I had my first trip to A & E tonight since becoming a parent. Basically, Burton – accidentally I might add- yanked Jenson’s left arm really hard like he was one of those Stretch Armstrong dolls because he was trying to get his brother on to the sofa! I was in the same room, I had been into the kitchen to turn the oven on having left the pair of them laughing and playing together. As I walked back into the lounge I suddenly saw Burton pulling his brothers arm quite hard, and as I told him to stop, Jenson started crying and Burton quickly let go.
Now Burton has made Jenson cry many times but it’s usually only a few tears and after a few minutes peace is resumed and all is forgotten. Except tonight Jenson kept on crying and more tears were streaming down his face. I felt a bit sick then, and immediately I dreaded that his arm or shoulder was damaged in some way. I tried to move it and it was quite limp and seemed floppier than it should be! Bloody hell I thought, it was 18:40 and Jon wasn’t going to be home until half past seven what was I going to do as I didn’t have the car. Meanwhile, Jenson was still crying and although a little bit of chocolate did calm him down for a few minutes, I have never known him to cry for so long from a Burton related event!
Once Jon arrived home we bundled everyone in the car and I was dropped off at the hospital with Jenson, while Burton was taken to his grandparents. I registered the accident at 19:40 and we didn’t get seen by a member of the triage team until an hour and a half later!
It turns out that luckily Jenson did not have a dislocated anything but he did have an injury called some, a pulled elbow or, as I discovered when I googled it when I got home, nursemaids elbow. This is something I had never heard of before yet apparently it is very common in under 5 year olds. It is the dislocation of the elbow joint caused by a sudden pull on the extended pronated arm, such as by an adult tugging on an uncooperative child, or swinging the child by the arms during play. The technical term for the injury is radial head subluxation.
So there you go I learnt something new!
Anyway, after being given some calpol the doctor had to extend his arm out fully and then fold it back on itself to allow his elbow joint to click back into place. Of course this brought on lots of tears but it had to be done. We then had to wait for 15 minutes to see if Jenson would use his left arm to ensure it was cured, but he wouldn’t reach out for any of the toys that we tried offering him (he was very tired at this point though).I told the doctor that if we had some chocolate buttons that would be great as he would probably teach out for those with both arms! The doctor said he didn’t have any of those but would go and see if he had any chocolate in his office, and when he returned he was carrying a quality street (dark) chocolate orange sweet. Well Jenson reached for it ok with his now better arm and stuffed the entire chocolate in his may and ate it! We all laughed !
He feel asleep in the car on the way home sat cuddled in to me on the back seat and didn’t wake up even when I put him into his sleeping bag and down into his cot. I looked down at him peacefully asleep, his arm back to normal and I felt a huge sigh of relief. I thought about how tonight had been mine and Jon’s first trip to A & E as parents, and I wondered how many more times we would have to visit during our boys childhood and teenage years.
I was also was glad to have my baby back safe and sound and home where he belonged – peace for him and for his Daddy and I!
I am linking this up to this weeks The Gallery where the theme is At Peace
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Thank you xx
Thank you xx
Oh goodness me. Glad he’s ok.
I’m going to show this post to people who don’t believe me when I say how easy it is to damage a childs arm by pulling them by it, even if they are just playing. Family members have been so rough with Charles before and didn’t believe me when I said it was easy to damage their elbow or shoulder. X
What a day for you all. Poor Jenson – I’m glad it was nothing too serious, you must have been beside yourself with worry. I dread those trips to A&E but it’s one of those things that you know as parents, especially to little boys, that there will no doubt be some of in the future. Was Burton ok? He must have been worried about his little brother too.
I love your picture of Jenson sound asleep after the eventful day – perfect for today’s Gallery. x
Awww bless. Glad everything was ok in the end xx
Oh scary 🙁 Love the ‘Burton-related incident’ bit! And you can pretty much get a child to do anything for chocolate. The ultimate test!
crumbs! Glad he’s alright. We had a hospital trip and overnight stay with Noah for a rash in the early days which was a real eye opener when we’d never been there with Isla once! I’ve heard of that injury – I’m always careful when I’m swinging Isla round by her arms or other rough and tumble games as I worry they could come out of joint. Easily done. Isla is getting much rougher with Noah these days, it’s hard for the elder one to undertsnd isn’t it!
Poor little man. Chocolate can cure all ills, it seems!
Aw poor little mite! I have two boys as you know an we have had our fair share of visits to casualty! It is so horrible whatever age and I hate it, I’m so glad that he is ok and I hope you have a ‘peaceful’ week x
What a fright! Every parents nightmare is A&E of an evening – or any time for that matter. I’m so pleased it all worked out well
Awww, bless him. I’m glad you got it sorted! xx
Aww bless him! Glad he got sorted and you did the right thing. Ironically I am always telling Daddy E not to swing Roo from her arms because of this but didn’t know it had an official term.
Oh bless him, glad to hear he’s okay now. I’ve got three boys and each time something has happened to them I’m sure my anguish (and guilt) has equalled or outweighed their injuries, as they always seem to recover quickly, where as I worry about it for months. Operations are the other hospital trip that I dread, the feeling of leaving your anaethetised child in an operating theatre, is just heart wrenching.
Oh my God, I’ve only just read this. How scary. I bet Burton was really worried for Jenson too. Glad the he’s okay. I remember Amy’s first trip to A & E, because we had accidently given her egg that was 4 days out of date and she didn’t stop vomiting. I was so scared that we had given her food poisoning but the consultant said there was no way the eggs would have done that to her, so that made me feel slightly better. Still felt so so bad…
Oh Gosh! I am glad that it is all resolved now! Poor Burton, he must have felt awful and poor baby Jenson too. On the other hand, you are so lucky for having to wait nearly 3 years and 2 kids to see A&E and luckily it was nothing too major. Every time I’ve come home with G from A&E I just count my blessings thinking that we are home and we’ll just have a tale to tell rather than be stuck in hospittal. Big cuddles to both boys and well done you for surviving the first A&E trip, may it be the last one for a long time x
So glad he is better now, its always so scary when you have to visit A&E! But yuk…i dont like the orange chocs. Now a strawberry cream would have me reaching out no problem 🙂 He looks very lovely there in his sleeping bag!
awww bless him, good job you took him to be checked. hope he feels better now xxx
Oh, poor Jenson – so glad he’s ok now but it must have been awful for you especially as Jon wasn’t there. Same thing happened to my friends girl when she fell over an landed on her arm and I went and took them both to A&E as her hubby was at work she was fine but my friend was tramautised for ages after it!
Poor Jenson! Glad to hear everything is ok! Chocolate is definitely the cure for everything in my book LOL.
What a nightmare, poor wee Jenson. I bet Burton would have felt terrible if he’d known what he’d done, even though it was an accident. Thank goodness he was ok. Hugs to you all x
Awww, poor Jenson!!! I just want to give him a big cuddle!!!! xxx
Oh poor Jenson!! I can’t imagine how worried you must have been 🙁 Silly babies having silly accidents! It worries me all the time! I’m glad he was OK xx
Oh no Jenny I must this- poor Jenson, I am glad all is better now. I have been to A and E a few times with Mads- I think just both me and her are quite accident prone! x
Oh dear. What a worry for you all. Poor wee thing. I did laugh though when you said he reached for the chocolate. So far (touching lots of wood now) I have only had to take my son to A&E when his excema was so bad his legs were bleeding. Fortunately we were dealt with pretty quickly (not in half an hour though) and were prescribed a steroid cream. The speed with which it improved was amazing. By the next day he was already 50% better. I must say I needed a glass of wine after that trip.
Anyway, hope Jenson’s arm is better now. By the way, a NCT friend told me her Mum did the ‘nursemaid’s elbow’ injury to her brother by yanking him! She felt really guilty afterwards (as you would!) x
A totally different and wonderful perspective on peace. What a fan story. There is nothing worse than having to take a little one to the hospital or sometimes even just the doctor when thy are sick. I think that as Mum’s although we learn to stay outwardly calm, the inner turmoil we put ourselves through is incredibly intense, so the feeling of calm on ourselves as well as on our children when the trauma is past is overwhelming sometimes!
This is a wonderful take on the theme.
Lou 🙂
Aaahhh poor little thing. That’s sounds like a very scary time for you all and he really doesn’t look very happy in his photo. Glad you are all sorted and at peace now though xx
We made our first trip in October half term. That was an arm problem too. Herny loved the xray and being there and we were seen within 15 minutes. Glad it wasn’t too serious for Jenson in the end. Horrible to see them hurting though isn’t it?
Oh blimey, how scary. So glad everything was okay, well not as bad as it could have been xx