Gabe had the totally sad experience of breaking his arm at his VERY FIRST gymnastics class. He came down off of the 3 ft bar, tried to catch himself, and snapped his elbow. It was horrible looking. He was up at Primary Children's Hospital (in Salt Lake City) in the ER and had pins put in his arm by Dr. H, one of the best Orthopedists there. Gabe was just barely 3 years old and seemed to recover just fine.
Gabe at 3, following his first broken arm and surgery
Fast forward 2 1/2 years. Gabe began to complain about a pain at his elbow. I am, to be honest, a very laid back parent, and figured it would just go away. I didn't pay much attention to the pain, during the first day or two. On the third day, because it was at the injury site, and seemed to be getting so much worse, we took him to my pediatrician, Dr. Feindt. She looked and decided that we should do some blood tests and x-rays, to make sure there were no infections or breaks. All the tests came back fine.
Gabe continued to be in a lot of pain, and so we took him to the emergency room. The doctor there, figuring it was a sprain, wrapped it and gave me a prescription for Codeine. He did better for a day, but within 24 hours, the codeine wasn't covering his pain.
At this point, I began praying that Heavenly Father would help me to know what was wrong. Specifically, I asked Him to help me feel peace if Gabe was just experiencing a sprain, but that He would help me know if it was a more serious problem.
We took him again to the emergency room, and this time, the doctor at PHMC seemed to figure out what the problem is. We were into our second week with this, Gabe was in increasingly more pain, and I was so so relieved that we might have a diagnosis. The ER doctor told me to go see Dr. H (the orthopedist who put the pins in 2 1/2 years ago) the next day.
We got a 9:00 a.m. appointment. Gabe was given Tylenol with Codeine at 5 a.m. and Advil at 8 a.m. We went into the doctor's office and I don't think I've EVER had such a horrible experience with a doctor in my life. He proceeded to tell me, that it was only a sprain, that Gabe was fine and he was sending him home. He then, seriously, yelled at Gabe and Jane because they were fighting. I tried to explain that Gabe's pain has been increasing exponentially for 8 days, and so I didn't think it could be a sprain and could we please order an MRI or a bone scan. He looked at Gabe, laughed and said, "You're telling me that he's in a lot of pain?!" HELLO! He was completely drugged up!!
He left the room, and this was where Heavenly Father answered my prayer. I began to feel panic rising inside me; I felt sick and began to cry and I KNEW that something was wrong and I needed to find someone to help Gabe. I called my pediatrician, on my cell phone, and talked to her assistant, bawling, saying something like: "They won't listen to me here, they are sending me home and there is something wrong with my son." My pediatrician called me back immediately and said, "Go over to Primary's right now, I'm ordering a bone scan and MRI for you immediately." I later heard from the nurse that the pediatrician said to her, "If Jessica Romney is crying, there is something wrong. She is one of the most laid-back parents I have."
(Gabe at 5, after being admitted to Primary Children's Hospital for I/V antibiotics and surgery)
We got the bone scan. Gabe had a bone infection, caused by bacteria on the pin that Dr. H had inserted. They admitted him immediately to the hospital and began I/V antibiotics. They scheduled him for surgery to scrape out the infection. The orthopedist--NOT DR. H--said he literally could push the bone away with his finger; it was that rotted. He was in the hospital for 4 days and sent home with a pic line and 6 weeks of I/V antibiotics, that I administered every 6 hours.
(Gabe with his pic line getting some award at school)
Dr. H wanted to send him home with a splint and have me come back in 10 DAYS! The infection would have been much worse by then.
No one could see the infection because the bone formed a mass over it, so the blood work was coming up negative. The Ped. Orthopedist who worked on Gabe said he had never seen an infection that stayed hidden for longer than 1 year; he was shocked that Gabe's had remained unseen for 2.5 years. X-rays were unable to see the mass, because it wasn't bone. The only way I knew that there was something worse than a sprain was because of the Spirit and my MommySense. I am forever grateful that I listened to both of those things.
I remember walking out of Dr. H's office, where he treated me with such disdain thinking: "I know you have years of training as an orthopedist, but I have years of training as this kid's mom. I know, AS WELL AS YOU DO, what I'm talking about, when I tell you there's something wrong with my kid."I will never forget that lesson and I share it with you: Trust your gut, especially when it comes to your kids. I know Heavenly Father has blessed us with special insights into our children that only we can have.
I am grateful for that blessing of motherhood.
And I am grateful for an almost 8 year old boy with a completely fine arm, even though, while he's grounded, he's right now jumping on the trampoline yelling to his best friend, 2 backyards away: "Yeah, I can see the top of the bow and arrow, can you hold it up higher??"
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