Not an Ordinary Saturday Night….

Riley was all set to spend Saturday night at her friend’s house… what has now become a typical weekend activity.  She practically LIVES over there on the weekends now.  We aren’t sure if it’s because they frequently take the kids out to breakfast the next day (something we don’t do) and eat McDonalds for lunch (something we don’t do)….or if it’s because their house has a giant trampoline and an above-ground pool (neither of which we can have here at our house).

Anyway…..she’s over there A LOT.

At 7:40 pm I decide to check Facebook and I see the following post from my daughter:

Um, WHY didn’t she call or text me?  So I text her….

We continue texting back and forth, me sending her articles and links to review “is it a break or a sprain” and her sending pictures….

Riley really did not want to give up spending the night, but finally reached the point where she agreed that I should pick her up and take her to Urgent Care.

Thankfully I had done some research during the week (after Trevor’s ER fiasco (6 days prior) to find out which options are the cheapest, closest, and open latest.  I head over to her friend’s house, pick her up, have her elevate her foot on the dash and hold the bag of ice on it….and we head off to the Providence Medical Center in Tanasbourne.

I didn’t want to waste our time, nor make Riley walk unnecessarily, so I pulled right up to the front door, went inside to ask if they treat BROKEN ankles, she said yes, so I grabbed a wheelchair that was sitting there empty and helped Riley get into it (I’ve never had to configure one before!), then I pushed her inside, got her registered, wheeled her into the waiting area, then left to go park the car.  What an ordeal!

The wait was decently long, too.  She was able to watch part of “Peter Pan”.

They finally called her name, wheeled her back, and the on-call doctor was AWESOME.  He was so funny, had a thick Indian-type accent and was making jokes and being silly, which is fantastic at making kids (in immense pain) comfortable and relaxed (in a scary situation).

He looks at Riley’s ankle and asks her to tell him what happened; during this he is touching her foot and ankle and leg.

“I was jumping on a trampoline with my friend, we were jumping together and landing together and trying to go higher and higher…well, she landed on the trampoline before me, so when I hit it my foot turned in and I heard a loud pop.”

He INSTANTLY takes his hand away when she says “pop”….and looks at me.

He tells her she will need to get an X-ray (which we already knew and I had already told her that I wouldn’t be able to join her for that, I’d have to wait in the room).  He tells her that he’s seen TEN other patients today for ankle injuries and none of them were broken, they were all sprains.  But who knows, she could be the one that’s actually broken!

A gal comes and wheels Riley out of the room, and once out of earshot…..he looks at me and says, “It’s broken”.  He wants to see the X-ray obviously to confirm, but he says he’s pretty sure it’s actually broken.

Riley comes back, he’s gone to review the X-ray, she’s all giddy and texting her friends and life is fun and cool because she’s in Urgent Care in a wheelchair with a possible broken ankle.

When he comes back in and tells her that it’s broken, her world just falls around her.

“I’m supposed to run a mile on Thursday at school!”

“What about my MMA classes?”

“I’m supposed to do swim team tryouts in a couple weeks!”

“What about snowboarding lessons this winter?”

Heartbreaking.  I could see it in her face that this was really NOT what she wanted, no matter how “cool” it is to be the kid with a broken ankle.

He tells us that RICE is her new best friend (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation).  He writes us a referral to an Orthopedist, and gets Riley fixed up with a Walking Boot.

He tells us to get a crutch (just ONE) to use for a couple weeks, but then to just walk with the boot, which she’ll have to wear for several several weeks.  Will probably take 6-8 weeks to heal.  Our primary goal is getting the swelling down.

(Side note: if you ever see crutches at a garage sale or at Goodwill…buy them.  You never know when you will need them.  Thankfully, we had a set up in the attic, although not convenient to access, they were better than spending $45 on a SINGLE new crutch.  Also worth noting, crutches don’t really change.  The set we have is about 20 years old.  We did have to replace the handgrips, armpit pads and the foot, but those pieces are available for about $3.99 per set.  I recommend keeping the rubber parts inside your home and the crutches in the attic-because extreme temperature variances do a number on rubber/plastic.)

The next day, Sunday, was spent following a schedule of Medication, Ice, Compression….we even made a chart:

I fixed up her crutch- bought some fuzzy padding for the armpit and handgrips….

She ended up going to school on Monday….

We were able to get in with the Orthopedist that day as well.  The doctor there told her basically the same thing- she’s going to need to wear a walking boot for a minimum of 6-8 weeks, use a single crutch for about two weeks, continue with R.I.C.E.  Focus on getting the swelling under control.

When it comes to ankle breaks, this was the best possible scenario.  The break is well below her growth plate, so it won’t affect her development or growth.  And it’s not in a place that will affect her joint at all.  And it’s not weight bearing. Yes, it will hurt when she puts weight on it, but putting weight on it will not slow down the healing process and moving her foot around won’t shift the position of the break/bone.

Best.  Case.  Scenario.

Whew!

When I told the doctor that Riley is pretty active with MMA, she suggested Riley do Physical Therapy to help strengthen the ankle before returning.  In the meantime, just do the flexing, don’t wear the boot at night or when she’s relaxing, but DO wear it when standing or walking.

They scheduled us for a follow up in 3 weeks.

And here’s all the lovely colors from that first week….

The day after:

Three days after:

And from there the bruising continued to appear above her ankle, on her shins, and even on the top of her foot behind her toes.

I will update this when we see the Orthopedist again.