A little break in the action...

It's never dull here. Last night Miss Amanda took a spill off of one of our dining room chairs and landed funny on her side/elbow/shoulder. Right away the look on her face told me something was wrong. Then she was very clingy to me. That is not normal. When she gets hurt she's like me - don't comfort me, don't touch me, leave me alone. She just cried and cried. I tried to get her to eat her dinner and she wouldn't. Then I noticed that she wasn't moving her right arm at all. Panic started to creep in. Mike tried to get her to reach out and she wouldn't move it. She just cried and cried. After a bit of discussion we loaded everyone up and headed to St. Francis Hospital. After my experience with Molly this is one place I was really trying to avoid. They weren't too busy so we didn't wait long. The resident, who might have been at least 12, didn't like the way she reacted when he touched above her elbow. He ordered x-rays and they did them bedside as they were already doing some in the room next to ours. Mike put on the lead apron and helped hold her arm in certain positions. Amanda did not like this. After those were read the attending came in and asked for more x-rays. This time I had to take her down the hall. Again, Amanda didn't like the positions they wanted her arm to be in. In a nutshell, they didn't see anything so they tried for what they thought might be a "nurse maid elbow." This is usually in kids who hyper extend the elbow. It happens when parents swing their kids by the hands or jerk the arm if the child tries to pull away from them. They tried to manipulate the arm back but it didn't pop like it should if you have this injury. They didn't want to hurt her so we now have to go tomorrow to an orthopedic specialist. They called from the emergency room a little while ago and said that the radiologist who looked at the films this morning thinks he seems something above her elbow. The specialist will be able to confirm that tomorrow.

This is such an embarrassing post to put on my blog. I am usually so on top of danger lurking. I see it all the time in other people's kids. Mike and I were only feet away from her. We just didn't react quickly enough. It happened in the blink of an eye. I really do think, for the most part, we do a pretty good job. I suppose that is why they are called accidents.