Nursemaid’s Elbow

Yesterday the kids were jumping on the trampoline, playing a game where they would swing each other around. Suddenly Adelia came into the house shrieking and holding her arm. She didn’t want to move it, and she didn’t want anyone to touch it. She was kind of hysterical, actually. Poor kid. I got her calmed down with her elbow resting on an ice pack and watching Wild Kratts. By the time Aaron got home, we could talk her into moving it, so we knew it wasn’t broken. But she kept choosing not to move it, and just let her whole right arm hang limp at her side.

Same story this morning, she wouldn’t use her arm. And she got really anxious if anyone came close to it, or if it accidentally bent (like when we were putting her shirt on). We decided it would be a good idea to take her in to see the doctor, because she’s had this happen to her elbow a couple of different times, where she’d favor it for a few days, and then suddenly be fine.

Doc said it was Nursemaid’s Elbow, but that he was also concerned with her wrist, because Del kept saying it hurt when he touched there, and it shouldn’t if it was just Nursemaid’s Elbow. He thought their might be a fracture, and he didn’t want to pull her arm around to fix the Nursemaid’s Elbow, if there was also a fracture. So he sent us to the hospital for xrays.

I took the boys home to Aaron first, because after waiting for an hour with 4 kids in a waiting room, I wasn’t very excited to spend more time with them all in another waiting room. I’m grateful Aaron has a flexible job so that he can work from home when these kind of situations come up. I also wish my mom would find an excuse to move closer to me. ;) I would have just taken the boys to her.

Adelia and I played Go Fish in the waiting room. When our turn came the Lab Tech came to get us, and explained to Adelia that she was going to take some pictures of “here and here” (she said pointing to her wrist and elbow). Adelia said, “I know because my wrist and my elbow are hurting me.” The tech was so impressed, and as Adelia kept talking (pretty much non-stop), the tech kept commenting on her vocabulary. Then when she put Adelia up on the xray machine, and Adelia held so still and didn’t throw a fit. The Tech told me that Del was the most amazing 3-year-old she’d ever worked with. And then a second tech said, “but seriously though, other kids this age don’t act like this.” So that was fun. It’s always nice to hear compliments about your kids.

After the xrays, we waited again in the waiting room for our results. We started Go Fish again. And someone came to tell us that the results had been sent to the doctor and we’d get a phone call from him within the hour, but that we were free to leave the hospital if we wanted. Adelia interrupted her and said, “No! We can’t leave, we’re not done with our game yet!” Which made us both laugh. And we stayed long enough to quickly finish Go Fish.

Doc called and said there was no fracture. So we went back to his office and he popper her elbow back into place. She cried a little, but as soon as the doctor was done, she immediately started using her arm again just like normal. The doctor taught me how to put her elbow back in in case it ever happens again. It’s easy. Here's a youtube video that shows you how.

 

So it was an eventful day. It took the whole day to figure things out, but I'm glad Del is feeling better and that she didn't have a fracture.