Later the boys took a laundry basket ride through the house and almost tipped over, and Kai stretched out his arm. Then he yelled out in pain and we were frantically trying to figure out what was wrong. His arm was red and he had a small scratch so we thought maybe he scraped it on the basket. However, he was crying our periodically and he isn't usually that sensitive. We chalked it up to missing his nap earlier, but as I watched him he wasn't using his left arm at all.
{trying to cheer him up: Vanessa + David playing with glow bracelets}
I decided to call our pediatrician's office and speak with a triage nurse. She gave us some instructions to check for a dislocated shoulder or elbow but Kai wouldn't let us move him enough to really tell. When we touched him, he'd scream. So the nurse said to take him into the ER to get checked out.
Since we were away from home and it was bedtime for Desmond we decided that Ben would drop Des and I off at home and he would take Kai in. It killed me to not go and later when Kai was crying for me, I called Ben's brother David and his girlfriend Vanessa on their offer to stay with Des so I could go.
{in the waiting room with Daddy. in the exam room with Grandma}
By the time I got there I had missed the X-Ray they decided to do (because of where he claimed the pain was) and the repair of what ended up being "nursemaid's elbow" Something we didn't really expect because of where he was saying it hurt and that nobody had touched him. Apparently he had jolted it just right when on his laundry basket ride. It's amazing to me that something so small caused this issue after all the crazy falls he has had with no injury (boys!). The doctor set it before I got there and I came in to a different child. He was smiling, eating a popsicle, and using his left arm like nothing had happened. Although, he was very sleepy.
Ben and I traded places and as he headed home to Desmond, I waited with Kai and Grandma Debbie (who was visiting while on shift at the hospital) for our discharge papers. When they came the nurse joked for Kai to sign and he grabbed the pen and scribbled on the line. She was pretty surprised and it made her night. That's my funny boy!
As we were leaving the parking lot Malakai told me "That was a really nice doctor. We had a fun time." (for more quotes like this, follow @kaithoughts on instagram). He clearly wasn't traumatized by the experience, thankfully. He fell asleep about halfway home and snoozed peacefully all night.
{still wearing his glow sticks}
We are so thankful that it was a quick fix and that we don't have to deal with a 3 year old in a cast...not yet anyway!
Yikes! Glad he was fine after all. I'd never heard of "nursemaid's elbow" before.
ReplyDeleteOh no poor thing !! I'm glad he's okay. I first learned about nursemaid's elbow when my nephew was about 9 months old. His grandpa was "walking him" with his hands down the hallway and would swing him up and we noticed later on that he wouldn't move that arm and seem to cry out like Kai did.
ReplyDeleteThen again when my son was younger he LOVED for his Daddy to throw him in the air or swing him around. I was always nervous about this for that reason and sure enough we ended up in the ER with the same thing. It's crazy how they can just twist it right back into place, but it was sure scary for a while.
Dear little trooper! My cousin did that when he was 2, and like Kai it was the strangest thing. He just rolled over in bed and started screaming...somehow that was enough to dislocate it.
ReplyDeleteIm so glad Kai was ok! I mean, Im sorry it happened at all, but thank goodness he was protected from having a broken arm!