Leg Drama

Last Tuesday we had a friend from school over to play.  While the "big kids" (Keeley, Kayden, and Owen) played outside, the other mom and I hung out with the "little kids" (Killian and Grace) on in the living room.  Shortly after the big kids ran outside, Keeley came inside crying and limping.  She said, "Owen made me jump off the cottage."  My response was, "Owen did not make you jump off the cottage.  You did that yourself."  And then I assessed the damage.  I saw no bruising, bleeding, or swelling so I sent her back to play.  They played for another hour or so with no complaints.  I noticed that she was still limping when Kelly came home (even though she was not complaining) so I asked him what he thought.  He thought similarly that since there was nothing obviously amiss and she was not complaining, everything was fine.

Wednesday and Thursday I noticed the limp continued off and on through out the day but she did not complain anymore.  However, I decided that I should at least get her checked out.  I hadn't seen the fall so I wasn't entirely sure how she fell - on her leg, her side, her bottom?  Thursday afternoon we went to the chiropractor who looked her over and couldn't find a problem with the leg - no swelling or bruising and no localized pain.  She said that her low back was off but that we should see the pediatrician if she didn't feel better by Monday.

Friday at lunch I was still pretty worried so we went to the pediatrician.  She looked Keeley over and had her run down the hall.  While she could see the problem I saw, Keeley could not localize any pain so the pediatrician suggested maybe she had pulled a muscle if she had landed funny.  Her recommendation was to give ibuprofen twice a day through the week and come back if she was still hurting in a week.

Over the weekend we exercised some stellar parenting and let her go to gymnastics and a gymnastics party.  No judgment please.  No one could find anything wrong with her and she wasn't complaining.  The problem was me.  I just kept noticing the limp.  Monday she woke up and was limping pretty badly but I assumed it was because we were too active over the weekend.  Still no complaining.

Tuesday morning she woke up and the limp was really bad.  When she came home from school at lunch she told me that her leg was wobbly at school.  I called the pediatrician.  We went back in and this time, for the first time since the incident a week prior, Keeley indicated that her lower leg was really tender.  We were sent for an x-ray at 4pm and told that it was probably just a "toddler fracture" which typcially heal on their own and are just painful for a few weeks.  Later that night the pediatrician called and told us the radiologist recommended we see a pediatric orthopedic specialist (just add that to our list of specialist) because the break was significant enough to probably need a cast.  Our pediatrician called and got us the soonest appointment which was on Friday.


So, Friday morning I loaded everyone up and we headed to Children's for the appointment.  He explained that breaks tend to be most sensitive 1-2 weeks after the trauma occurred because the bone starts to break down to re-form so it was very common to have an experience like we were.  We looked over the x-ray with him - bowing greenstick fracture in the right distal fibula - and he told us our options. 
 

That bone that is bent is supposed to be straight :-(

We could do a walking boot or a cast.  He said both were fine.  We chose walking boot so we could remove it for bathing and sleep.  For the next 8 weeks, this is Keeley.

She is also not allowed to do recess, run, or jump.  It is going to be a long 8 weeks!!  So far we've only had one incident of Kayden slipping on it in the bathtub, several of Mom and Dad getting it too tight, and our fair share of meltdowns because she can't run or jump or walk fast...We'll survive.