ER becomes nightmare post-visit

After a very whiny and sad weekend with Willa, I called bright and early on Monday morning to set up an appointment with the pediatric orthopedist. The hospital told us to call and said he was contracted by them and obligated to see her on Monday. The office was pretty busy, but they had an afternoon appointment. The thing was, this doctor was on our Tier II coverage for insurance so he would cost a little more than someone on our Tier I. They gave me the information for a Tier I doctor, so I called him to set up an appointment, but the very earliest he could see her was on Thursday. It doesn't sound like that long, but it would have been nearly a week after the break and the hospital hadn't set her bone, and kids' bones heal really quickly. I hemmed and hawed and then decided that we just needed to get this done, so I went to the Monday doctor.

They had to double book us to get us in, so the waiting time was loooong. We finally got in and the nurse started commenting strangely about the hospital's notes. I didn't really understand what she was saying. That's until the doctor came in and looked at the notes and the hospital X-rays. Turns out, the hospital had completely misdiagnosed her! I'm so angry at them! They said it was a very mild fracture and would heal very easily. The doctor said it was a very, very bad and complicated break and that he would need to do surgery as soon as possible... TOMORROW! Meaning, we met on Monday and he wanted to do surgery on Tuesday. I was like, "Are the bones connected at all because they said it was a green stick fracture?" He was like, "Uh duh, lady. No, these bones are not connected, they're not even in the right place. We're going to have to do screws and pins and rods and all sorts of stuff." Not only that, but her radial head was out of joint, which is super serious and she couldn't extend her fingers which meant radial nerve damage. Grrrrr.

The icing on the cake was that he didn't think he would be able to set the bone. He told me that usually the hospital hooks the child up to the IV for pain and they set the bone there. He doubted that he would have enough pain medication at his office to do it. What the ?@!@*#&?!!!! Really, it was bad. Plus, this doctor didn't have the best bedside manner so he wasn't the easiest person to talk to. Finally, he decided to do his own X-ray before we scheduled the surgery. He came back and said his own X-ray was much clearer. The break wasn't AS bad as he thought, but it was still pretty bad. The radial head wasn't as far out of position as it had appeared in the first X-ray, so he thought he could straighten the bone on his own before we tried surgery. Apparently, if the X-ray angle isn't just perfect, it's really hard to get a look at the radial head correctly. (Another fact I will tuck away in my brain in case I ever deal with another broken arm). He brought Willa in some oxycodon or hydrocodon and then came to set the bone. It was so sad. She screamed, but he pushed and pushed. Finally, after the cast had dried, we took one more X-ray. He had been able to significantly move the bone. It was originally at a 45 degree angle! He moved it back to 20 degrees or so, which he said is within the range for a child to have it grow back straight, but it might take 12-18 months! Surgery might still be necessary, but we went home that day. We are going back on Monday and they will X-ray it again, so we could possibly have surgery next week. One of the breaks is close to her elbow, which makes it really unstable.

I was pretty worried and stressed out after that, not to mention keeping both girls entertained in the doctor's office for almost three hours. However, since we've been home I've been feeling a lot better. Willa has been much happier. I feel so badly that she went the whole weekend with the dislocation in her elbow! No wonder it was bothering her so much. She cried a lot when he set the arm, but pretty soon after she was much happier (thanks, narcotics! Can I get some for our next road trip?). Even when those wore off, she was much happier. I think her arm must have been really, really painful and now that it is set better, it doesn't hurt as much. She's even been moving her hand a little and not screaming when I try to move it. The doctor said to work with it every day to extend the fingers so that she doesn't lose motion and muscle and all that. That's our saga. I hate ER's. I called this one and talked to the manager and complained. If there is any damage caused by their mistake, good thing I know an attorney who can get the damages covered :).