Sprained

So today N took a fall at gymnastics. She fell about 2-3 feet, off the "rainbow bars". They are a series of ladders along the wall with bars across the top and different colored mats inbetween. The girls climb up the narrow ladders, turn around on the bars and hang in front of the mats, and then lift their toes to their hands. N hasn't quite gotten the turning around by herself part down. So she climbed up, fiddled a bit with maybe turning around, and then started back down the bars, but she lost her footing at one point and fell a few feet to the lightly padded floor, twisting her ankle.

There was much sobbing for quite some time, disproportionate to the fall. So a fellow gym mom from her team,who is a pediatrician, examined her. She said it didn't look good, and recommended an x-ray. My own ped office was completely useless and incompetent in the area of getting us an order for an x-ray in a timely manner. (No, I am not going to wait until the doctor gets back from lunch to take my still crying child with a possible broken bone for treatment. He just left? Seriously, you are not allowed to call him at lunch to get an emergency signature on an x-ray order? Since I've had to call you three times in the last 30 minutes trying to get info from you about an x-ray lab, why the hell didn't you stop him from going to lunch to begin with?) I could have really given them an earful but I didn't have time to argue so after she told me she wasn't allowed to call the dr. on his lunch break I just hung up and started driving to the ER...I just needed to get my child taken care of. So we ended up at the ER and they did x-rays. Nothing is broken, but it's sprained. It hurts at the top of her foot, where her foot joins her leg, and after talking with my oldest brother, who is a pathologist that did an orthopedics rotation 30 yrs ago and wanted to be an orthopedic surgeon once upon a time, I feel a bit better about the fact that she refuses to even try to stand on it right now. He thinks it might be a hyperextension across the top of her foot. I actually was videoing with my phone when she fell, but I was a little far away and it is hard to see the point of impact since there is some gym equipment and other kids there as well.

Of course, it is hard to tell how much of this refusing to walk on it is for sympathy. She loves being carried around. On the other hand, I did finally convince her to try to put weight on it for the count of 2 and she was in real pain, so we are keeping it elevated with ice for now. If it still hurts a lot by Monday, I'll get her in to see another doctor. Perhaps and orthopedist. Not my ped...that office is entirely in my rearview mirror and they will get a letter letting them know why. It still makes me furious. All I needed was a signature on an x-ray order.

In somewhat related news, N climbed the highest by far that she ever has on the ropes today. Touched the pink tape. It's at least twice as high as she has ever climbed before. When she took her water break she was SO happy and proud of herself! I've known for a while that she could do it, but she just hasn't wanted to. It was good to see her motivated and I just hope that this little fall doesn't affect that too much or for too long.