Skip forward two weeks and he's playing football again at school {as boys do}. Play stopped and he fell over the ball. Cue knee pain again, friends helping him back into school and his incredibly high pain threshold {it's an aspergers thing apparently} telling the staff he was fine and it was nothing bad.
He came out of school limping saying it hurt worse than the last time and hopped home so he didn't have to walk on it. We had a dental appointment straight after school and he wouldn't put any pressure on it even to get in and out of the dentist chair so I figured it might be worth a trip to A&E to get this second injury looked at properly since intense pain isn't usually a thing he feels. At this point I still thought it was something and nothing.
Erm yeah - 4 hours later and he was in a full leg pot and crutches. I seriously was not expecting that. The Xrays showed his kneecap to be in a different position to how it should be and they had potted it to be on the safe side until an orthopaedic consultant could see him.
I was told to make him a fracture clinic appointment before we left and was shocked and extremely annoyed that the next available one would be almost two weeks later. I made it and as it was quite late at night by that point was told to ring the next day to see if they had any cancellations. We ended up with one a week later in the end. Still flipping annoying as the adult fracture clinic had next day appointments but the paediatric one had such a long wait. It could be a week of this pot for nothing since it was just to be on the safe side.
He came out of school limping saying it hurt worse than the last time and hopped home so he didn't have to walk on it. We had a dental appointment straight after school and he wouldn't put any pressure on it even to get in and out of the dentist chair so I figured it might be worth a trip to A&E to get this second injury looked at properly since intense pain isn't usually a thing he feels. At this point I still thought it was something and nothing.
Erm yeah - 4 hours later and he was in a full leg pot and crutches. I seriously was not expecting that. The Xrays showed his kneecap to be in a different position to how it should be and they had potted it to be on the safe side until an orthopaedic consultant could see him.
I was told to make him a fracture clinic appointment before we left and was shocked and extremely annoyed that the next available one would be almost two weeks later. I made it and as it was quite late at night by that point was told to ring the next day to see if they had any cancellations. We ended up with one a week later in the end. Still flipping annoying as the adult fracture clinic had next day appointments but the paediatric one had such a long wait. It could be a week of this pot for nothing since it was just to be on the safe side.
As it turned out it was a good job they had used caution and potted him. The consultant told us he had a distal sleeve fracture of the patella which basically means he had snapped his quadriceps tendon which attaches his kneecap to the top of his leg. Thankfully it was hanging on and he stood a good chance of full recovery with immobilisation. The full pot was replaced with a splint which was basically a full leg pot cut open so it could be removed for him to have a wash and the Velcro attaching it together.
To say it has been frustrating for him has been an understatement. Watching the other kids at school playing football and not being able to play rugby which he loves must be so hard. To say nothing of the fact that he worked so hard to have 100% attendance at school so he could go to the presentation evening and theme park they reward them with and then to fall at the final hurdle. He had a fair few tears over that one. Obviously just unfortunate circumstances so I've promised him a trip to the theme park once he is able to walk without aids.
A good friend offered him the loan of a wheelchair which has been absolutely invaluable in being able to get out and about these holidays.
Back to the hospital for his follow up and he was allowed a certain amount of movement in his knee so they fitted a knee brace, fixed at 30 degrees with a 2 week review but still no weight bearing.
He is now at 60 degrees and able to walk on it. He is managing short walks without crutch support.
Hopefully next time we go to the hospital they will remove the brace.
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