Harper's Nursemaid's Elbow

Yesterday at the park, I was holding both kid's hands, walking to the car. As we approached a curb, I said, "Harper Jump!" and pulled up on her hand.

What she heard, I can only surmise, was "fall to the ground and pretend you have lost all ability to hold yourself up."

Well, the screaming started immediately. I had a hard time figuring out if it was her shoulder, elbow or wrist. Wrangling Windham and a screeching Harper, I got us back to the car, dug around in the first aid box and found some gauze to wrap up her wrist.

I hoped the drive-thru at the Walgreens was open so I wouldn't have to get out of the car to get supplies. No dice. I recalled the glory days of my youth when my mom would leave us in the car and run inside to do her errand. It doesn't seem like parents do that anymore these days and I was already feeling like a terrible parent. So in we all go.

I get WPH out of the car and then, as delicately as possible, scoop Harper up out of her car seat. This isn't a task one can do delicately, by the way, so the crying began again. And pretty much continued throughout the aisles of the store. They keep the really important things like pain medicine, first aid supplies, the life and death stuff, IN THE VERY BACK CORNER OF THE STORE! Because folks in dire need of hair care products and make-up need to get in and get out as fast as possible.

I got her home, settled her on the couch with Doggit and Nemo on the tube. Poor kid really felt miserable. We put a bag of frozen peas on it and wrapped it up. I made up the futon for her to sleep on and put her to bed. It was a rough night for all of us. She woke up several times crying in pain. There is nothing more terrible than a 3 year old in pain.

This morning before I left for work, I moved her back to the couch and she got to watch Babe. She was thrilled at the prospect of getting to watch a second movie so soon.

I took her to the doctor this afternoon.

Diagnosis: Nursemaid's Elbow. Her radius had popped out of place. Fortunately, the cure is to pop it right back where it belongs. We waited for the doc with the most experience in this technique to come to our aid. And after 5 seconds of what I am sure was excruciating pain, the arm was fixed.

We made sure she could move her arm before we left. It was amazing how quickly she was back to moving it around, no problem. We drove through the Wendy's drive-thru for a milkshake. Probably the best part about the last 24 hours for an almost 3 year old. By the bottom of the cup, she was as good as new.





Milkshakes make everyone feel better!