By: Tanya Pimental
No mom ever wants to see their child hurt. We have all had instances where we told them not to do something, they did it, and it resulted in injury. This is what happened at our house a few weeks ago.
I had the couch pulled out to put some stuff into our crawl space. Both my older two immediately started to bounce on the couch. No sooner did I say, “Sit down” did my daughter fall over the back. She tried to brace herself on the wall, but the tight space made for a very awkward landing on the carpet below. Of course I was sad to see she had hurt herself, but I was also annoyed that they were messing around like they shouldn’t be.
After a few minutes of whimpering, we realized she may have really hurt her wrist. It swelled a little bit and she was pretty upset about the possibility of having to go to the hospital. We knew it was a good idea to have them x-ray it for a possible break. I never would have guessed the first “casted” kid in my house would be Lucy. And something tells me it may not be the last cast we have around here.
My husband took her to the Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital ER to be treated. And I must say that they were awesome! She was hurt and scared and her mom had to stay home to care for the others. It makes me so happy to know how kind they all were with my little girl. When I asked her about it, she said the x-ray room was really exciting. Every nurse, lab tech and doctor that they interacted with were above and beyond nice. It’s so wonderful to have a local ER so close to home that we feel confident in bringing our family. Lucy came home with a medal around her neck for her bravery and could not stop talking about her experience.
We found out she had fractured two bones on her wrist and had a temporary cast put on. Luckily, we were able to get an orthopedic follow up for early Monday morning with Dr. Mandel. It’s great that we didn’t need to go into Boston. They were expecting her bright and early in the office. Lucy was hesitant to have the temporary cast removed and didn’t want it to hurt. However, she was pretty excited to see the x-ray images and pick out a pink cast. I was once again amazed with everyone’s kindness and Dr. Mandel’s bedside manner. It really makes all the difference. He himself helped her pick out a sticker when we were done. I’m grateful to him for making a tough situation as easy as he could for a five-year-old.
Lucy has done great with her cast. She even went and participated in dance class the day she got her cast. She loves telling folks she is ambidextrous. Her left handed art work has been great. Only a few more days until it comes off. I’m hoping it’s a long while before we are picking out cast colors again!
Community Voices for Health 
What an experience! Glad she is on the mend and enjoying her new ambidextrous status.
Also feeling like “Mother of the Year” (sarcasm there) for the antics I allow in my home after reading your story (See http://traininghappyhearts.blogspot.com/2012/02/sensory-savvy-new-sometimes-series.html to understand why)
And, laughing a bit, b/c we had Jack in ER twice this past month – once for a horrible bout with croup (which is not why I am smirking) and the other time b/c it appeared he got a toddler fracture playing with his sibs. He’d been roughhousing a bit with them, cried out and, then, would bear no weight on his leg for several hours. we called a dr on call who said we should take him to ER. Exam and Xrays revealed no fracture, so ER dr suggested that it was likely that our son had gotten a good bump and was just too sore/uncomfortable to put his foot down properly or bear weight on his leg. However, the following day, we discovered a large splinter in the heel of his foot. Not sure if he had it the day he went to ER and if us, the dr and the nurses missed it, or if it was new and coincidental, but, I daresay, I will always check more thoroughly for splinters in the future!
Aww, that’s really too bad. But it’s a good thing that she’s learning to look at her injury as a challenge and not as a hindrance to the other things she can do in her young life. I know you’re guiding her all through this.