Kate went to physical therapy on Monday. She was encouraged to apply more weight on her healing leg. The act of bearing weight causes the leg to strengthen. The area of the break will be stronger than it was prior to the accident. She has had a bump on the front of her leg, due to bone chips that we were told will eventually be absorbed by the leg. These bone fragments have caused pain sometimes while doing the prescribed exercises to strengthen Kate's walking muscles.
By Monday evening Kate had a blister over the bump. I called the orthopedic surgeon on Tuesday morning. The receptionist said that the doctor was in surgery all day and had scheduled surgery for the next day too. I was insistent that we should see someone. I was told that we could see the Physicians Assistant on Friday. I already had an appointment to see our doctor on Monday. I asked to see one of the other doctors in the office and was told that I would then be a new patient and new patient appointments were out 6 weeks. I told her we needed to see someone and that office has the X-rays. She suggested seeing our own physician. I told her that the pediatrician would need to see the X-rays and probably need to take more and this was not possible in his office. I felt discouraged that I could not get to see anyone.
After hanging up the phone I thought some more and remembered that the Physical Therapist had access to the X-rays and the orthopedic doctors. I called our therapist's office and found that he was not in. I told them my problem and asked to talk to another therapist. Another therapist spoke with me and told me that I needed to talk to the doctor. He took my number and said he would call me back. He called back shortly and said that the doctor was in surgery and he left a message and my number so the doctor should call me when he cam out of surgery that day. The doctor never called. I began to think that the sore area was not a big problem with the doctor.
On Thursday, Kate came home from school and showed me that the bone was actually poking through the skin. It was a small opening, but the bone was visible. Kate put triple antibiotic and a band aid on area. I told her that we should go to the physical therapist and see what he had to say. Before we left Kate insisted that she eat some Dinobites (chicken nuggets).
We arrived at the Physical Therapy office without an appointment and spoke to the receptionist. She remembered our call of Tuesday and got the therapist we had spoken with. Our own therapist was not in on Thursday. He looked at the wound and said that this was not normal. We had about 5 people watching and looking at Kate's leg. The therapist quickly went across the hall to the orthopedic surgeons office and brought back one of the Physician's assistants. He had looked at the X-ray before coming and asked us to come over to the doctor's office. He said that it needed cleaned and dressed. He wrote a prescription for antibiotics and asked us to wait. He called our orthopedic surgeon, who was in Arizona at a conference along with all the other doctors from the office.
Kate's wound was cleaned and we were given instructions on the care. Next the Physicians Assistant handed me the phone and said that the doctor wanted to speak to me. He asked what had happened and I told him. He said that he had never had this kind of thing happen before (the bone breaking through the skin). The danger is that the wound site would allow infection into the bone and the bone would never heal. He said that Kate would need surgery to remove the bone chip, clean the opening and then have IV antibiotics. He asked about insurance, and when Kate last ate. He asked if we could stay in the office for 30 minutes while another orthopedic surgeon from Payson came to the office to see Kate. The surgeon arrived and scheduled an Operating Room for us at the Outpatient surgery in the hospital across the street (UVRMC).
Before we know it, Kate was prepared for surgery. This surgery was short (30 mins), compared to the last one. When the doctor came out to talk to us he showed us a picture of the bone fragment. It was about an inch long by half an inch wide. It was positioned horizontally and poking through the skin. He removed the bone chip, cleaned the area with an antibacterial wash and stitched up the area. Everything looked great. He wanted Kate to stay in the hospital to get IV antibiotics. We ended up staying until Saturday morning so that Kate could get the full dose. We were sent home with a prescription of more antibiotics. We see the doctor again in a week.
We are blessed that we did not wait until Monday to see the doctor. By that time Kate could have had a serious infection.
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