Remember, each week I post pictures from the non-crafty side of life – – –
My preschooler fractured her elbow. It took hours and hours from our existence!!
First off, she fell off her scooter. On Thursday. When she would whine about it, I just figured she was, well, whinning. But come Friday, when she still wouldn’t use it, I thought there might actually be a real problem. Who knew!
Here’s the fake arm wrapping I gave her when she was whinning – you know, her “my arm still hurts”, me “oh, let’s just wrap it up – that’ll make it all better” – –
So we get it x-rayed at the doctor – inconclusive – – so we go for more xrays at the local hospital. A call late in the day informs us that yep, it’s broke, and that we should head downtown to the Children’s Hospital.
And that is where the life got sucked right out of – and her – – we were there 5 HOURS. Seriously! Over 2 hours in the waiting room – what if this were a real emergency?!?! She kept busy coloring and playing on my tablet, etc, but after a couple of hours the life was sucked out of her too. Here she is early on in the fun:
At least she’s pretty easy – there were people in the waiting room who had been there over 3 hours with kids that looked about 18months old – I can’t image the torture of trying to keep a toddler entertained for that long! There was a TV in the waiting room, but it was playing this awful movie on Nick called Fred the Movie – oh man, it was pure torture.
So finally we were called back and I thought we’d be moving along and headed home – nope – we were in our little room in the ER for another 2 1/2 hours!! At one point I thought that this must be some crazy sociological experiment, to see how long people would wait in a closed room expecting to see a doctor. This is how they break your spirit, make you conform to ER standards. Killing time, taking pictures of ourselves:
At least in the little room we could stretch out on the “bed” and control our own TV channel – – watching TV, for hours:
Finally, the doctor saw her xray and said that the elbow was lined up right so she could get a splint. Yep, the doctor never saw us, just the xray. The nurse put on the splint – it took 5 minutes. Finally, at 11pm, ready to go home:
She was disappointed in the split because she was expecting a pink cast – so the nurse told her she could write and color all over the splint – which she did:
So, she wore that for a little less than a week and then we had an appointment at the Orthopedic Pediatric Office to get a real cast – a regular doctor’s appointment, so I figured we’d be in and out. But these signs were plastered all over the waiting room so I knew my fate was sealed:
More killing time with pictures….
we were there a couple of hours – I guess it could have been worse….
The actual putting the cast on took about 5 minutes. But this time we did see the actual doctor and I really liked her and the staff that put the cast on. The cast is a water-friendly type – pretty cool. And finally, she got her requested “hot pink cast!!”
She only has to have it on a little over 2 weeks. So far it’s been on a day and she hasn’t minded it too much…
Had to laugh reading your story. That is exactly how it is. Just feel lucky your kid is good spirited. My 7 year old got stitches and we had to strap him down to a board and had 4 people holding him just to give him a shot. The 3 stitches was even worse. I could not picture him getting a cast don’t know if they could ever set it in the right place he is a tad too strong.
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Wow and whew! What an ordeal! So sorry for her injury and all y’all have had to go thru to get it cared for properly! Here’s hoping the rest of the process goes smoothly and quickly 🙂 God bless!
Sorry that you had to wait for so long. I have to tell my kids that the majority of their lives are going to be waiting…. waiting for something to happen :). Hopefully she gets feeling better and back to old her self
I fell at an ice skating birthday party once and hurt my leg. My Mom did the same thing – even sending me off to walk all over Disney World with an Ace bandage. Finally after still complaining it hurt she took me to the doctor who took x rays and determined I had a hair line fracture. He asked when it happened and she said “Thursday” and he replied “oh good, just a day then” to which she had to correct “a week ago, Thursday”! no fun pink cast for me though – it had partially healed. And waiting at the ER stink! But the pink cast is cute!
Poor you & her! I’ve done 2 ER visits with the kiddos…ugh! They are the worst! Hope she’s feeling better soon! 🙂
Poor baby! I’m in orthopedics full time so I know how bad those casts can be for a kiddo. Hope she stays in good spirits- and doesn’t stick anything down her cast haha 🙂 Happy Easter!
I really feel for you! I had to give a ride to a lady from church that had a horrible migraine. Her insurance won’t okay the migraine medicine, so she ends up going to the ER to get pain meds and fluids. I think I was gone from home about 6 hours. I HATE being bored! I took my Kindle and read. I read scriptures, read a book, and played solitaire. I thought I was going to lose my mind!! And I’m an adult! I can’t imagine a child having to sit for that long!
You can take a look at my sweet grand-baby (doggie) with her pink cast.
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When I was in 3rd grade, I fell while learning to skate backwards. I went to my mom and told her “It hurts when I do this” (this being to bend the arm). Her response – “don’t do that”. Several hours later when I was still cradling it and she took me to the doctor, they her I cracked the elbow and was very lucky not to be getting surgery! I don’t remember how long we spent in waiting rooms, but I’m sure it was forever.
Years later, when my oldest sister’s daughter came to her and said her foot hurt, my sister looked at it, saw a small puncture and said “yep, you stepped on something – put some shoes on” – 5 hours later exrays revealed a full sewing needle in amongst my niece’s ankle bones. Surgery required.
So, don’t feel bad. Mom’s have been blowing off actual major injuries for a long long time! Glad she is Ok and that she got a pink cast (back in the 80’s all we had was white).
So I read your blog ALL THE TIME! It truly is one of my favorites and I like to think if we lived near each other we’d be friends. 🙂
My baby had a feeding tube. He pulled it out…TWICE. Since it was in his intestine we had to go to the ER to have it put back in. Each trip took around five hours. Nightmare. I don’t have a tablet to play with and there was no tv. I also hated being around all those sick people with my new baby. Awful. I feel your pain.
Poor girl, and poor Mom! It’s tough when a bandaid a kiss from Mommy doesn’t fix things. My daughter broke both wrists a couple years ago and we were at the hospital for almost six hours. I wouldn’t spring for the funky casts though. My daughter was twelve. I can’t imagine how bored a preschooler would get.
I am glad the worst is over.
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Aww, poor little girl! Out of our 8 kids, we’ve only had one ER visit!
Aww, that’s too bad! My son broke three bones in his foot at that age, and I totally didn’t catch on that something was amiss until 24 hours after the accident. I felt like a horrible mother when what I thought was a stubbed toe turned into a cast that went up to his knee!
We are old pros at the ER due to having two kids with heart defects. It’s never fun, and I will do anything to avoid a trip to the ER. Anything. What you experienced was nothing–I once spent 8+ hours in the ER on CHRISTMAS EVE trying to get my daughter’s blood drawn (the lab was closed and her doctor needed results ASAP). I thought we’d run in and be out in an hour, and dragged my other kids along–13 unsuccessful blood draws later, they had to perform a minor surgery to get blood. It was a nightmare. The trick to dealing with a long ER wait is to remember that it’s not first-come-first-serve, they treat the most serious cases first. So, if your child isn’t in respiratory stress, intense pain, or actively bleeding, it’s generally worth waiting to get into a doctor’s office, first.
Hope things go well with the cast! The color is awesome.
Oh man what a trooper! Hope it heals well and quickly!
I went through this with my youngest daughter when she was in 5th grade. She broke her arm just above the elbow. She was in a cast for 6 weeks. She was told to keep her arm elevated above her head. She was a trooper, too. I am so sorry you had to go through this with her. She is a beauty, like her Mom!
Looks and sounds like she’s taking it pretty well! Which is great! Poor little miss! SORRY you had to wait!!! Waiting is the worst, especially at the DOCTOR! Sheesh.
we have been going through the same thing. Our daughter broke her arm and we have had appt after appt. We have to drive 1 hour to the nearest Orthopedic that takes her insurance. Then we are there for over an hour. They put a cast on for two weeks. Then another cast for 3 weeks. Now we are back to a splint for 2 more weeks. This is the second time she has broken it. So those visits dont include the ER visit and previous visits for the first broken arm. I hope my kids dont break anything else.