... I have a little kid's hand that is turning blue...
From bruising? That's what we were thinking...
Yesterday, in our blustery yet wonderful 90 degree day, Mike and I and little Noël had quite the pool party. Sunburns, yard work, any reason to not go inside. Little Sis came out a few times, but since she's still a heavy sleeper, she missed out on most of the fun.
Our plan was to play hard, then grill steaks, get the girlies to bed on time (since we decided to forgo naps for play time), then Mike and I would watch a movie.
Steaks were done, on the plates... I was just finishing mashing the taters, brownies were done, lemonade made... then, it happened.
Noël was helping Sissy with her toys. Sissy was in her bouncy seat, having just finished her applesauce. She threw her toy over onto the floor, so Noël fetched it for her. In getting the toy back to Sissy, a terrible thing happened... a wrist injury.
Noël usually is a tough cookie, but she was bawling and bawling and was hanging her arm limply at her side. I was feeling everything from her shoulder (checking her clavicles, checking her wrist bones) to her hands to see if I felt something awry. And, I did... on her left wrist, there was a funny bumpy area that didn't match the other wrist. Touching it resulted in screams. I had Mike feel it and confirm what I felt. Yes, he felt it, too. We were so afraid she had somehow broken a bone.
In a mad rush, I flew through the house grabbing things we would need for an ER visit. I tossed all of our yummy food into the fridge, hustled the dog out the door and into his box, and prepped some bottles for little Sis. Mike held onto the screaming and sobbing Noël. I wrapped an ice bag around her wrist, which made her cry more (any little movement sent her into a bigger fury).
And, out the door we went. The car seat was a disaster. Poor Noël. I was trying my best not to move her wrist, but it was impossible. Mike drove quickly to Knoxville to Children's Hospital ER. I was afraid of a long wait time, I was afraid of broken bones. I was just very, very sad for my little Noël.
Mike dropped us off at the door and I took Noël in. Thankfully, the ER was quiet so we were taken back to triage, then within minutes, were going to an actual room. I was shocked the doctor came in right away.
She was wonderful and amazing. The way a kid's doctor should be, especially in a scary place like an ER. Noël didn't want anybody to touch her, but this doc was so good with her. She quickly assessed her and came to the conclusion it wasn't a broken bone. Thank you, Lord! She said it was an out-of-joint elbow, something called 'nursemaid's elbow' and would be a simple resetting the joint. Ouch. As she reset it, the elbow popped in immediately. As she was moving down her forearm, suddenly Noël's wrist popped, too.
The sound that came from the doc was interesting. She looked alarm. She stated, "oh, my goodness... I have never had that happen. Honey, you're going right away for an xray. Oh, my." And, again and again and again. She told us wrists in children don't come out of joint. She said she had NEVER experienced that and it was freaking her out a bit. Gotta love honesty, right? =) She told us, "sorry, guys, I just can't hide things on my face." We really didn't mind.
'Par for the course' is what we were thinking. Our family has had our fair share of things the doctors have never seen... from Mike's omentum infarction to my cyst intertwined in the roots of my front teeth. It would only be right for Noël to make herself a medical mystery as well.
Noël and I went off to xray, Noël with exam gloves on her feet (a fav thing to do of hers, and quickly became the talk of the ER staff). The brave little girl was so good and laid very still for all three 'pretty pictures' of her wrist. I was a proud momma of my sad little thing.
By time we got back to our room, the doc came in and said the xray looked perfectly. Thank you, Lord, yet again! Noël was back to her normal self by time this was all done, and was using her hand again. It was quite impressive how easy the fix was and how quickly she recovered.
We left the ER in about 90 minutes time and headed home. Noël was covered in stickers, had her gloves on her feet, a glove on her hand, Buckles kitty in tow, as well as a new bear one of the police officers gave her on Easter, and was dancing along with the radio. Our girl was back to her little zany self!
Little Sis was great, too. She was up waaaay past her bedtime, and was a very good girl about it. I think she was intrigued by all of the people and the colors of the ER.
Once home... we re-grilled the steaks and reheated our taters and finally ate our supper... four hours behind schedule.
It was so good. =)
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