S's ligament sprain i blogged about earlier has turned out to be a greenstick fracture! Poor thing, and she suffered so much due to irresponsible parenting on mine and the hubby's part.
Am feeling super guilty about the whole thing.
Starting from the fall. The hubby and I were so busy trying to teach him ice skating and pulling A along that we let S go far ahead unsupervised and we didn't even see how she fell, so we couldn't even tell the doctor how the fall was and which part of the leg she fell on.
And then instead of taking S to the hospital immediately, we decided to wait a day and take her to the doctor. For this I mainly blame the hubby who insisted that for a fracture you need to wait 24 hours to see how it develops and only then go to the doctor and if its not a fracture its nothing much to worry about anyway. My instincts told me that we should go the hospital immediately but I didn't insist. I in fact went off to watch a movie with my friend (!!! - but really i thought it was only a ligament sprain).
To be fair, when i had fallen and broken my jaw 2 years back in the middle of the night we didn't go to the hospital either. I had a deep cut on my chin, but the hubby put cellotape and stuck it together, gave me brufen and asked me to sleep in a sitting position the whole night. The next day when i went to my GP he looked at the cotton and cellotape and said, well done and no you don't need stitches. So that turned out ok. And more recently a big knife landed on my hubby's toe (nearly chopping it in half) but we were travelling to the States the next day and he decided to home remedy instead of visiting a doctor. It was a pretty deep cut and bled the whole day and he was in a lot of pain even on holiday, but steadfastly refused to go to a doctor.
Anyway the point is, we can refuse treatment for ourselves, but you cannot be irresponsible towards your children and take risks with their recovery.
The next day, S foot did not look swollen so I took her to our regular paediatrician. He looked at it and said its not a fracture or a tear, but only a sprain. However he did tell me that she should be walking in two days, which i did not pay much heed to.
Two days later, she still had a lot of pain when trying to walk on that leg, but i kept pushing her to walk, saying its only a ligament sprain and you should recover fast. I then made the mistake of waiting another two days before i called the doctor and told him that she could still not walk. He asked me to immediately take her to the hospital for an X ray, which luckily we did without wasting more time. The doctor said the foot was swollen and was surprised that the paediatrician had not seen it and when they did an X ray, there was a long crack in the leg bone.
She then got a cast (yes she chose a pink one!) and she has to wear it for the next 3 weeks. She couldn't walk on crutches at the hospital so they said to avoid sending her to school, maybe only a couple of hours if required. After goofing up so badly in the first 5 days, we are now being overcautious and not sending her to school at all. With a group of rowdy 5 year olds running around, am worried someone might bang into her leg or stamp on it. A has already done it twice. And S also gets overexcited when things are going on and might try to walk. The other day, one of her friends had come from school to visit it and i saw her trying to climb up the bunk bed with her friend!
Its quite a challenge keeping her occupied at home. Most of her activities after school are physical and with no school and no activities (other than reading) the days are very long. But somehow with a mixture of english/maths homework, playing the piano, drawing and painting, continual board games, IPad and of course TV, we are managing. Its a struggle to drop A to school and back because of course, the hubby has to travel at this time, so I have to carry S down to the car and carry her back up twice a day. But friends have been really helpful, they've brought lunch over, come and babysat S while i went to pick up A, brought cupcakes for S etc. And the best thing, is my parents are expected next Thursday- can hardly wait!
But the real learning for me, is not to be lackadaisical about the children's health and to listen to my insticts more. Better to err on the cautious side, and hope for the best.
Am feeling super guilty about the whole thing.
Starting from the fall. The hubby and I were so busy trying to teach him ice skating and pulling A along that we let S go far ahead unsupervised and we didn't even see how she fell, so we couldn't even tell the doctor how the fall was and which part of the leg she fell on.
And then instead of taking S to the hospital immediately, we decided to wait a day and take her to the doctor. For this I mainly blame the hubby who insisted that for a fracture you need to wait 24 hours to see how it develops and only then go to the doctor and if its not a fracture its nothing much to worry about anyway. My instincts told me that we should go the hospital immediately but I didn't insist. I in fact went off to watch a movie with my friend (!!! - but really i thought it was only a ligament sprain).
To be fair, when i had fallen and broken my jaw 2 years back in the middle of the night we didn't go to the hospital either. I had a deep cut on my chin, but the hubby put cellotape and stuck it together, gave me brufen and asked me to sleep in a sitting position the whole night. The next day when i went to my GP he looked at the cotton and cellotape and said, well done and no you don't need stitches. So that turned out ok. And more recently a big knife landed on my hubby's toe (nearly chopping it in half) but we were travelling to the States the next day and he decided to home remedy instead of visiting a doctor. It was a pretty deep cut and bled the whole day and he was in a lot of pain even on holiday, but steadfastly refused to go to a doctor.
Anyway the point is, we can refuse treatment for ourselves, but you cannot be irresponsible towards your children and take risks with their recovery.
The next day, S foot did not look swollen so I took her to our regular paediatrician. He looked at it and said its not a fracture or a tear, but only a sprain. However he did tell me that she should be walking in two days, which i did not pay much heed to.
Two days later, she still had a lot of pain when trying to walk on that leg, but i kept pushing her to walk, saying its only a ligament sprain and you should recover fast. I then made the mistake of waiting another two days before i called the doctor and told him that she could still not walk. He asked me to immediately take her to the hospital for an X ray, which luckily we did without wasting more time. The doctor said the foot was swollen and was surprised that the paediatrician had not seen it and when they did an X ray, there was a long crack in the leg bone.
She then got a cast (yes she chose a pink one!) and she has to wear it for the next 3 weeks. She couldn't walk on crutches at the hospital so they said to avoid sending her to school, maybe only a couple of hours if required. After goofing up so badly in the first 5 days, we are now being overcautious and not sending her to school at all. With a group of rowdy 5 year olds running around, am worried someone might bang into her leg or stamp on it. A has already done it twice. And S also gets overexcited when things are going on and might try to walk. The other day, one of her friends had come from school to visit it and i saw her trying to climb up the bunk bed with her friend!
Its quite a challenge keeping her occupied at home. Most of her activities after school are physical and with no school and no activities (other than reading) the days are very long. But somehow with a mixture of english/maths homework, playing the piano, drawing and painting, continual board games, IPad and of course TV, we are managing. Its a struggle to drop A to school and back because of course, the hubby has to travel at this time, so I have to carry S down to the car and carry her back up twice a day. But friends have been really helpful, they've brought lunch over, come and babysat S while i went to pick up A, brought cupcakes for S etc. And the best thing, is my parents are expected next Thursday- can hardly wait!
But the real learning for me, is not to be lackadaisical about the children's health and to listen to my insticts more. Better to err on the cautious side, and hope for the best.
