Injured children break the hardest of hearts
We’ve had a tough week with Leo. It was one in which the unexplained injuries of childhood first reared their head – our son lost the use of his left leg, without explanation.
We first noticed something was amiss last weekend, when Leo was limping ever so slightly, on occasions. It wasn’t all the time, an he almost seemed to be walking on the ball of his foot for the fun of it and wasn’t wincing, so we didn’t think too much of it.
After his midday nap on Sunday, his leg was a little unresponsive and we thought he’d slept on it funny, and it came good after a little while. On Tuesday morning though, as I was getting in to a solid day’s work, I got a call that made my heart stop: my wife told me that Leo couldn’t walk, and was sitting on the floor of his room, crying.
I bit my lip to stop my own tears, and my wife said she’d call the doctors immediately and have him seen as soon as possible. Leo was due to go to daycare that day, and that was quickly scotched, of course. I sat at my desk the next couple of hours, waiting for the call that would hopefully have some answers about this leg of our son’s.
When my wife called, it was good news, but vague news. The doctor had given Leo a thorough going-over, testing all areas of his body that connect with the leg, and moving all the bones and joints in the area. Nothing had jumped out as being the cause, there were no bruises or cuts anywhere and Leo didn’t wince in pain at all. There was nothing that could explain his being unable to walk on his leg. The doctor’s advice was to see how things went on Friday and come back if there was no improvement.
As the next couple of days went passed, Leo still wasn’t walking and reverted to crawling everywhere. It was good that he didn’t seem to be in any pain, but not knowing what the cause of the injury was no fun.
Mothers group, his cousin’s birthday party and days at home with his mother all passed, with our boy unable to walk about freely and forced to crawl around. In this type of situation you can’t help but let your mind wander, and you run through all the possible scenarios. I was remembering stories of children from Good Friday Appeal telecasts, who’d had tumours in their body they didn’t know about it, and other kids who’d lost the use of limbs because of spider bites. It was all I could do not to burst into tears each time I saw him crawl along. What kept me in check was his spirit – he didn’t show any pain at all, and his bright, wide smile was as present as ever.
As it got to Friday, my wife resolved to spend as much of the next day as she needed to, going to whatever doctors’ clinic she needed to in order get answers. It was quite endearing to see her inner mother lioness get tough – she’s a great mother and in tough times she is at her best.
I headed in to work and set about busying myself to avoid my mind wandering. I got the first call an hour into the day, and the report was that Leo was checked again by the doctor and again, there were no signs pointing to the reasons for his leg not bearing up. They had done an x-ray, and nothing showed up. Good news. Leo was off to have an ultrasound now, which would show any potential inflammation or damage from a virus or infection around any joints.
An hour later, and the next call – nothing came up on the ultrasound. That meant no virus or infection. The outcome of the morning’s adventures was that there was still no solid explanation for Leo’s sore leg. The doctor’s parting advice was to monitor things over the weekend, as it was likely a sprain or muscle soreness and things should pick up soon. If nothing had improved over the weekend, Leo was to be taken in to the Children’s Hospital for blood and more new tests. We want to avoid that place at all costs, so we hoped things would improve.
As we woke on Saturday, we noticed Leo putting a little weight on his sore leg, not much, but more than he had been able to for the best part of a week. We had swimming class that morning, so we headed off and hoped the water workout would also help. One of the things we do at class is to run across a floating mat and jump off the edge, into the water. Leo was able to stand up, but not run along, so he crawled. He was stoic though, and kept smiling and enjoyed his swim.
As we got changed afterward, he walked around some more and was able to stand. He had a limp as he moved, but it was still weight-bearing movement and that was all we needed. Later in the afternoon, he rested his leg a bit and crawled where he could. We didn’t worry too much, thinking he might have overdone things and just needed a break.
As Sunday dawned, Leo was pretty much back to normal – he had the slightest of limps, but that was it. The day passed and he began to get more confident and it was clear he was almost completely recovered. We heaved a huge sigh of relief, of course!
Now, another week on, Leo’s leg is all fine. He’s walking and darting around like nothing ever happened, and his mother and I couldn’t be happier. We don’t know what was actually wrong with him, but we can only guess it was a muscle strain or joint sprain, that took a week to heal. Seeing our boy play happily and walk around without a care in the world again is a very sweet thing.
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