So, Sam was playing by the coffee table while we were watching TV on Monday night. All of a sudden, he gets up crying and walks over to me with his left arm limp. It wasn't a death scream, but just a sob that usually goes away in a minute after he gets over it. However, this time, he did not get over it. He sat with me for a while and continued to not use his arm. I checked it out by pressing on the bone and feeling around and didn't feel any brokenness, and he didn't cry when I did this. He only cried when I (or he) tried to move it.
This prompted a call to Lauren's mom, who told us to ice it and put him to bed. Leslie said a call to the pediatrician would not hurt so we did that. The pediatrician said it sounded like nursemaid's elbow, but we should take him to urgent care anyway.
Nursemaid's elbow is caused by pulling the hand of a child that separates the forearm bone out of the elbow socket. Bones have knots at the end of them to keep them in the sockets, however children under four do not have such large knots so pulling them out of the ligaments is easier. Apparently, this is more normal than you think and there is no lasting damage. I guess Sammy got his arm caught in the coffee table and he tried to yank it out.
So, I look up the diagnosis, symptoms and treatment and was ready to put the bone back in place, but Lauren said we should let a qualified expert perform the operation on our first child. Whatever!
Keep in mind that I just put a load of laundry in at 8:45 (in the communal laundry). So, I take out the wet laundry while Lauren packs up Sam and we head to Urgent Care. There were not that many people in the waiting room so we got to see the doctor rather quickly. She checked it out and popped it back in place. I could have done the same thing with less hassle, but I guess I have to earn that trust in the medical field.
So, Sam fussed after she repositioned the bone and she told us to wait a little to see if he starts using his arm again. Sure enough, five minutes later he started to push us away and grabbed the stickers that she gave him...all better! We get down to leave and Sam jumps down and walked out the door ready to explore this new place...back to normal.
So this was the first trip to urgent care, we can only pray it will be the last...but, it won't be.
