to add that I've run youth camps on Mull and risk assessed. We were happy with knowing what was available, putting g plans in place for emergencies. .also, my family member did get evacuated by lifeboat years ago, with a local nurse as the Dr was stuck in Oban and ferry not running that day due to bad weather in mid winter. Lifeboat was still safe/fine and got to hospital quickly and safely.

May I kindly suggest getting some help with the anxiety? I have GAD (generalised anxiety disorder) and used to be like your DS with planning a million scenarios and going down rabbit holes of worrying. Therapy has massively helped me work out how to cope with the worrying and not let it take over my life.

My 2 year old broke his ankle on Mull in June. The A&E in Craignure was amazing.
We were seen immediately by the nurse and had an xray the next morning as they weren't able to do it on a Sunday. We were given a splint in the meantime. His xrays were referred to a specialist in Glasgow to make sure no additional rehab was necessary. In and out in forty minutes. It was amazing compared to my experience of the busy A&E where we live in the south of England.

I have taken at least 4 dc to Mull at least twice a year for a decade... Never had a single broken bone.... Who does ds get his anxiety from?

And we go over to Iona once a year... For a decade.. No issues. No broken bones..

I broke my toe on Mull.

A visit to the Minor Injuries on Craignure coincided with a radiographer visit so was x-rayed there. That would have been the end of it but the fracture was displaced so I was advised to get the next ferry to Oban and attend A&E there.

I believe this would be the same for a fractured arm, a helicopter would not be required.

I went to Iona the following day.

It costs a lot of money to scramble the helicopter! They only send for one if the medical matter is an emergency, cannot be fixed locally and cannot wait for the ferry service the next morning. Most broken arms can be temporarily splinted and sent via a day ferry to the mainland if they can't deal with it on Mull.

I'd also add that the rural Scottish hospitals are excellent at limb injury treatment due to the high numbers of under prepared mostly English tourists that get injured each year hiking mostly in the wrong shoes

Thank you @Username19563 for your real life story. That will help. And the fact that helicopters cost lots of money. That sort of rational fact will help him.

I don't know why he is so anxious. He has CAMHS support but it's not massive. And he gets help at school. We try to find rational answers to any specific anxieties, as suggested by CAMHS.

Thank you for all your answers.

As @mitogoshi says helicopters are EXPENSIVE and are for EMERGENCIES which a potential broken arm is not !!!

Oh that's also a good point @mitogoshi

He has got proper shoes so that should further reduce his chances of a broken arm.

Why is he so anxious about this? I think I'd be more concerned about that then worrying about pacifying this. Life will always have risk, he could break his arm anywhere. Is this the first time he's done anything risky? With a broken arm I'm assuming it could be splinted and he could travel back on other ways, it would be painful though.

Might not help but there are plenty of areas of the country where if he had any medical emergency/ car accident he would be put in a helicopter to save his life.

Why is he so anxious about this?

Because he has anxiety. He worries about lots of things. He has support from CAMHS and school.

I don't know why he has anxiety.

Why is he anxious about breaking his arm on Mull in particular? I guess because he's worried about being away from home for a week (he's not in the habit of going without us or grandparents), he's thinking about how far away it is and how long it would take us to get to him in an emergency, his pal broke his arm earlier in the holidays so it's been on his mind. And it all becomes a big worry.

It's shit for him, shit for us, we're probably not dealing with it perfectly.

Thank you to everyone who has shared their thoughts and experiences. They will help him.

Great response OP! You sound like you are doing a great job supporting him and taking advice from CAMHS

So he is anxious about going away and is focusing on this specific issue because it recently happened to his friend. If he'd previously broken his arm or had a nasty accident away from you that would be relevant which is why I asked.

I think rather than focusing on the practicalities, because an anxious mind will pick holes with this, I'd go with if something happened we will leave at once to get you. I'd speak to him about what happened with his friend. I'd make sure he knew that there will be lots of competent people around him and also that he is more than able to deal with a challenging situation.

It's really hard when you have an anxious child but asking why someone is anxious about something isn't having a go. There are millions of kids with anxiety and they will have different things they are anxious about. He's scared about being away from home, talk to him about that, not hospitals on Mull.

Or at least do both and make sure he understands why he is focusing on this.

If he had to be transferred to the mainland he would probably be high as a kite on gas and air before he had even been loaded into an ambulance or helicopter.

I have family on Mull and I've only known 2 people be transferred by helicopter, both were 20 years ago.

Thank you everyone. We've chatted through your answers and he's feeling better.

No doubt more worries will come up but he seems to have got the broken arm risk more in perspective today.

Is he having any therapy or treatment, OP? It's just that I know from my own experience that as soon as one worry is dealt with, his brain will think of something else.

I know I need a good dose of CBT and some medication to get over a peak in anxiety, or it just festers.

We used the A & E in Oban. The doctor in A & E said the problem was above her pay grade, so she sought advice from a Professor in Glasgow. She followed his advice, which was quite sufficient! No helicopters involved!

We often go to Mull for the day several times, when in holiday in Oban and have never broken an arm; but if we did, we’d make a sling out of something and take the ferry back to Oban!

As pp has said, we found it much better than our overcrowded A & E in the SE.

The radiographer is only on Mull on certain days. If they weren't available it would be a trip to Oban. Unless it was a serious injury, the helicopter wouldn't be required!

This is not a criticism. I’m interested that CAMHS told you to try and respond rationally to his worries. Do you find it reassures him? My sis has GAD and she’s told me that there’s not much point in trying to rationalise her worries as she can always go further than the rational person can, IYSWIM.

maybe it’s different with kids.