United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Hello, I have a 8 yr old daughter who has been in pain for almost 3 days. the inside of her elbow is painful all the time. Dr Kozin stated 2 years ago that if she got a contracture then she would need surgery. I do not see that happening. at this point it is just the pain. Has anyone been through this. IB profen does not seem to work. we live in oklahoma and her PED does not feel comfortable seeing her for her arm. I don't know who to see. Shriners is out, unless i can go somewhere closer then Philly. Our finances are not in order to go to philly. I am very concerned about this. I don't know what to do.

Crystal, can you get her to her regular doc and see about getting an xray. Maybe she is dislocated? Maybe something is broken? Find out why she is in pain and then go from there.
I hope the pain goes away soon!
-francine

Yes I agree with Francine fine a local ped orthopedic and have it x-rayed Frankies was dislocated
good luck Mare

we went the doctor today. he wants to wait about a week to do any test. At the time i agreed. I thought maybe since the pain changes maybe we should wait. well Jade stated she doesn't want to wait anymore after we got home. I feel like such a bad mother making her wait. her birthday is tomorrow. I thinking about taking her to the ER before her party.

Crystal
Your not a bad mom bpi is so hard Frankie was 7 when he rolled over and broke his forearm in his sleep. That night he woke up and said his arm hurt I gave him advil and didn't think about it till the next day when the school called and said he was complaining of pain. Frankies arm is completely paralyzed and has very little feeling so any feeling is weird to him. The doctor said it was split in half and couldn't believe he could tolerate the pain I felt like the worst mom I cryed for days. Then just last year the ortho found his elbow is dislocated. We are so careful he sleeps with a splint to protect his wrist and forearm and when he is in gym or skating he wears a heelbo to protect the elbow and a splint to protect his forearm and wrist but things still happen so my advice is go to the ER get an x-ray I personally wouldn't listen to any doctor that told me to wait and see if the child is in pain even just a little pain can be a big deal with bpi Frankie is 15 and also had his wrist fractured many times just by weight bearing. One doctor we have on speed dial is the pediatric ortho. Hope everything is ok and I hope Jade has a wonderful Birthday Mare

Not to diminish what we all worry about with our bpi kids-breaking that arm, but it happens with "regular" arms too.

My friend has a son who is VERY active. And a little bit devilish. Well he played outside and with his friends and then roughhoused with his brother. After "wrestling" with his brother he complained that his arm hurt. (he was 5) Mom, knowing that he tries to get his older brother in trouble when he 'loses' the wrestling match, ignored his compliants. She gave him Tylenol and told him to move along. He did complain, but not too loudly and she gave him more Tylenol. About a week after the initial complaints he came home from school and told her that it really, really hurt and he didn't want to ride his bike because holding the handlebars hurt. So, she took him to an orthopod....broken arm! Cast from the fingers to the armpit for 8 weeks. OOps!

So.....don't feel bad that you didn't run to an orthopod on a bpi kid. Their wacky lack of sensation really makes it difficult to diagnose.


I would take Jade to the ER, get it xrayed. Especially if she can tell you that it hurts that much.

Good luck,
claudia


Message was edited by: claudia

the first year we went to shriners, the local chapter paid for some travel, not all. Then we got a letter stating they are focusing on burn patients. we would have help in a form of a check of 300 dollars. Flying from oklahoma is way more then 300 dollars. I have called philly and they say we must go through our local chapter. Jade said she was feeling better but not pain free. We will be going to the get an X-ray and different tests Monday morning. I think that maybe she is having nerve pain or a contracture is starting.

I don't know about others but frankie has an elbow contracture of 66 degrees and because it happens so slowly it causes no pain even after serial casting he went to 35 degrees and we had to stop due to the dislocation with in 2 weeks his contracture was back but he never had even the slightest bit of discomfort of course when he was being casted to reverse the contracture it was sore. I would look more into the bones or nerves. hope she feels better Mare