A hurt his ankle during football last week. He’d been seeing the team dr. during the week and they’d been working on range of motion exercises. He can’t point his toe downward. There seems to be something preventing it from moving – they thought maybe inflammation behind the achilles. The dr. called me on Friday afternoon to ask if I was aware of this injury. I said, I was not aware, that he’d been with his father all week so far. He said that they weren’t seeing the kind of improvement they’d hoped to see. If it wasn’t better by this week, I should take him to his regular dr and have him checked out.
They believed that he’d be fine to play in the game on Friday night.
As the game progressed on Friday, A was limping more and more. During huddles he was resting on his teammates and not putting any weight on that foot. In the middle of the 3rd quarter they pulled him out and started working on his ankle on the sidelines. I leaned over the bleacher railing to see what was going on.
I could see A clenching his jaw and saying “nope, nope, that doesn’t hurt.” Who did he think he was fooling? Really?
They sent him back to the sidelines and talked to me. “He needs to come out.” was what the Dr. from the University said. “We don’t know what is causing the problem, the risk is too much. Its better to get him out before he does more damage.” The team Dr chimed in with, “Plus, he’s lying to me about how much its really hurting.”
I said “He won’t like that.” The team Dr said, “We’ll be the bad guys, he’ll be mad at us, don’t worry.” I said, “alright, sounds good.”
They took him out, and got him all iced up. He wasn’t happy, but he didn’t complain. When I picked him up after the game he was slow. Very, very slow.
We got him home, started him on ibuprofen, and got him into bed with an icepack and some apple pie.
He stayed this way until Sunday when he went back to his father’s house. I asked A if his dad was aware of this injury. He said, yes, he knew, and had been giving him tylenol last week for it. I told A that ibuprofen is what he’d need to be taking from now on, and I would email dad about it.
The ankle injury A has was exacerbated during the game on Friday and he was taken out of the game. They continue to be unsure of what the issue is. After speaking with the team doctor, Dr. H, I was instructed to give A ibuprofen on a regimen, rather than as needed for pain. He’s been taking 600mg every 6 hours and it seems to be helping some. I have sent the ibuprofen to your house with A today. He knows his next dose at 2pm. Dr. H said that we should get A in to see Dr. T at the Orthopedic Office as soon as possible to diagnosis what is wrong with his ankle. He told me that he’d contact Dr. T and would make an appt for A either first thing Monday or Tuesday morning. He said he’d call me today to check in and let me know about the appt. I will forward this information to you as soon as I am made aware. I assume that you’d have no issue with A seeing Dr. T. Unless I hear otherwise from you, I will plan on taking A to this appointment. Dr. H also said that until they know what’s wrong, that he needs to stay off his foot as much as possible.
I messaged with A last night and he said he’d taken his meds at 4pm and was hoping that dad would let him stay home on Monday.
Dr. H called me sunday night around 8:30 to check to see how A was doing and to talk about getting us into see Dr. T. He wasn’t able to reach Dr. T over the weekend, but faxed over all his notes about A to his office. I said I’d call to make an appt in the morning.
This morning I get this from X:
When did you speak with Dr. H? What is his contact info?
I’d like to just say that I am sick of him continuing to assume that tracking down this kind of information is some how MY job and not his. He’s a helpless sack of shit.
I replied:
As far as I know, you can reach him at his chiropractic practice. I spoke with him Friday afternoon, again Friday evening at the game, and he called last night around 9pm. He faxed information to Dr. T’s office this morning. I just called them and made an appt from A tomorrow afternoon.
I’m not sure what he’s trying to do here but apparently he needed more info:
What day last week did you take him to his primary doctor to be seen regarding this injury?
I don’t know where he’s getting these ideas or why I need to clarify, but I did it anyway….
I didn’t take A to the dr for this injury last week, as I wasn’t made aware of any injury until Dr. H called me on Friday afternoon to tell me about it. The initial reason he called was to suggest that if A’s ankle wasn’t improving by this week that he should be seen by his primary doctor. After it got worse during the game, it was then suggested that we see Dr. T about it, as he specializes in sports injuries.
So, this morning I messaged A, asking if he was at school. He said he was.
Then he said “It’s hurting pretty bad.”
I asked when he last took his meds. “Dad gave me 2 aleve and 500mg of tylenol at 7ish”
I was quietly super irritated that, despite me saying and doing what the Dr. told us to do, X decided to do his own thing.
I asked A what I could do, he said “nothing really, Dad said he’d come pick me up if it started hurting, but he’s not answering his phone.” I offered to pick him up and take him to dad’s myself. “House is locked, and I don’t have a key.” was his answer. Of course not. Why would you give your 16 year old, one that you think is capable of making all his own adult decisions, a key to the house he lives in?
I emailed X letting him know that A would like him to answer his phone. I’ve heard from neither of them since.
I hope A is home, watching tv with his foot up and iced.
I did a little research, and it turns out that he can’t have anymore ibuprofen until 7pm tonight. Not until 12 hours after his last dose of aleve. I told him not to take any more aleve, just stick with the ibuprofen at 7pm and then every 6 hours. He said “Ok” And hopefully, dad will let you stay home and off of your foot tomorrow. He said, “Yeah.”
He has an appointment with Dr. T tomorrow at 1:30. Let’s hope we can get him fixed up.
Looking Forward 