On Thursday morning, Emma woke up complaining that her ankle was hurting. I looked at it, but I didn’t see anything that looked like it would cause her pain. However, she didn’t want to put on her shoes. I was a bit annoyed by this, but because we needed to get to school to prepare for music classes, I just carried her to and from the car. When we were at school passing out the treats to the teachers, Emma started crying that her foot was really hurting. As a mom to five kids, I’m not always the most sympathetic to pain as someone is always getting hurt. However, I set Emma in the chair in the music room, and she did very well while I taught music classes. By the time we arrived home after teaching, Emma was dragging her foot behind her trying to put as little weight as possible on it. I gave her some tyhnol, but still didn’t see anything unusual.
After picking up the boys from school, Emma decided that she wanted to go outside with the boys. I said she would have to wear her boots. She tried to get the boot on and just kept crying. I tried to get it on and that was worse! I took off her sock and looked at her ankle again. She had a lump on her ankle...where did that come from?! I called Roger to tell him that maybe Emma’s ankle really was a source of pain for her. Then I called the pediatrician and they scheduled us for a 7:30pm appointment...right at bedtime!
We headed for the appointment and we checked in. Emma was now running a low grade fever and
definitely not acting like herself! The doctor examined her, and told Roger and I that we should take
Emma down to the emergency room for more testing. He was concerned about the possibility of an infection in her ankle. Although we were all ready for bed, we headed to the hospital instead. Emma told us that she just wanted to go to bed.
Although the doctor had called to say that we were coming in, we still had a bit to wait. Apparently 8:30pm., is a time when everyone wanted to come to the emergency room! It was well afte nine before we were put in a room, but thankfully the doctor came to see us shortly. He said the first thing to do was to take an X-ray. He didn’t think it was broken, but we needed to rule out the simplest thing first. I was really, really hoping that was the problem. However, when Roger came back from going with Emma, he said that he certainly didn’t notice any problems on the X-ray. Sure enough, the doctor came back in and said that her ankle was fine. So...now we needed to draw blood, insert and iv (in case she would need antibiotics), and get some blood to the lab. Emma was about asleep, but as soon as that nurse wheeled in her cart and started getting ready, Emma about came unglued! She was practically crawling over the top of me in her haste to get away from the needles. The nurse was very good, but Emma can scream like no ones business! Roger had to hold her hands and arm, I had her leg, and the nurse did the poking. Emma has good veins, praise the Lord, but it was still traumatic! They need to use orthopedic glass to help her arm stay straight with the iv in it. Emma calmed down after they were done with all of that. While Roger was holding her down for the nurse to draw the blood, Emma kept on crying, “I just want my boys!” “I just want my boys and I want to go home!” It was pretty pitiful and definitely tugged on my heart strings.
By now it was approaching 10:30pm. The blood was sent to the lab, but the doctor said that he felt like they should try to draw some fluid off of her ankle. Great! More needles and poking! The doctor recommended that Emma get a little bit of sedative in her iv, just to help her be a bit more calm. The nurse put the numbing medication on Emma’s ankle, and about thirty minutes later (as soon as Emma was sleeping again) the doctor came back to draw fluid out of her ankle. This was not a fun moment!
Emma was very upset, even with the bit of sedative. I don’t do needles well, and I could feel the room spinning as I watched the doctor try to draw out fluid. He did get some fluid off of her ankle, and I was about on the floor. If I hadn’t been sitting down, I would’ve been by the time he was done! Roger said he had never seen me so white before! After that was sent to the lab, then we had to wait...and wait.
Emma was quite funny once her “happy juice” in her iv. Kicked in! She sat up and announced that the floor was lave! (A game that she and Travis like to play where you can’t touch the floor). Then she laid back down and talked to Roger who was leaning over the side of her bed. “Daddy, you have beautiful blue eyes!” “Daddy, your nose is a little big and your teeth are a little yellow, but your eyes are beautiful!” I about fell off the chair from chuckling. Then Emma snuggled down in the bed. It was now after 11:30pm, and the doctor came in to tell us that he was going off duty. We were still waiting for lab results, and they would let us know. I ended up climbing into the bed with Emma, as I was so
tired. She was happy to snuggle next to mama, and she slept a bit peacefully. Roger only was able to catch a snooze in an uncomfortable chair, but we survived. Emma did wake up around 1:00am., as,I get when we were going home, and that her ankle still hurt. The nurse brought her some tyhnol, and she drifted back to sleep.
Around two am., the doctor came in to tell us that Emma’s blood test didn’t really show anything out of the ordinary too much. She had some elevated white blood cell count, but nothing that was drastic. The bottom line was that no one really knew or knows what the problem was/is. They did send away to get her blood tested for Lyme and juvenile arthritis, but those results will take a few days. We finally left the hospital around 2:30am, and not really knowing a whole lot more than when we had started! We were exhausted, as was Emma. She announced that she was hungry on the drive home, and came home to happily eat a container of blackberries. As she sat at the table eating berries with Roger, she announced, “We were at the hospital for a very long time, and my ankle still hurts!”
We were all happy to catch a few hours of sleep. Roger had to be at work by six, so his sleep was more like a nap! I had messaged the school to let them know that I wouldn’t be able to play the piano for chapel. I woke up around 6:30, as I heard the boys downstairs. I went to tell them to quiet down and to tell them that we wouldn’t be going to school right away. Wyatt told me that Emma had ruined his perfect attendance record...but he would forgive her anyways! I sent them outside for a couple of hours while I gathered my thoughts and prepped for hot lunch. We were at school a little later than I had planned as we didn’t arrive until ten. Emma really wanted to go to school as today was her Valentines Day party. Once we arrived, she said she thought she wanted to go home. I told her that if she wasn’t feeling well, I would come get her. I set her in a chair in her classroom, and she seeemd just fine. She had a good morning, and the swelling in her ankle has been going down.
Emma’s ankle has been improving every day, and she has a follow up visit on Monday. One of my concerns is that while the swelling in her ankle has gone down, her knee is a bit swollen! I am praying that we will get some answers when we return for a follow up visit.
Garett is twelve and 1/2 years old and Emma is five. The boys have survived jumping out of trees using garbage bags for parachutes! Emma is our first child to visit the Emergency Room, and I’m sure that her brothers will never let her live it down!
Update: Yesterday was Presidents Day, so we did not get into the doctor office. However, Emma is not running a fever, all the swelling is gone, and she can wear shoes again. I called the doctor to see about her test results. There is nothing that is out of the ordinary. We are still waiting on a Lyme Disease test, but other than a slightly elevated white blood count, nothing is abnormal. That’s good and bad news. The problem seems to have solved itself, however, we don’t know what the originally problem was nor if the problem will resurface. However, we serve a God Who knows it all! We will continue to trust Him and that Emma is in His care. Thank you for your love and prayers,
Sarah
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