Shirtless Callie, one tough cookie

Today was a rough day for little miss. When I went to pick her up Nena was concerned Callie was complaining about her right arm and not using it well. Sure enough she was very fussy crying if you touched her arm at all and avoiding using it. So I called the pediatrician and they saw her right away. The doctor thinks she most likely dislocated her elbow (nurse maids syndrome) but that it was already back in place. She could feel some swelling and Callie was very sore there but she didn't feel it pop back in. Callie wouldn't even take a cookie with that hand at the doctor! There were lots of tears. They took some X-rays just to be sure it wasn't fractured since we didn't know of any specific injury that caused it. We are thinking maybe she got her arm stuck in the crib rails and pulled too hard to get it out or maybe even a not obvious movement earlier that pulled her arm.

Since I'm pregnant I couldn't stay with her for the X-ray which made it more traumatic when I left her with the two male X-ray techs to hold her down and stay still. Equals more tears. Luckily the X-rays were all negative and so they just recommend we keep her quiet and resting and she can have ibuprofen if its sore still.they think it will heal up well, although once it happens it is more likely to happen again so extra cautious with her arms and pulling, dressing, getting in the car seat, etc.

Then we had to go straight to our regularly scheduled allergy follow up across the hospital campus. The doctor was super late, 50 minutes, after I rushed and walked so far together there in time.  I was stuck trying to entertain Callie all that time. Her elbow started feeling better from the medicine they gave her though and she started using her arm again to color :)

She had to have 11 needles in her back for her allergy skin tests. I thought it would get easier as she got older but I think it's harder. She is strong and wiggly and complains. The test lasts 15 minutes but its like getting stung by bugs with really itchy bites since she is allergic to most of them. Poor kid kept saying "mommy back" and trying to scratch her back while meanwhile I am trying to keep her occupied and distracted all while not really touching her sore arm.

After the allergy tests we saw the dr again and then had to go tone lab for bloodwork. It took two phlebotomists 45 minutes to draw blood and they had to move the needle several times. They only had one arm to work with since one was already injured which made it more difficult. By now she was ballistic and this was by far the worst part. Blood draws for 9 lab tests is so unfair for a toddler. She must have said "mommy done, done mommy, done" about 100 times through her tears.

When we left the hospital 4 hours after we arrived and 4 appointments later she was still crying and wanted to call dada and GiJu and papa to tell them about her boo boos. Each time she talked about the boo boo or I explained she got more upset so then we started saying all positives, the boo boo is healed, Callie was so tough, what a good girl she was to be at the hospital all afternoon. That seemed to help. Unfortunately it was raining and that meant even worse traffic then usual at 5:15,so our 20 min ride became over an hour on the way home. Lucky for me and Callie I had Curious George episodes, 1 hour with on my iPhone for her to watch quietly.

While this was a very very difficult day with wayyyy to many doctors and ouchies, any one of these things alone could have been enough for one day, there were some big positives.

1. Callie's arm isn't broken and should be perfectly fine in a few days with some rest and extra gentle coddling.

2. Callie's skin tests went way better then expected. She is officially not allergic to wheat and can continue eating it since we had such success the past two week. Her egg allergy decreased and her peanut allergy seemed to have disappeared! On the down side her walnut allergy nearly doubled and pecans also went up. The blood tests will help confirm if any of these allergies are small enough to try a food challenge, which is where Callie eats a peanut or egg at the hospital, just to be safe in case of a very bad reaction. If she passes one of those she could possibly add them to her diet! Boy would that wold awesome! I was so negative about ever kicking the peanut allergy.... But now so hopeful. The dr tells me not too get too excited until we get the blood work back but that its a good sign and she is happy to see her eating wheat without issue and that the allergies seem to be lessening.

3. While none of Callie's issues are fun, I always run into at least one family who knows me from work and they love to see Callie. I remember that so many kids have issues that are way more serious, way more disabling and tough for the families and they have lots more appointments that also have surgeries and other way worse ouchies.

Callie was one tough cookie today even with all the tears. Everyone was impressed with her language skills as she told people about her ouchies and all kinds of other stuff between tears. Here she is shirtless which she was almost the entire afternoon between the dr for her arm, X-ray, and allergy tests. She was exhausted tonight and so am I, phew!