Lily Limps

 

It was a warm summer day and Lily was playing at a friend's house going slip-n-slidin'!  She had a great time until she jumped up and landed on the top of her foot.  She fell to the ground in pain and couldn't get up to stand on her foot.  Party over.  So sad.  

I figured it must've been a sprain because Lily said that it didn't hurt unless she stood on it.  So, we waited and watched her very swollen foot for a few days, packing it with ice, wrapping it with an ace bandage, keeping it in the air, having her hop around and not put any weight on it.  I had called the doctor and they said that if she still wouldn't bear weight on it after a week, then to call and get an appointment.  Poor Lily.  She had her baptism that weekend, and her foot was still quite swollen and unable to bear weight, so Lily literally hopped into the baptismal font.  :)  

The date is wrong on the photo.  It was actually June 8, 2013.

At that point I thought that she must've broken something because I thought sprains should be healed in a few days.  I got an appointment with the foot doctor, and since he only works 2 days a week in Roosevelt, we had to wait a few more days for Lily to see him.  And she did NOT want to see him.  She was so anxious about having to go to a doctor and stressing about what he might do to her.  She would have no one touch her foot except her, so just the idea that the doctor might have to touch her foot made her cry. 

We made it to the appointment and Lily was really nervous about the whole thing.  To give her something to look forward to, I decided to make a deal with her.  She got to choose a "prize" to go with the possible diagnoses.  Then whatever the official diagnosis was, she would get the prize associated with it.  She thought carefully and chose carefully: if it was broken, she wanted to watch a movie from netflix; if she needed surgery, she would take pizza, movie, ice cream, and a ride at Mama Lia's pizza; and if it was just a sprain, she wanted to ride the horse at Mama Lia's pizza place.  This little game helped her look forward to finding out what was wrong instead of dreading what she felt was a death sentence.  But she still was nervous.

Look at her in this next photo.  Not happy.

 Her left foot was still swollen, although the swelling had subsided significantly. 

Her fat foot.

Her normal bony foot.

 The doc was great and gentle and kind.  He ordered an X-ray, so we went down to radiology and then back up to his office again to get the official word.  Lily was nervous about the X-ray, but it was nothing, and she did fine.  She even got to pick a stuffed animal when she was done, and she got a Webkinz Hippo.  Her attitude about the doctors office changed after that.  She seemed to be willing to go along without having such a heavy heart.  We got back to the foot doctor and viewed the Xrays.

I learned some things about feet that day.

1. Children's foot bones are funny-looking and not as orderly as I thought they should look.
2. Children's foot bones don't look like adult foot bones, they haven't yet developed altogether.
3. Sprains can take a long time to heal and can be worse both in pain and healing than a broken bone in some instances.

The Xrays showed no signs of breaks or fractures.  Below are some photos of the Xrays plus a few photos of an adult foot Xray, so you can see what I mean about them being different and more orderly:

Lily's foot bones look fine.

An adult foot Xray- bones have developed.

Lily's foot again.

Adult foot again.

 So, with that, we had our diagnosis.  Lily had a severe mid-foot sprain.  And if she still was unable to bear weight on that foot in 4-6 weeks, then the doctor would see her again and reevaluate.  Luckily she seems to be recovering fine and she is bearing weight on that foot almost fully now.

So, off to Mama Lia's we went to ride the horse.  My kids really really love that thing.  Glad they find joy in that simple machine.  And, since we were at Mama Lia's anyway, we ordered some pizza too!

 As a side note, a few months ago, I asked Lily's pediatrician about the way her ankles seem to turn in when she walks.  He said that she has flexible flat foot on one side, but that I should get a foot doctor's opinion on her other foot which seemed to really turn in.  It was at this foot-sprain/xray appointment that I told the foot doctor about her feet and even though she couldn't put weight on it, he was able to see a significant leg length discrepancy, which can cause an ankle to turn in more to compensate, so he recommended a heel lift and also arch supports to help support her flat feet.  He said it is good to notice it while children are still young because a lot can be done to correct it before it starts causing more problems with their hips, back, knees, etc...  It appears that a recent visit with a cranial sacral massage therapist has aligned Lily's hips, which in turn made her legs more of the same length.  She'll probably need the arch supports, but the heel lift may not be necessary.  We'll just keep an eye on things.