Broken Bones...

So just to keep you all updated:

I got a call around 12:30 from the office at Kayla's school last Thursday. Apparently a boy had pushed her off the monkey bars and when she fell, she landed on her wrist so they wanted me to come take a look at it. I decided to take her home and figured I would have Jim look at it when he got home because really, I'm not a doctor. I'm not sure what the office expected me to tell them that they didn't already know. It was pretty swollen and she was having a hard time moving her hand. So Jim convinced me to take her to the pediatrician the next day.

Her regular pediatrician wasn't available for us to see her, so we met with this grandfatherly type doctor who was very nice and sweet - but not very convincing. They took x-rays - the first set turned out too dark so they had to do a second set. The doctor didn't see any broken bones or fractures and even though he was convinced there was a broken bone somewhere, he sent us home and told us to come back in 10 days when they might be able to see the development of new bone.....uh ok.

Over the weekend, the swelling hadn't even begun to go down and it was still very painful for Kayla to move her hand. She had limited to no range of motion of her wrist and even some of her fingers. And this is when we noticed really intense and dark bruising around her wrist. I knew something wasn't right.

So - I decided it was my right as a mother to seek out a second a opinion and called the Pediatrics office at Virginia Mason in Issaquah. The pediatrician there also ordered additional x-rays. She also didn't see anything abnormal and was about to send us home with the promise of a follow-up phone call after the radiologist had a chance to look at the x-rays. I insisted she call the radiologist right then and have him look while we were there.

So three sets of x-rays, three doctors, and two appointments later, it was finally discovered that Kayla has a displaced and fractured bone in her wrist! The only person who was able to identify this was the radiologist! What the heck am I paying these doctors for??? I'm frustrated.

So - they wrapped her wrist up and sent us to the orthopedic department at Seattle Children's this last Thursday. The physician's assistant at Children's told us the break affected the growth plate in her wrist which is pretty critical and can affect the growth in that area for the rest of her life if the bones are rubbed together too much. As a result, they had one chance and one chance only to put the bones back in place.

We then were sent to the Emergency Room where Kayla could be put under so the orthopedic doctor could be as aggressive as he needed to be to get the bones back into place on the first try. My mom was kind enough to take the afternoon off to go with me to Children's and we were allowed to stay in the ER room while they attempted the "reduction" of her wrist. About 10 minutes into the procedure, we hear Kayla very calmly say "Ow". No big deal - they told us that might happen. A few minutes later, she starts to talk again, only this time it was a more intense "Ow....Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, OW!" I was in a mighty fine position to kick the orthopedic doctor in the rear end and I was completely tempted. But the lovely nurse stepped in and gave her more drugs and she immediately calmed down. But this sent both my mom and I into tears - it was the most horrible thing to watch and listen to. Luckily, they also gave her a medicine that makes her not remember a thing so it was more traumatic for Grandma and I than it was for her.

So - the procedure went well and as far as they can tell, the bones are where they need to be. We go back to Children's again on Thursday for a follow-up to make sure the bones haven't moved and Kayla will FINALLY get the pink cast she has been DYING to have. But, because of the whole growth plate issue, we will have to continue following up every 6 months until they are satisfied with the growth of her bones. It's a sad situation.

If I wasn't 28 years old - I would hunt down the boy who pushed her and beat him up myself.