Two Out of Two Is Bad

The meet at Westfield High School on Oct. 11 had just begun. Sarah was the first up on uneven bars. She did great on the lower bar, then, as she was trying to stand on the lower and reach for the upper, her feet got caught. She dove into the mat...and stayed there. 

Once she was up and headed for the trainer's table, I went to meet her. She was in a lot of pain, but she was tough...no crying for this kid. Her right arm was worse than her left, but both were injured. The trainer wrapped bags of ice on both, and we headed for urgent care.

Fortunately, it was quiet, and they saw her right away. X-rays showed the left elbow was just sprained, but the radiologist could see "shadows" caused by fluid on the right elbow -- signs of a fracture. The PA wrapped it and put it back in the sling, telling us to see an orthopedist the next day. She complimented Sarah on her composure, noting there was usually a lot of drama with injured teenage girls. Sarah beamed.

She slept through the night, with only ibuprofen for the pain. We were at the walk-in orthopedist when they opened at 8 the next day, and they saw us quickly. The physician's assistant was a bit pretentious, in my opinion, using lots of jargon and not explaining things clearly, even when I asked. 

He said there were signs of a radial head fracture -- basically a crack in the "cup" of the radius that holds the end of the humerus. If she were 12 or younger, he'd put a cast on, but at this point, she needed to keep moving it so as not to lose range of motion. This was a huge disappointment; Sarah had been looking forward to collecting signatures on a cast. 

He told her to wear the sling for no more than a week and come back in three weeks. She could return to gymnastics in six weeks, if it had healed properly. So much for school gymnastics meets.

She rested on the couch for the remainder of the day. Her friend Julia brought cupcakes and a beautiful orchid plant, and Bridget and Katie stopped by with a packed basket of goodies and a pail of candy from the gymnastics team. Messages of sympathy poured in.

By the time she returned to school the next day, her sprained elbow was already feeling much better. Thank goodness that's her dominant hand! The right one was really swollen by then, and still quite painful. She insisted on going to gymnastics practice so she could see the trainer and her friends.

There was another meet on Friday, and she went along to cheer on the team and help however she could.

On Saturday (Day 4), we went dress shopping for Homecoming and were startled to catch a glimpse of the developing bruise on the back of the right elbow in the mirror. Getting dresses on and off was a challenge.

By Monday, the bruise enveloped the whole elbow and was turning a nice shade of green. She had regained a lot of mobility, though, and the pain was pretty much gone. The bruising had started to fade by Tuesday, and suddenly the swelling was gone. She could move her arm up over her head.

By the following Saturday (Day 11), she was able to go to her first Homecoming dance and boogie the night away. When I picked her up, it was her feet that hurt, not her elbows.