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Kimmer! Help, PJ has a fractured arm!

post #1 of 19
12/6/06 at 1:51pm
Thread Starter 
Kimmer,
Is it normal for a child to have a hairline fracture and them not to put at least a brace on the arm. It is fractured right below the shoulder. All they gave PJ is a sling to rest her arm in. What can I expect? Help, please.
I am waiting for the ER to send the reports over to Children's Hospital, then Children's will call me to set up an appointment after their nurse has looked at it. I have already called the ER and Children's twice. No one will get off their arse to send the x-ray report to the pediatric orthopedist.
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post #2 of 19
12/6/06 at 1:53pm
Thread Starter 
BTW, she fractured her arm because she fell off of the recliner.
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post #3 of 19
12/6/06 at 1:57pm
Oh my..... usually they will put a soft brace or something similar on it until they are certain the swelling is done. Then they will go ahead and cast. The location that the fracture is at would be very difficult to do something like that with. That seems odd to me that they give you a sling for a little peanut like PJ to "rest her arm". (I suppose that was the best they could do with the fracture she has.) They don't know the meaning of the word. I'd double check with your pediatrician to see if there is "anything else" that you can do to protect her arm until they get her treated. They probably don't want to do anything until the Pediatric Ortho sees her....especially if there might be a growth plate involved. (But, I'm just a cardiac CCU nurse..... so that's my best educated guess.)

Keep me posted. Poor PJ.... Poor Mommy!
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post #4 of 19
12/6/06 at 1:59pm
Oh poor baby! Hope somebody gets moving and gets the info to you so that you can get a second opinion!
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post #5 of 19
12/6/06 at 2:02pm
Poor baby!!
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post #6 of 19
12/6/06 at 2:03pm
Thread Starter 
No swelling or bruising. Even the ER Doctor was surprised that it was fractured because she is using it like nothing is wrong with it. Only thing is that she won't move it over her head.
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post #7 of 19
12/6/06 at 2:05pm
Caitlyn fractured her arm a few years ago. She played for a few hours before bed, but then had trouble sleeping. That's how we figured she broke it. It was cracked at the wrist and at the elbow.
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post #8 of 19
12/6/06 at 2:13pm
Thread Starter 
I just called Children's. THey have PJ's X-Ray's from the ER, now I have to wait for someone their to review them. Sigh.
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post #9 of 19
12/6/06 at 2:16pm
So what prompted you to take her to the ER? I think about all the times the kids have fallen and miracuously never been seriously hurt. Was it the fact that she wouldn't raise her arm up over her head? You sure are a good mommy because I probably still wouldn't have caught that.
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post #10 of 19
12/6/06 at 2:22pm
Thread Starter 
Accually, she fell a couple of days ago. We just noticed yesterday that she still was favoring her arm, then when we tried to get her to move her arm over her head and she couldn't, we decided to get it looked at sice it had been a few days since she fell. Honestly, I never would have thought it was fractured. No swelling, no bruising, still using her arm as if it didn't hurt. I had even had them in the childcare at the gym every day and she never complained. I feel like the worse Mother in the world because I SHOULD have known something was wrong.
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post #11 of 19
12/6/06 at 2:47pm
aww poor little thing!
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post #12 of 19
12/6/06 at 2:49pm
You are NOT a bad Mommy....not at all.

Hmmm...sounds like THEY probably didn't know what to do, so they didn't do much and referred you.
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post #13 of 19
12/6/06 at 3:05pm
Don't feel bad! You are NOT a bad mommy! Seriously, I'm not sure I even would have thought to take her to the ER at that point if it were me. I probably would have just made an appt with the regular doc, which would have been at least another day or two before getting an answer! I'm so used to the kids having bumps and bruises and what not that they'd probably have to be laying there with a twisted arm before I'd get it!
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post #14 of 19
12/6/06 at 3:31pm
for you and PJ.....

You are NOT a bad mom....I think that most of us would have missed that one too....and i am not sure I would have even caught it when you did (and I was a nurse for 7 years) Please dont' feel bad hon
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post #15 of 19
12/6/06 at 4:28pm
You are so not a bad mom!!!! I wouldn't have caught it yet. Not even going to lie.... I think I might have to break out my calling card and call the states... Assuming I can find the darn thing
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post #16 of 19
12/6/06 at 4:45pm
You are not a bad mommy... I felt the same way when Trey fractured his leg. He refused to keep on the air cast or the ace bandage so I made the ped put a cast on him. After 6 weeks he was still limping after it was taken off so they casted it for two more weeks. Then it was all better. Go with your gut Heather.

Good luck and I hope that she will be okay.
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post #17 of 19
12/6/06 at 6:39pm
You are not a bad mommy! With all the bumps and bruises my girls get I probably wouldn't have thought too much about it. You got her in and are getting it taken care of.
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post #18 of 19
12/6/06 at 7:49pm
aw i hope she is doing ok with the sling

you did awesome, i woudn't have thought to take her in if it happened here.
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post #19 of 19
12/6/06 at 9:06pm
Honey don't feel bad... I had almost the exact same thing happen when Haley was 4. She had been playing on the couch and fell off. While she cried at the time, she recovered quickly and got up and started playing. It wasn't until much later in the day that I noticed she was favoring the arm. When I played around with it she would wince if I lifted it up or out away from her so I took her to the ER. Ended up that she had a hairline fracture in her collar bone that they couldn't really do anything for other than give her a sling to rest her arm in and prevent her from over using it.
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