Saturday morning, Miles and I were playing and he took off toward our living room. He crawled down the hallway while I went around the kitchen to surprise him. Unfortunately, in the second it took me to go the other way, Miles found a 2x4 that Mike had leaned across the basement door. With one little push, the board came crashing down and landed on Miles's left hand. I saw the whole thing happen and thought the board just missed him but his screaming and red little pinkie were proof that it didn't.
Mike and I immediately scooped him up and were ready to head to the emergency room but Miles stopped crying and started crawling and picking things up as though nothing happened. We decided to hold off on the hospital visit and monitor his hand.
He seemed fine on Sunday except for when we touched his pinkie or he hit it against something. It was swollen and black and blue but we expected that from the wallop it took. Unfortunately by the time evening came, his pinkie wasn't looking very good and we had decided we were going to take him to the pediatrician first thing today. Again, Miles was fine. He was smiling and laughing and showed no signs of being in pain.
When I woke Miles up today, his hand was swollen. His pinkie looked pretty ugly and the rest of his hand looked like a blown up latex glove. I called the pediatrician as soon as the office opened and we were in there by 9:30 am. Dr. Cox sent us to get some x-rays and called us a few hours later to tell us that Miles had a small fracture on his middle knuckle. She had scheduled an appointment with a hand specialist with pediatric experience. We picked up the x-rays and headed over to see Dr. Marion.
Dr. Marion was great. He checked the x-rays and watched Miles crawl and pick up books and toys. He said we had three options:
(1) We could put a splint on his pinkie but with how active Miles is he didn't recommend it because most babies are Houdini's at this age and will have it off in no time, which could potentially make the splint a choking hazard;
(2) He could put a cast on his hand but it would have to go above his elbow. Again, he didn't recommend it since it would make Miles miserable and us too; and
(3) We could let it heal on it's own.
We picked option #3. Dr. Marion said that because of Miles's age, he recommended just letting his pinkie heal on it's own. It was a small enough injury that he thought it would heal in no time. So, for now, we have to try to ice it to help keep the swelling down and give him Tylenol and Motrin for the pain. (Fortunately, we picked up the CVS brand Tylenol and Motrin the other day...the last two bottles on the shelf because of the recall.)
We have a follow-up visit scheduled for Monday. Dr. Marion will do a few more x-rays to see how Miles's pinkie/hand is doing and then we'll go from there. If it's not getting better, we'll deal with it then.
Here is a picture of our little trooper while we were waiting to get his x-rays this morning. You can see how bad his left pinkie looks. And yes, Miles did great during the x-ray. He didn't even move...but it may have been because Mike was giving him a bottle.
Mike and I have decided that we are no longer in the running for the best parents of the year award. Even if we were, we'd have to withdraw our nomination after this one. We've promised Miles that we'll do better.
3 comments:
Poor Miles, but even worse, poor mommy and daddy! Don't beat yourselves up.. it's the first of many episodes.. I have some stories I could tell you, and they all make me feel horrible. Hey, my dad banged my head on the car, putting me in my carseat and i had to get stiches! It happens to the best parents in the world. YOu are awesome parents and Miles is so lucky to have you guys. Happy MOther's Day!
You are wonderful parents and you have a beautiful son.
I'm coming to believe that all mothers of sons will spend their fair share of time in the emergency room, regardless of the amount of time spent trying to avoid such visits. ;) Heal up quick, Miles! :)
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