Sunday 8 July 2007

A little broken leg


For anyone wondering why so long since my last post, this ..........
is the answer! Two weeks ago to the day, my darling 3 year old
broke her leg. Without going into gory details we spent the next
week in the local public hospital getting it fixed (also complicated
with a spot of pneumonia thrown in for good measure). Anyway
five days later, the registrar advised us that he had reviewed
her post operative x-rays and was happy for her to go home
(despite her ongoing pain which we were told was just 3 yo anxiety)


Now Im no brain surgeon (or bone surgeon for that matter) but I ask you does this look like the a well healing bone to you? I thought not either, so after we were discharged, we dashed off to the local GP (who, during the consultation thought I was showing him the pre-operative x-rays!). The GP kindly (and quickly) set us up an appointment with a private paediatric specialist (thank god for private health insurance) and back to ( a private) hospital we went for my poor little one to undergo a 2nd anaesthetic and operation. She is now home and feeling much better. She will be in a hip spica cast for 4- 6 weeks but at least is pain free.

Now I should make it clear that my beef is not that the bone was not fixed properly in the first place (apparantly these breaks can be a little fiddly to get right), but the fact that we were discharged home on the pretense that the post-op x-rays were "fine". The same x-ray elicited a "we need to get her back to theatre asap" response from the specialist. I'm saddened to think that this is the standard of care that one can expect from our public hospital system in the 21st century.

Thanks for listening. I rarely get up on my soap box but couldnt help myself for this one.

7 comments:

Catherine said...

Oh I am so sorry to hear about your daughter that sounds so stressful and upsetting, I hope she is doing much better now. It is pretty scary that that sort of thing can happen.

Victoria said...

That's awful. Well, good to hear it's all okay now - and good luck keeping a child in plaster happy for such a long time!

Victoria said...

Hi Zoesquid - just wanted to let you know I tried that soup you recommended and it was VERY GOOD, and then, it was on special at my supermarket, sooo I have a few tins put away in the cupboard now - thanks for the recommenaation!

Stomper Girl said...

That break looks AWFUL!! In both pictures. Hope your little one is on the mend, it must be very frustrating to have a broken leg at age 3!

Hyena In Petticoats said...

What a nightmare!
3 year olds in casts can definately be trying, too.....
I can't wait to see your cathedral window quilt - good luck!
Leah xx

Amy said...

Ok, I realize this is an old post, but I justran across your blog and when I read this a flood of memories from this time last year came back to me! My 18 month old....now 2 1/2...broke her femur bone and was in a spica cast for three weeks. Oh it was awful! I know just how you felt!!!!! She is totally fine now, but god it was the biggest nightmare I have experienced since montherhood took hold! Those casts are the worst! Being as young as she was it didn't take her long to get "use to it". She was even trying to stand up in it by the end. We are really looking forward to Halloween this year because we missed out on that too. And Zoequid???? I have a Zoe bug!

shula said...

Darl,

that is SO NOT fixed.