Dr. Conley

Tuesday after school I picked Kenz and Cash up from Glenda's.  As soon as I walked in, Glenda, "Did Kristie tell you that I called?"

That's never a good sign.

That was then I heard Kenzie open up and begin to cry.

"She hurt her arm today," Glenda said, over Kenzie.  "Now that you're here," Glenda added, "she is really pouring it on."

And sure enough, Kenz came up to Daddy and put on the puppy dog face and tears.

Glenda explained that after her nap, Kenz complained of her arm hurting, especially her elbow.  Glenda checked it thoroughly and didn't see any swelling, cuts, or bites.  Kenzie never mentioned anyone pushing her or falling at all.  So Glenda had Kenz snuggle up on the couch and applied ice to it.

I asked Kenz all the same questions over again on the way home: Did you hurt it at pre-school?  Did anyone push you?  Did you fall down?  Did you bump it on anything?  Did anything happen on the bus?

And Kenzie couldn't point to anything that hurt her arm, other than she was reaching in to a box of Lego's when it started to hurt.

So I got her into the house and got her snuggled up on the rocking chair and applied some ice to her elbow.  Kristie ran to get an ice pack and some ibuprofen for her after work.

I thought for sure that would do the trick.  But she whimpered all night long and woke up with it hurting.

Initially, I entertained the thought that maybe someone at school had hurt their arm and Kenzie thought maybe if her arm hurt there might be some way she might get to stay home from school (she enjoys pre-school but I think the big bus intimidates her some and she isn't always eager to go).

I had made plans the night before to stay home with Kenz and see if I could get her in to see Dr. Conley.  So when she woke up in pain, I knew I'd have to call to make an appointment.

While I was waiting for office hours, I put Kenz through all the tests we had done the day before (asking her where it hurt, if she could move it, if anything tingled, if anything hurt sharply).  This time, though, I realized she couldn't open her hand.  Even when I lifted one of her fingers, she cried in pain.

By now I was running worst case scenarios through my mind: what if it's bone cancer? Leukemia?

Luckily, it was soon 8, and I could call Dr. Conley's office.

As (bad) luck would have it, he wasn't in RLF that day.  His wife (who is an excellent doctor herself) was in.  I have complete faith in his wife, Dr. Britto, but Kenz has an amazing rapport with Dr. Conely.  But, the receptionist informer me, Dr. Conley was in Crookston.  She was nice enough to give me the number to his office in Crookston.

Crookston told me that they were taking walk-ins until 9.  It was 8:40 though.  There was no way we'd make it in time.  So they told us to just get there when we could and they'd fit us in.

Kenz didn't seem to be in any pain as we headed for Crookston, but once we got to the hospital, she was in no mood for seeing anyone.  She screamed for the nurse, who just tried to weigh her and check her blood pressure.  She refused to leave my lap and clung to my neck for dear life.

After the nurse left, I was able to actually get her to lie down on the bed.

But once Dr. Conley walked in, everything changed.

I was really starting to worry.  Dr. Conley must have noticed because he dispelled with his usual banter and reassured me that usually in cases like this with kids Kenz's age it was most likely a dislocated elbow.

As horrifying as that was to me, Dr. Conley began to soothe Kenz and calm her down by asking her what she was going to be for Halloween.

He was quite impressed when she told him she was going to be the GI Joe ninja Snake Eyes.

I was amazed how calm Kenzie was.  She even giggled when Dr. Conley said he was going to dress up as Woody from Toy Story.

She did panic some when he began to check her arm, but he quickly opened her palm, secured her elbow, and then bent her forearm up to her elbow.

Kenzie whaled, but she had whaled so many times before it was hard to tell if it was just a reaction to her fear or a response to real pain.

"We'll give her a couple minutes," Dr. Conley said.  "If the pain persists, we'll have to take an X-ray."

Then he began to ask her more questions about her little brother and what he was going to be for Halloween.

Soon he was able to move her arm a bit more without Kenz whaling.

Finally, he tickled Kenzie's ear and asked, "Can you reach up with your arm and stop me from tickling you?"

Kenz grinned and reached with her other hand.

"No, silly," Dr. Conley said, "use your other hand!"

Without really realizing it, Kenz lifted her other arm up - then realized that she hadn't moved it in 12 hours and whenever she had, it hurt - so she stopped and seemed worried.  But her fingers were wiggling and she was still smiling.  Kenz seemed shocked that it didn't hurt anymore.

Needless to say, my worries of bone cancer and such were groundless (thank the Lord).  It was a simple dislocated elbow.  Dr. Conley explained that it often happened when adults took kids by the hands and twirled them around or saw a kid falling and grabbed their hand to jerk them back.  He said it might have happened if she had been reaching and had someone bump into her too.

He showed me how to pop it back in if it ever happens again and I can't get her to his office.

By this time Kenz was a completely different kid that the one who had howled when they tried to get her weight and take her blood pressure.  She was even showing Dr. Conley some of her covert ninja moves (one move even consisted of her pushing off the ground with both arms and kicking out.  No sign of pain at all from her left arm).

To end it all, Kenz got two suckers (one to take back to her brother) and a set of Brave stickers.

I'm not going to lie.  When I saw how quickly Kenz felt better, I got choked up.

Dr. Conley is that phenomenal.  I would have driven Kenz to the cities to see him if needed.  He's worth every mile.

As we left his office I thought, if every teacher in America was as good at their job as Dr. Conley was at his, the achievement gap in this country would be closed in a nano-second.