We all knew it was going to happen sooner or later. I was really hoping for the later, but instead Sarah chose to be the youngest of the Weber clan to make a trip to Children’s emergency department.
Sunday the 21st we were invited over to friend’s house for carving pumpkins and dinner. We get together every few months and its fun for everyone. The family has four girls and we have three so the parents get to catch up and walk about the latest girl issues while the kids get to play together with toys they all enjoy. Caroline had her last soccer game in the afternoon so she and Brian were arriving a little later than Julia, Sarah and I. While waiting for Caroline and Brian to arrive, the kids went to their basement to play. They have a balance beam for the kids to practice their gymnastic skills. It looks like a long piece of plastic (with a rough surface on top) set on the floor and only three inches high.
Caroline and Brian arrived and it was time to start carving the pumpkins. We called the kids upstairs and I hear Sarah crying. She wouldn’t even walk to the stairs. Julia carried her to the bottom of the stairs and said “Mom, Sarah needs you.” As I went down the stairs I asked what was wrong. Between sobs Sarah told me she hurt her toe. I took off her sock and it didn’t look too bad. I carried her upstairs and asked what happened. She said she fell and hurt her toe. Yep, that sounds like a four year olds description of what happened. Now, Sarah is a tough kid and usually you tell her it will be ok, give her a little ice and off she goes. This time she wouldn’t stop crying. I carried her outside to watch the others carve the pumpkins and asked our friend to look at her toe. Lucky for us, he is a pediatrician and was able to give is the bad news that we needed to take her in to get an x-ray.
Last Sunday was a sad day in Brookfield when we had a mass shooting at a salon. This caused the entire Milwaukee Regional Medical Center (which includes: Froedtert Hospital, Children’s Hospital, Medical College of Wisconsin, and Milwaukee Psych Complex) to be on lock down because the shooter wasn’t found at the time. I had our friend call to see if Children’s was still on lock-down and not accepting patients except for those with a police escort. It had just opened at 4:30, so we were in luck.
Sarah screamed that she didn't want to go to the hospital as I put her in the car to go. She talked about them using "tools" on her toe. I was puzzled, but didn't ask what she meant. Later when we talked she said the kind of tools they used when I broke my ankle. Ah, yes. She was in the ED with us for the first hour after I broke my ankle. And I don't remember what she did or did not see that could be tools in her mind.
So, while the others carved pumpkins, I took Sarah to have her toe examined. With the ED just being opened we were lucky in that there were only 5-6 patients ahead of us. We waited about 15 minutes and went back to a room. The fellow came in, talked with us, told us we needed x-rays and then would discuss what we needed to do. She explained that even if the x-ray doesn’t show a
fracture they need to treat it as if there is one because in a child because there are growth plates located in the foot. Three images later and watching more SpongeBob (the ED is the only place our kids get to watch that show) she came back to tell us there is a small fracture in the right big toe. She brought in this strange looking flat hard soled shoe. Sarah wasn’t sure about it, but did walk
with it a few steps so we could leave.
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She wore the shoe to school on Monday and it went pretty well. Monday afternoon she has choir and after coming home she announced “I took off my white shoe ‘cause it doesn’t hurt anymore”. Both Brian and I jumped up and said no you need to have the shoe on!
I called the pediatrician again on Tuesday and they told me I could get her hard soled shoes and tape the big toe to the next with gauze between the toes to prevent pulling the large toe over too far. We went to Target and bought a pair of tennis shoes which are a size too large and had very hard soles. Ever since our kids were little we’ve always bought our kids expensive shoes. They only get
one pair, but we make sure they are flexible and comfortable to wear. The soles on these shoes are the exact opposite.
She’s done better wearing the tennis shoes at school, however I still need to remind her not to run. And getting her to take any type of pain medication has been a struggle. We are guessing she had a high tolerance for pain like her sister who thought breaking her arm didn’t hurt too much. I can say that breaking my ankle didn’t hurt as much as labor!
Yesterday I caught her starting to run and told her to slow down and walk to which she replied “I’m not running, I’m skipping”.
Sunday the 21st we were invited over to friend’s house for carving pumpkins and dinner. We get together every few months and its fun for everyone. The family has four girls and we have three so the parents get to catch up and walk about the latest girl issues while the kids get to play together with toys they all enjoy. Caroline had her last soccer game in the afternoon so she and Brian were arriving a little later than Julia, Sarah and I. While waiting for Caroline and Brian to arrive, the kids went to their basement to play. They have a balance beam for the kids to practice their gymnastic skills. It looks like a long piece of plastic (with a rough surface on top) set on the floor and only three inches high.
Caroline and Brian arrived and it was time to start carving the pumpkins. We called the kids upstairs and I hear Sarah crying. She wouldn’t even walk to the stairs. Julia carried her to the bottom of the stairs and said “Mom, Sarah needs you.” As I went down the stairs I asked what was wrong. Between sobs Sarah told me she hurt her toe. I took off her sock and it didn’t look too bad. I carried her upstairs and asked what happened. She said she fell and hurt her toe. Yep, that sounds like a four year olds description of what happened. Now, Sarah is a tough kid and usually you tell her it will be ok, give her a little ice and off she goes. This time she wouldn’t stop crying. I carried her outside to watch the others carve the pumpkins and asked our friend to look at her toe. Lucky for us, he is a pediatrician and was able to give is the bad news that we needed to take her in to get an x-ray.
Last Sunday was a sad day in Brookfield when we had a mass shooting at a salon. This caused the entire Milwaukee Regional Medical Center (which includes: Froedtert Hospital, Children’s Hospital, Medical College of Wisconsin, and Milwaukee Psych Complex) to be on lock down because the shooter wasn’t found at the time. I had our friend call to see if Children’s was still on lock-down and not accepting patients except for those with a police escort. It had just opened at 4:30, so we were in luck.
Sarah screamed that she didn't want to go to the hospital as I put her in the car to go. She talked about them using "tools" on her toe. I was puzzled, but didn't ask what she meant. Later when we talked she said the kind of tools they used when I broke my ankle. Ah, yes. She was in the ED with us for the first hour after I broke my ankle. And I don't remember what she did or did not see that could be tools in her mind.
So, while the others carved pumpkins, I took Sarah to have her toe examined. With the ED just being opened we were lucky in that there were only 5-6 patients ahead of us. We waited about 15 minutes and went back to a room. The fellow came in, talked with us, told us we needed x-rays and then would discuss what we needed to do. She explained that even if the x-ray doesn’t show a
fracture they need to treat it as if there is one because in a child because there are growth plates located in the foot. Three images later and watching more SpongeBob (the ED is the only place our kids get to watch that show) she came back to tell us there is a small fracture in the right big toe. She brought in this strange looking flat hard soled shoe. Sarah wasn’t sure about it, but did walk
with it a few steps so we could leave.
.JPG)
She wore the shoe to school on Monday and it went pretty well. Monday afternoon she has choir and after coming home she announced “I took off my white shoe ‘cause it doesn’t hurt anymore”. Both Brian and I jumped up and said no you need to have the shoe on!
I called the pediatrician again on Tuesday and they told me I could get her hard soled shoes and tape the big toe to the next with gauze between the toes to prevent pulling the large toe over too far. We went to Target and bought a pair of tennis shoes which are a size too large and had very hard soles. Ever since our kids were little we’ve always bought our kids expensive shoes. They only get
one pair, but we make sure they are flexible and comfortable to wear. The soles on these shoes are the exact opposite.
She’s done better wearing the tennis shoes at school, however I still need to remind her not to run. And getting her to take any type of pain medication has been a struggle. We are guessing she had a high tolerance for pain like her sister who thought breaking her arm didn’t hurt too much. I can say that breaking my ankle didn’t hurt as much as labor!
Yesterday I caught her starting to run and told her to slow down and walk to which she replied “I’m not running, I’m skipping”.
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