X-Ray 20/20 Hindsight

Six weeks ago, give or take, R fell onto her forearms. No one knows how or where exactly, except that it was in Florida while a parent was not present and likely from a golf cart. There were shenanigans involved for sure and thus no confessors, but there were also no tears and so the entire incident was filed away, and by all involved, forgotten.

Except that she's complained about the arm ever since then, though sporadically. It's her left and she's a righty, but it hurts when she hurls baseballs or shoots pucks or gets nailed in the sore spot with a soccer ball. It hurt for a while when she picked up heavy items with her sore arm, or when she gripped something too hard. She never woke from sleep in pain, but it was a nagging complaint, on her physically and on me and That Man mentally: what to do?

School nurse confirmed that tendonitis was highly unlikely in a child her age (6) and suggested ice and ibuprofen, which I did when she would mention it was feeling especially bad and also stopped moving long enough to do so. It never seemed to effect her energy level or willingness to engage in sports or rough house play, but I did notice that sometimes, she seemed to be defending it when she ran or jumped or threw or shot. Maybe she was doing it subconsciously, just as I was able to see it, wonder about it, and move on.

Finally, today the suns and moons aligned and her "maahhhmmm, my arm hurts" happened while in the car and near the doctor's office. Short visit, quick yet thoughtful exam, and off we were sent to the hospital for x-rays. He said something about "making sure it's not a zebra," which maybe has some medical implication but more likely I think it was his way of saying, if it quacks like a duck, and looks like a duck...

I am also pretty sure he said, "six weeks? really?"

Tomorrow we get the results. I am as close as a woman in possible denial can be that it is not a fracture; I am leaning toward ligament injury or something like that. Or really bad growing pains? In one arm? But if, IF her arm is broken, even a little bit? Well then.

Well then. Do they flog mothers like me for offenses like this? Do I get blackballed from the Good Mother club? (Is there a Good Mother Club? I seriously hope not.) But really now, I mean: arrrgh. Ugh. Oops.

Could I, could I have really missed a broken arm?