Feb 09 2008
A Broken Ankle
The combined sum of my children’s ages is 42 . Today we had our first broken bone. Miss 15 was playing basketball and landed badly, rolling her ankle in the process (warning this post contains photos which may not be appropriate for squeamish readers).
We took her to Kareena Private hospital, which has an Emergency Department (one of only three private emergency departments in Sydney*). Within 15 minutes she was wheeled in for an X-Ray.
Another 5 to 10 minute wait and she was seeing the Doctor, who was a lovely older guy. He didn’t like the look of the X-Ray, and was promptly on the phone to an Orthopaedic Surgeon who, as luck would have it, was currently at the hospital.
Another 10 or 15 minutes and the Orthopaedic surgeon was having a look at the X-Rays. He didn’t like what he saw either, and both expressed their concern over the amount of swelling. Apparently the two “pops” my daughter heard when she landed were 2 lots of ligaments being “damaged” (I guess that sounds better than being “ripped” or “snapped”).
Apart from the fracture, there was some separation showing (not visible here), but without an MRI they couldn’t be sure whether she needs a “small operation” or not. So I was given a referral and told to make an appointment for an MRI early next week and to return to the Orthopaedic surgeon when this has been completed. In the meantime she was to stay off her foot and not go to school.
While waiting for the first doctor to finish with another patient, I took the chance that there might be someone at the MRI place to make the appointment. I explained the urgency of the situation and was told the First Available Appointment was the 20th Feb (ie Wednesday week 😮 ). I took it, but was resolved to ring around for an earlier appointment.
I mentioned to the first doctor about the appointment and he got a little smirk on his face. He took the referral from my hand, and proceeded to ring the MRI place himself. He managed to get an appointment on Friday – still not great, but certainly an improvement. It will be interesting to see if the specialist can improve on that on Monday 😉
So he put on a “back plate” (which is like half a cast) and bandaged it all up. It was all done inside two hours, which was pretty good (I can only shudder to think how long it would have taken at a public hospital).
Next hurdle – 5 pm on a Saturday trying to find a chemist that sold or hired crutches. dLook came in mighty handy here after the first two chemists recommended were out of stock. The issue, of course, was getting my daughter from the car into the chemist so I could get her the right size. But finally success!
She was is such a trooper. Hasn’t had so much as panadol, but is looking forward to some Nurofen to help her sleep – and she says she doesn’t mind if my hand slips a bit when I’m pouring it 😉
* I also went to Kareena a few years ago with appendicitis and had excellent care. If you live in the Sutherland Shire and need urgent medical treatment after hours, I would certainly recommend it.
15 Responses to “A Broken Ankle”
:O OMFG poor darling, that looks so painful
Fancy having to what so long for an MRI, it would be half bloody healed by them. Good thing the dr was able to get you in sooner, still nearly a week isnt that great either.
I hope she isn’t in too much pain and Mummy is going her best nurse impersonations 😛
My god woman, you could have given some warning as I’m merely scrolling through my feeds. I can do blood, guts and gore, but broken bits are *faint*
Leigh’s last blog post..All Women Carnival
Thanks Leigh
I think she is enjoying the extra “Mummy attention” – and loves the fact that she got a special mention 😉
😮 I had considered adding the “more” function, but promptly forgot. I’ve added it now (too late for you – sorry to cause you alarm)! I can tell you I felt a bit *faint* when I first saw it too.
Oooohhhhh……ooooowwwww……poor baby!!!!
I hope it heals the way it’s meant to and doesn’t give her long term grief.
Doesn’t it scare you to add up the total of your children’s ages? I just worked out mine is 21. Exactly half of yours!
Assuming I added it up right cos I *really* need to get me some sleep (5 10 years olds for the day today…..).
Lightening’s last blog post..Smiley Saturday
Ouch!!!! – that hurts…
My wishes with her to recover asap to go back on the court
I didnt realize this as i dropped a mail to you for some feedback ..
I think u will be busy in coming days
Vishal Sharma’s last blog post..What would you want to know ?
Ouch – hurts from here just looking at the X-Ray and photos!
And then having mum take photos to post on her blog for the interweb to see.
Your right, she is a trooper!
OWWW! Sport. It’s dangerous I tells ya.
Hope she heals quickly.
CB x
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Poor kid, that ankle looks mighty painful. I hope that she doesn’t need to have any surgery and the ankle will heal well on its own.
Let her know that the MRI machine is incredibly noisy and bring her some headache tablets to have afterwards. I had the most amazing headache after my last MRI.
Riayn’s last blog post..The past few days..
Oh babe!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Give her extra cuddles and smootches from me.
And an extra special one for you. I know how you are feeling.
Boo is still jumping around all over the place and while I am getting used to it, it doesn’t stop the bile rising in my throat watching him put ALL his weight on his broken foot.
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Oh Meg, your poor daughter. She does sound like a trooper though. And it looks awful. Hope that its not as painful as it looks.
Bugger about the MRI appointment, but great about the hospital and not having to wait.
Hope the week goes ok for you both and she isn’t feeling too much like a caged lion by the end of it, for your sake too. And hope that it all heals as it should.
Nasty. For future reference, if the Chemists are out of crutches, physios are often a good place to check too, especially for the “forearm style” crutches as compared to the big uncomfortable wooden ones (although they probably prefer to only hire out to current customers). When I had knee surgery last year, my physio was the only place that had the forearm style. Only cost me $20 for a week’s rent, too!
I hope your daughter feels better (and I’m sure she’s sooo missing going to school, too 😉 )
Shane’s last blog post..Local Development: Installing XAMPP
Ouch. I’m not squeamish but those pics made me squirm a little. The more function didn’t protect me, because I saw the title and instinctively clicked through straight away thinking, “What the…”
Hugs for her. And you!
Lani’s last blog post..The Content of Your Character is King
Happy to announce that we were able to get the MRI done today (amazing what happens when the specialist phones – though to be fair it was at a different place), and will be seeing the specialist on Wednesday.
Lightening – sure is scary – it’s longer than I’ve been alive!
Greg – she was chuffed at being on the interwebs, and kept asking me to take photos from different angles!
CB – Sure is. The specialist tried to convince her chess is much safer 😉
Riayn – fortunately she didn’t have to have her head inside, so it wasn’t too noisy.
Shane – thanks for the tip. Seriously hoping there isn’t a next time.
Thanks everyone else for your kind wishes 😀
Youch. Thats not a pretty sight.
Here’s hoping it heals quickly!
Too bad. Hope she gets up and running soon. I’m sure she is a strong girl and this will make her stronger.
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