Sprain or a Brake?

Saturday morning, we rode bikes to what will be Collin's new school so he could see where his school is and know that he will ride bikes to school every day with Daddy.  He was interested in looking into the windows to see the classroom.  We then road our bikes to the park behind the school.  We all played on the equipment for a little while before Collin and I got on a round thing that Daddy pushed us on.  We were supposed to hang on as it went around.  Collin either did not hold on tight or let go because he fell off and landed on his left foot.  He cried out and told Daddy, "You hurt me".  We checked for blood and inspected his legs and feet.  Thinking that he was at least surprised from the fall and was probably hurt with a bruise, we got back on the bikes to go home and put and ice pack on his leg or where he hurt the most.  He pointed that the top of his foot hurt so he sat on the couch with the ice pack for at least 20 minutes.  Afterwards, he was feeling find and not complaining about his foot.

We left the house and went to the mall because it has been awhile and Mommy needed new work shoes.  The entire time we were there, Collin walked around and did not complain about his foot.  He was actually a great shoe shopper.  He found a shoe he really liked, picked it up and brought it over to me explaining why he liked it.  "I like this color, don't you Mommy?"  "This one has black stripes.  Try this one on".  I did try one or two on that he liked so that he could see them on me.  He does have great taste because he did end up picking out one of the most expenses shoes in the store.  We got hungry so we went to the Rainforest Cafe.  What a restaurant!  There were animated animals all over that came "alive" every 10 minutes.  The monkey and the lions were Collin's favorite.  When we were getting ready to leave, Collin could not walk to the bathroom with me.  I could not tell if his foot was swollen or not.  Thinking that it might be because we sat there for an hour, I picked him up to take him to the bathroom and then held him so he could use the potty.

When we got home, Collin rested on the couch.  He did not walk and crawled when he needed to.  His foot was swollen a little but not discolored at all.  Thinking he did have a sprain at this point, I lightly wrapped his foot with a bandage.  He liked that and asked why his heel and toes were not wrapped.  I explained that I thought these were not the hurt areas based on were he pointed.  Grandma H came to take him to her house so we could go out for a date.  She looked at his foot and thought he was OK. 

The next day, he did not walk on his foot until later in the day when he found out that his friend, Ella , and her family were coming over for a swim.  We thought it would also be good for him to get in the pool and get the pressure off his foot.  He swam great and was too cute playing in the water with Ella.  She was scared to go down the slide, so he got out of the water and showed her how it was done.  She copied him and LOVED doing down the slide.  They did this over and over again for at least 20 minutes.  The entire time, Collin got out of the pool and walked over to the slide.  We saw that and assumed his foot was better.  If it was sprained, he was feeling better enough to walk on it.  Oh good, what a relief. 

After swimming, I noticed that he did walk but kept his toes off the ground.  Daddy and I decided that he needed to go to the doctor the next day.  Good thing we did that.  Turns out that he had a fracture on the second metatarsal of his left foot.  It's barely noticeable on the Xray and not a large fracture.  However, the doctor does want us to see the bone doctor to see if he has a small enough boot for his foot or how else he might recommend to isolate the foot.  In the meantime, Collin cannot run on it and has to keep his shoes on all the time unless he is sleeping.  That is really hard for active an almost 5-year old that takes his shoes off as soon as he gets in the house...just like his Mommy. 

He did not favor his foot tonight and even sat on it while reading books.  However, when he walked, he did keep his toes up and off the ground.  I am relieved that he can walk and is not in pain based on what he said when I asked him questions about his foot.  I hope it continues that way and he does remain calm (HA!) until it's healed.  We will find out from the specialist if he is concerned about the growth of that bone.  His pediatrician was not too concerned but she did want a second opinion.