Thrice in the past month or so, the Daughter has awakened in pain.
The first time, she had been experiencing right knee pain for a week, building into something she could not bear any longer. Her mother took her to the doctor that afternoon. She has Osgood-Schlatter disease, which is less a disease than a syndrome.
It “can cause a painful lump below the kneecap in children and adolescents experiencing growth spurts during puberty. Osgood-Schlatter disease occurs most often in children who participate in sports that involve running, jumping and swift changes of direction — such as soccer, basketball, figure skating, and ballet.” My daughter was participating in soccer and ballet.
“Age ranges differ by sex because girls experience puberty earlier than do boys. Osgood-Schlatter disease typically occurs in boys ages 13 to 14 and girls ages 11 to 12. The condition usually resolves on its own, once the child’s bones stop growing.” The Daughter’s eight and a half, ahead of the curve.
The second time, on a Thursday morning, she complained that she was having trouble breathing. Her mother had already gone to work, but Lydia hadn’t gone to school yet. She was having an asthma attack, or “incident”, as the ER doctor at St. Peter’s Hospital said. They gave her oxygen, and a couple of medicines, including a steroid which was she was supposed to keep taking for five days, but resisted because of its taste.
The following Sunday morning, she complained of chest pains. Back to the ER, this time the three of us. After eliminating some sort of heart problem, it appears she pulled a muscle in her chest, probably a function of asthma. A heating pad and pain killers were the treatments. (This is why, church people, I missed choir that morning, but made it to the end of the service.)
I’ll be happy if we can avoid physicians for a while…
Very sorry to hear of Lydia’s travails (and the necessary parental efforts and anxieties). Hopefully she is still in the stage where hugs are efficacious (as opposed to teens to whom such expressions are anathema!) All the best to the Greens!
This is the time of year and into January when we end up making several ER visits due to our daughter’s asthma. This year our physician told us we had been in on the exact same DAY the previous year!! I hope that you can avoid physicians for a while…ER visits can be exhausting. Hope your daughter begins to feel better…I was so thankful when our daughter could take the steroids in pill form because of the taste.
I think she might want to lay off the soccer and ballet for a while. Those two activities are the most stressful on a young body. I seemed to remember having something like that around the same age although I never told my parents and worked through the pain.
Roger, this makes me doubly sorry I’ve been “off the grid” with depression. My daughter had rolling kneecaps, but NOTHING like this.
I will say every prayer I know for her. ERs are scary places, and I agree, they are to be avoided unless you need them… and then, thank God they are open 24/7.
Please know you are in my prayers, particularly now, and that I hope she is doing better soon. I mean, PLUS asthma? What the heck?
Love, Amy
Oh, poor little thing! Too much medical drama for a little girl. I hope she’s feeling better and on the mend for her ailments. It would be terrible to be under the weather during “the most wonderful time of the year”!
Aw jeez. That kid’s too young for this crap. She shouldn’t get sick like that until she’s old and worn out like you.
Ye Gods! Few things are scarier than having to take one’s kid to an ER. We had to take The Daughter in just last week (for an abscess which burst before the regular doctor appointment we’d scheduled to look at it). She’s fine, but…yeah, taking kids to the ER sucks.