Martha Graham She Ain't

We had a little excitement over the weekend. On Friday at about 3:30 (really, when else do these things happen???)the 11 year old was dancing around her room as she got ready to get into the shower, and came down funny on her foot. The howling that ensued could have woken not only the proverbial dead, but those who had been cremated as well. And scattered. Into the ocean.

OK, so now we have to deal with the issue. Two phones, two calls. Cell phone to brother-in-law pediatrician, house phone to brother emt. The doc was very calming and after many questions determined that there was no need to run at that late hour to the ER, and that it could wait til Saturday night if she was still in pain and could not/did not bare weight on it. EMT came over to check it out, and was also calm and collected making the patient and parents feel good.

Saturday was spent on the couch catching up with Harry Potter, and by Saturday evening her foot was hurting enough that with the blessing of BIL Doc, we went to the local pediatric urgent care. It's a very good alternative to the emergency room, the people are less skeevy, and you don't wait as long. The receptionist at our regular pediatrician's office works there on some weekends, so when you walk into a health care facility that has no appointments, and the doctors/nurses/PAs don't know you at all, it's nice to see a familiar face at the desk. It makes the whole experience less out of the ordinary.

The PA checked her foot, and then took her in for an x-ray where both she and the doctor determined there was a small fracture of the 5th proximal metatarsal. I, of course, saw nothing, but they said I should follow up with an orthopedist, and then splinted her foot and sent us out into the night.

I looked at that x-ray 50 times, and with all my extensive radiology and orthopedic knowledge I could not see any thing. But, what do I know?




Monday morning I called the orthopedist at 9 on the nose, and was told there were no appointments available, but I should come in and they'd fit me in. The earlier the better, they said. The baby bundled and trundled off to Grandma for the morning, we made the 18 minute trip to the bone doctor. Which, despite conjouring images of a guy with no shirt, a flimsy piece of cloth tied on with string around his waist and a big ring through his nose, the fellow is quite respectable.

The wait was shorter than certain offices when I have an actual appointment time, and after a series of x-rays on BOTH feet, the orthopedist determined...... that there was no break, just a bad sprain. Hmmm. A sad little girl. Though she perked up when he said she should wear a podiatry shoe, and use crutches for the next few days. Now when she would go back to school she'd have something to show for it!

We bought the shoe, we rented crutches, and then went to the dermatologist for an appointment that was made before the dance revolution. As she hobbled in there, the nurse looked at her and said "what happened to you? Cuz we don't do that here."

I hope she feels better soon, no one wants to be on crutches during school break, which is coming up at the end of this week.

So dance on my young ladies, if you feel that's what you'd like to do. Just try to stick the landing better next time.