Last week, there was this one day that was all quiet and peaceful. Nothing was going on, I had no where to go, nothing I had to get done- you know how unusual those days are. Anyhoo, right after lunch time I started thinking I was getting a bit bored and that I prefer the days where we have to run here and there.
Apparently there must be a mommy rule that I didn’t know about that says, “Do not ever think such a thought.” Because just a few minutes later Hailey was crying and holding her hand up to me to show me that it hurt. I looked it over and noticed that her thumb was bent at the knuckle and seemed to be stuck that way.
After the initial crying though, Hailey seemed to be fine and didn’t act like her thumb was hurting anymore. But, her thumb was still stuck bent at the knuckle and I may not be a medical professional, but I knew that just wasn’t right. About ten minutes later we were off to germ land the doctor.
After waiting in the germ infested waiting room just long enough for Hailey to catch the latest germs we saw the doctor. He immediately diagnosed her with trigger thumb. He told me that it can be painful and can be quite serious. He sent us to see a hand specialist right away.
We went to the hand specialist and arrived about 10 minutes early for Hailey’s appointment. One hour later we were still waiting to be seen. If you have a toddler or if you have ever had a toddler I’m sure you can imagine how much fun it was to be in a waiting room for an hour. Add to that- it was nap time.
When Hailey’s name was finally called imagine my surprise when we were taken to another waiting room- the x-ray waiting room. We waited there for Hailey to have x-rays done to make sure her thumb wasn’t broken. After the x-rays we were sent back to the x-ray waiting room again. We waited a few more minutes until we were escorted to yet another waiting room.
We didn’t have to wait there for too long and we were called to go into the little room to see the doctor, who turned out to be a physicians assistant. After the PA saw Hailey she concluded that her thumb was not broken and that it was indeed trigger thumb. Then the PA had to go get the doctor to determine the next course of action. So, again- we waited.
Finally we saw the doctor. He told me that there are a couple of choices. We can do therapy or surgery. The therapy is almost always temporary and surgery usually has to be done anyways. He told me to work Hailey’s thumb back and forth for the next couple of weeks and then to come see him again. So, we will be returning to visit him on the 12th.
The hand doctor told me that it probably isn’t painful for Hailey, but she seems to think otherwise. Her thumb is not always stuck in the bent position and when it clicks to straighten she cries and holds her hand up to me. So, I know it is bothering her. The surgery that she will eventually need is a simple surgery that takes less than five minutes. Because of her age and the fact that it would be impossible to keep her still for any length of time, she will have to be under anesthesia for the surgery.
So, since I didn’t already have enough to worry about, this has been added to my list.
Speaking of my worry list- I still have not heard back from the neurologist about Hailey. I talked to Hailey’s pediatrician’s office twice about it last week. They called the neurologist and haven’t heard back from him. Monday morning, I called the neurologist’s office and left a message and haven’t heard anything back yet.
Hailey also had her appointment on Monday with the pediatric ophthalmologist. Last week I dropped off a copy of the video of her rolling her eyes so that he could look at it before we came in. The receptionist told me that Hailey’s doctor was in a different office until Monday morning. I offered to drop it off at that office so that he could look at it. She assured me that was not necessary as he would have time to look at it Monday morning before Hailey’s appointment.
Guess what? He couldn’t look at it. Apparently the computers they use have so much protection on them (to keep the viruses away) that he couldn’t open the video. He told us he would take it home to watch it and call us to let us know his thoughts. I wasn’t upset with him, it wasn’t his fault. But, I was pretty irritated that receptionist didn’t seem to know that he wouldn’t be able to look at it on their computers. Given that we have a $30 co-pay (yes, you read that right- $30) I really wanted him to be able to see the video before meeting with us so that we do not have to go back again.
Oh, and that visit we made to Hailey’s pediatrician last week to look at her thumb? We were there just long enough for Hailey to catch something because on Saturday her nose started running and on Sunday she started coughing. So, now I am worried that her cough will turn into wheezing like it did the last time she was sick.
Wow- all the worrying that comes with loving someone so much can sure be overwhelming!
