All three of our children have now been to an emergency room.
Yesterday Tim was playing with Naomi. You know how an adult will hold a child's hand, then the child walks up the adult's legs and flips over? Well, they were doing that. The first few times were fine and Naomi was asking for more. Then they did it again and she said her right arm hurt. They stopped flipping and went to do other stuff.
She was content doing other things, but she completely stopped using her right arm. She even ate her dinner left-handed. She was happily enjoying the evening, unless her arm got touched or we tried to move it. Then she's sob and say it hurt. Now, Tim and I are absolutely not the parents who run to the doctor for every little thing, so we figured she must have just twisted it funny and would feel better in the morning.
Well, Naomi wouldn't get herself out of bed this morning and one of the first words out of her mouth were that her arm hurt. She still wasn't using it at all and would cry if it moved at all.
Those tears are what got me. This is the girl who doesn't flinch for shots and didn't shed a tear over a double ear infection. She's got a pretty high pain tolerance, so the combination of tears and lack of mobility concerned me.
I hopped onto the Sonlight forums to get some feedback and most people thought it was nursemaid's elbow. I read this link that someone gave me and it perfectly described what was going on.
Of course, our ped's office is closed on Sundays. So, Tim called the closest urgent care and they were closed. Then he called the next closest one and they couldn't treat nursemaid's elbow or a dislocation (a possible diagnosis). I think it's bizarre, by the way, that they couldn't treat it, but whatever. So, I took the boys to church and Tim took Naomi to the emergency room.
The diagnosis? There's nothing wrong with her. She's just sore and needs Tylenol. The bad news? We'll be paying for a completely unnecessary trip to the E.R.. The good news? Naomi is drugged and using her arm normally.
And this situation confirms my "wait it out" tendencies. Oh well. At least none of my children will feel left out of the E.R. experience now.
4 comments:
Glad that she's OK, but don't worry about taking her in for "nothing". Besides, it could have been a nursemaid's elbow that she got back in place herself before the ER visit. It is a bummer that you've got an ER bill to deal with, though. Here's praying your family can stay OUT of the ER for the rest of 2010!!
I know it's frustrating when you feel like she went in "for nothing", but if it had been something and you'd done nothing, you'd feel terrible. Glad she's feeling better.
My arm hurts now.
I'll be praying for your girl. And sorry about the bill... happened to us last year.
Ezekiel developed a greenstem fracture jumping on the trampoline--ok, mommy was on too and bounced the poor boy a little to high! Anyway, after holding out for a few days (and many tears later) we took him to the local clinic for x-rays. It costs $15-. One of the perks of living in a third world country, cheap medical care, as long as it is a minor, minor issue. Otherwise you have to fly to Kenya.
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